Gus wrote:
> We bought a property a few years back and need to make some changes since
> the birth of our child. An architect came to give us a quote and on looking
> around noticed that the way the plot runs is odd. To make a long story
> short, he suspects that years ago -- certainly before we purchased and
> probably before our current neighbour did -- the owner of the adjoining
> property likely built an extension into the boundary of our property. The
> problem we now face is that the area the extension covers makes it very
> difficult to modify our property and allow us to build more space into the
> house.
> We suspect this would have happened a considerable time ago, so said that if
> that were the case we'd not have much luck reversing the situation. He
> thought if this were the case, it would be considered "adverse possession"
> and that we could get some redress.
> Assuming that we found this was a case of adverse possession, can anyone out
> there point me in the direction of information on how these cases are
> typically assessed?
From memory, permanency of "adverse possession" occurs after 12 years
for private property, 30 years for government property. I don't think
any "compensation" will be available to you either, as that was only
available to the original owner the land was dispossessed from by the
person doing the dispossessing. |