New Neighbor Hopes $16 Filing Will Help Him Get Legal Title on Home in Upscale Enclave
Remember adverse possession? The classic property law concept calls for someone in open, notorious, hostile and exclusive possession of real estate he or she doesn’t own to become the legal owner after a period of many years.
Now, however, with the real estate market in chaos, as homeowners abandon properties and mortgage companies struggle to cope with a deluge of foreclosure cases, it’s suddenly a hot legal topic.
Neighbors in an upscale enclave of $300,000 homes in Flower Mound, Texas, were stunned to learn, for instance, that a new neighbor hoped to take advantage of the law to gain legal title to the home by filing a $16 form and squatting there, reports KHOU.
The former homeowner reportedly walked away and the mortgage lender appears unlikely to file the expensive litigation that would be needed to reclaim possession, the station explains. Although they suspect that Kenneth Robinson may have broken into the home, he says he found a key to it and police say the issue is a civil matter that must be determined in court.
Related coverage:
ABA Journal (May 2009): “In The Cross-Heirs”
ABAJournal.com (Nov. 2007): “Landowners Lose, Lawyers Win in Adverse Possession Fight”
ABAJournal.com (Nov. 2010): “Mortgage Broker Puts Adverse Possession to Test by Seizing Foreclosure Properties”
Housing Predictor: “Squatters Grow in Housing Mess”
Rusty Collins’s Blog: “Your Property Tax Bill & Adverse Possession”
