The Washington Supreme Court answered an often asked question by clearly stating that alleys dedicated for public use cannot be adversely possessed. The case is Kiely v. Graves and concerns competing claims to a portion of an alley that had been vacated by the city of Port Townsend. William and Sally Chapin Kiely were neighbors [...]
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By Joseph on December 26, 2011 in Adverse Possession, Prescriptive Easement, Statutory Warranty Deed
I don’t know how many real estate transactions involve a transfer of property by a statutory warranty deed. I suspect it must be close to 90%. How many sellers know that a statutory warranty contains warranties that they are making to the purchaser? How many sellers know that the purchaser might come back to them, [...]
Adverse possession v. Prescriptive easement
Boundary disputes arise in many ways. However, at their core, they all share a common characteristic: a legal boundary line is being ignored. Provided that the boundary line has been ignored for the requisite period of time (usually ten years), the user can acquire title to the other’s property. What they acquire might be “fee [...]
Citing equity, courts can take your property
The Huntingtons built their house, well and garage on Noel Proctor’s property. Instead of having the property surveyed prior to building, the Huntingtons mistakenly believed that a survey pin marked the corner of their property. It didn’t, it was actually 400 feet from the true boundary, having been placed there by a prior property owner [...]
Mowing not enough for adverse possession
Division One upheld a summary judgment in favor of the owners of undeveloped property in Skagit County against the adverse possession claim of their neighbors. The dispute involved the Plaintiffs’ claim that by mowing of a portion of the Defendants’ undeveloped land for a period of more than ten years, they had acquired the property [...]