Adverse possession in Washington is controlled by state statute, but also by the courts. Importantly, the burden of proof to establish a claim of adverse possession is on the trespasser. The legal holder of title is its presumed owner until the adverse possessor can meet that burden. In other words, the trespasser must do all the work of proving that a judge should give him or her ownership over the land.
No single statute in Washington spells out the elements that a trespasser must establish in order to prove adverse possession. The courts, however, have filled this gap by establishing a variety of such factors, over many decades of issuing decisions in actual cases. As in most states, adverse possession in Washington is established from the nature of a trespasser's possession and the length of time he or she possesses the land. A trespasser's possession must be:. For example, imagine that Mary and Samuel live next to one another in Olympia.
No dividing fence or boundary exists between their yards. Samuel builds a series of beekeeping sheds that are actually on Mary's side of the property, covering about 14 square feet of earth. Mary doesn't say anything. Samuel tends to his bees and uses the sheds as if they were on his own land. He does this for ten years, and pays property taxes on the land. Under the rubric described above, Samuel can probably establish that he "owns" the land on which he was encroaching.
Mary could have stopped him by asking, over those ten years, that he remove his beekeeping structures, or sign a rental agreement in order to continue using them with her express permission.
But Washington courts won't let her suddenly eject Samuel after having sat on her rights for ten years. In addition to the usual adverse possession requirements, someone attempting to claim possession of forestland in Washington State must show that they've made or erected substantial improvements, which remained entirely or partially on the land for at least ten years. The doctrine of adverse possession protects someone who has honestly entered and held possession in the belief that the land is his or her own, as well as one who knowingly appropriates the land of others for the specific purpose of acquiring title.
In other words, in Washington, there is no requirement that the entry and continued possession of the property be done with knowing or intentional hostility. Rather, any entry and possession for the required ten years that is exclusive, continuous, hostile, actual, and open—even if under a mistaken claim of title—is sufficient to support a claim of title by adverse possession.
In our example above, it doesn't matter whether Samuel built the beekeeping sheds knowing that he was on Mary's land, or whether he built them mistakenly thinking he was on his own land. His intent has no bearing on his eventual claim for title under adverse possession. As discussed above, Washington State generally requires a ten-year limitation period for occupation of property by the trespasser in order to gain title under Wash.
Code Ann. One exception to this is when the trespasser is held under color of title, per Wash. Fortunately or unfortunately, the survey may not settle the issue of who owns the land now because of adverse possession. Whether adverse possession has occurred is very fact dependent, and requires a number all of a number of factors to be met.
However, if all of the factors are met a person who was originally a trespasser can become the legal owner of the property that was being trespassed upon.
The required factors, which will be discussed below, are:. If you believe that you may have a claim to property by adverse possession, or if your neighbor may assert a claim for your property, you should consider each of these factors, and if any one factor is not met, then the claim for adverse possession should fail.
The first factor, exclusive possession, means that the person claiming adverse possession used the property the way they would use their own property. One of the most important considerations, but not conclusive on its own, is whether the property is fenced into the adverse claimants yard.
In the legal sense, hostile can have three alternative definitions. Actual possession requires that the trespasser is physically present on the property and treats it as if they are an owner. This can be established by documenting beautification efforts as mentioned above.
Any improvements made to the property can prove actual possession. It must be obvious to anyone that a squatter is residing on the property. They must not be trying to hide that they are living there. Even a landowner who makes a reasonable effort to investigate should be able to tell that someone is squatting on the property.
The squatter must possess the land exclusively. This means that the trespasser cannot share possession with other tenants, other squatters, the owner, or strangers. The squatter must reside on the property for the entire 7 years required for an adverse possession claim in Washington. They cannot leave for weeks or months, return later, and then claim the time they were absent as part of their continuous possession period.
The time the squatter resides on the property must be uninterrupted. However, if the landlord is legally disabled either they are underage, imprisoned, or legally incompetent , they have additional time to gain control over their property and prevent adverse possession claims.
In this case, they have 3 years after their disability is lifted either they come of age, regain competency, or are released from prison to prevent an adverse possession claim.
The owner is missing one or more of the correct legal documents, memorials, or registrations. In Washington, a squatter must have color of title in order to make an adverse possession claim. Though having color of title is required for all 7 years, it does not decrease your continuous occupation time like it might in other states.
A squatter who has successfully completed an adverse possession claim has color of title as well. In Washington, a squatter must pay property taxes for all 7 years of their continuous occupation time.
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