Britannica
Sources used in this answer
How does adverse possession allow a possessor to acquire ownership of land?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Property law
Portrait of Hugo de Groot (Hugo Grotius), oil on panel by the workshop of Michiel Janszoon van Mierevelt, 1631; in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
In property law, adverse possession allows a person to acquire legal title to land by occupying it in a manner that is inconsistent with the rights of the true owner.12
This process functions through the following mechanism:
- Wrongful Possession: A person (the adverse possessor) occupies land owned by another without permission, behaving as the true owner would.2
- Statute of Limitations: The original owner has a specific period, defined by the statute of limitations, to initiate a legal action to recover possession of the property.12
- Extinguishment of Rights: If the original owner fails to take legal action within this statutory period—which often spans 10 to 20 years in many jurisdictions—their claim to the land becomes time-barred.23
- Acquisition of Title: Once the original owner’s rights are extinguished, the adverse possessor, who has maintained actual, peaceable possession, acquires a new, original title to the land that is valid against the rest of the world.23
In civil-law systems, a similar result is achieved through a process known as prescription.23