I think the only way you can get land that way in Utah is if you had presumed
you owned it and the county tax assessor did too. I think you have had to use
it for 19 years and all the while being open and notorious. Here is a list:
a.. There must be a “hostile” claim: the trespasser must either
a.. make an honest mistake (like relying on an incorrect deed);
b.. merely occupy the land (with or without knowledge that it is private
property); or
c.. be aware of his or her trespassing;
b.. There must be actual possession: the trespasser must be physically
present on the land, treating it as his or her own;
c.. There must be open and notorious possession: the act of trespassing
cannot be secret; and
d.. There must be exclusive and continuous possession: the trespasser cannot
share possession with others, and must be in possession of the land for an
uninterrupted period of time.
From: Adam Moffett
Sent: Monday, January 4, 2021 11:59 AM
To: af@af.afmug.com
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT: Buying land
That's adverse possession. You have to invest several years of your life into
that. Live there openly with nobody stopping you for years, and apparently in
some places go pay the property taxes too.
I'm fascinated that it's a real thing, but I'm not sure how you do it. Maybe
you'd find a property owned by an absentee landowner. Start squatting. Tell
the neighbors you've "moved in down the road" without specifying any other
details. Smile and wave when you drive by so they all know you're there.
Quietly go pay the taxes. Hope the landowner ignores his tax statements or
doesn't question why the balance is always zero. Or maybe you convince the
muni to send the statement to you instead of the owner. When the timer expires
get your lawyer to start proceedings.
I think it's something along those lines. I think people who pull that off must
be either very lucky or very clever. Plan B is a stint in jail for criminal
trespassing and criminal mischief and whatever else they can think of. So
either way I suppose you get a roof over your head.
On 1/4/2021 1:25 PM, Steve Jones wrote:
anybody looked into the squatter laws how those creeps are able to
occasionally take possession of properties and magically become the lawful
owners? seems that may be the least expensive way to obtain things
On Mon, Jan 4, 2021 at 10:34 AM Bill Prince <part15...@gmail.com> wrote:
California has a similar law. The period is 5 years, and there are a
series of points that need to be made. If the easement is considered
valid then the court "may" issue a payment to the land owner over which
the easement is granted.
bp
<part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com>
On 1/3/2021 7:54 PM, Brian Webster wrote:
> Sometimes a good land surveyor can help you get a prescriptive easement
in situations like this. Mt brother is a surveyor so my understanding of how he
has done this in some cases is probably not the legal way of describing it. MY
understanding is it goes like this. If a person has been granted easement over
a property over a period of time (I think 5 or 10 years but not sure) and there
is evidence that it has been permitted (an old farm lane or access road is a
good example) that has not been challenged by the property owner that you
cannot use that access road. Then at least in NY that can be legally called a
prescriptive easement, and as such you can actually file that and record it as
a deeded easement. It's not an easy process and there is a lot of posturing and
the case law has to be argued in court in a lot of cases. So in some cases that
he has helped, he looked up historical aerial images (not on line but at the
local soil and water conservation district) and found stuff dating back to say
1927 or 1954. In these cases there was a lot less forest and he could see a
farm lane or access road that was used. Enough use that it's very evident from
the phot. Then with this information, he will go out on the land and try to
find hints of that road or access lane. If he finds that road, even in the
current forested area, he helped the landlocked property owner gain that
prescriptive easement and then recorded a deeded easement.
>
> Some of that cheap land locked property might be something you could do
this with. Now I am not a lawyer or a licensed land surveyor so my description
cannot be taken and legal advice. Prescriptive easement laws and case law may
be different in various states so check on that with someone who is qualified
on the topic. In NY Licensed surveyors have a limited right to practice law in
land issues for cases like this. My brother always said that was the hardest
part of his surveyors license to get through. He spent a lot of time studying
and reviewing case law.
>
> Thank you,
> Brian Webster
> www.wirelessmapping.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: AF [mailto:af-boun...@af.afmug.com] On Behalf Of Bill Prince
> Sent: Sunday, January 3, 2021 7:26 PM
> To: af@af.afmug.com
> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT: Buying land
>
> I think those are called land locked or something similar. Unless and
> until an owner (or prospective owner) can buy deeded access, it would be
> worthless to anyone except perhaps a helicopter pilot.
>
>
> bp
> <part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com>
>
> On 1/3/2021 4:23 PM, Adam Moffett wrote:
>> The absolute cheapest land seems to have no deeded access at all. I'm
>> not sure who would ever buy those lots....but someone is selling it so
>> therefore they bought it at one time.
>>
>>
>> On 1/3/2021 6:04 PM, Bill Prince wrote:
>>> I can add another thing. We live on a quarter section that was
>>> divided into 4 approximately 40 acre parcels. Most of the land is not
>>> really "buildable" except for a dozen or so acres on the ridge top.
>>> They carved up the parcels to give everyone close to the same amount
>>> of ridge top space, and then divided the remainder and attached it to
>>> the ridge top home sites. The road easement runs along the south side
>>> of the ridge top. This arrangement worked out pretty well for 3 of
>>> the 4 parcels, as the road easement ended up running along the
>>> boundary between two adjacent parcels except for one parcel. I think
>>> we got the best deal, as we're at the end of the road easement, and
>>> "none" of the road (or the easement) actually runs through or even
>>> along the side our property. However, one of the properties has his 4
>>> acres or so at the top of the ridge, and the remainder of his
>>> property is on the other side of the easement. As a result, the two
>>> of us at the end, drive through his property whenever we come or go.
>>> No big deal to us, but it rubs this guy raw whenever we drive by, as
>>> he sees us as "trespassers" because he thinks of that part of the
>>> easement as his private property.
>>>
>>> When the guy gets drunk, he will call the sheriff to report us as
>>> trespassing on his "private" property. Years of entertainment ensue.
>>>
>>> bp
>>> <part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com>
>>>
>>> On 1/3/2021 12:59 PM, Chuck McCown via AF wrote:
>>>> A good title insurance policy should dig up and disclose all the
>>>> gotchas.
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>
>>>>> On Jan 3, 2021, at 9:19 AM, Bill Prince <part15...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Depending on the terrain, see if you can get your hands on a
>>>>> parcel map and any benchmarks. Property boundaries can be an issue.
>>>>> If you can't do that, get a title insurance policy that insures you
>>>>> against any future boundary disputes. if there is a time limit in
>>>>> the insurance policy, make sure you understand the implications
>>>>> and/or negotiate for a longer time.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> bp
>>>>> <part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com>
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 1/2/2021 9:28 PM, Adam Moffett wrote:
>>>>>> I'm poking around Zillow for a piece of cheap land.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Basically looking for some place to play around in the woods, with
>>>>>> the possibility of building an off-grid camp/cabin in the future.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The pitfalls I'm aware of are wetlands and places with no access.
>>>>>> What else should I watch out for?'
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> AF mailing list
>>>>> AF@af.afmug.com
>>>>> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
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