Use It, Move It, or Lose It: Protecting Your Property Line
The Ridgefield Press recently reported about the Land Conservancy of Ridgefield’s new “Good Neighbor” policy. In general, the program asks neighbors who abut preserved lands to keep track of encroachments, such as dumping leaves or paving driveways. Encroachments hinder the Conservancy’s mission to keep land in its natural state.
This gives me the opportunity to discuss one of my favorite topics, adverse possession.
Many of our clients have mistakenly believed that adverse possession is an ancient and arcane concept, when in fact it comes up all the time, both in Connecticut and New York. Town governments using land for governmental purposes are basically immune but private landowners are not. For private landowners, encroachments could mean the risk of losing part of their land through adverse possession. Over time, 15 years in Connecticut (10 in New York), encroachments can ripen into ownership rights and the original private landowner can lose a portion (or all) of his land.
All landowners should take a tip from the Conservancy and follow their own good neighbor policy: be aware of property lines, observe any encroachments, and deal with them appropriately but promptly.
We would like to express our thanks to the Conservancy for performing an important, valuable and essential service. We all benefit from the preservation of land in its natural state.
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Image: Pierrepont Pond, Ridgefield, CT..
