Court Sides With Neighbor Taking Land Without Payment

A case in New York has reasserted a centuries-old law allowing a user of someone else's land to acquire title without paying for it.

1 minute read

July 10, 2006, 9:00 AM PDT

By Matt Baumann

"The decision was issued by Judge George Bundy Smith in the case of Walling v. Przybylo, in which G. Scott Walling, a lawyer who owned property in Queensbury, in upstate Warren County, brought what is known as an "action to quiet title by adverse possession." The purpose of the suit was to acquire legal title to a portion of a neighbor's property that Mr. Walling had been using for more than 15 years.

'What this decision stands for more than anything else is that adverse possession is alive and well in New York,' said James Grossman, a Rochester lawyer and a past chairman of the real property section of the State Bar Association. 'Property owners need to know that while adverse possession is not a favored method of securing title, it is a recognized one.'"

Thanks to Matt Baumann

Read the full story: Still Nine-Tenths of the Law

Sunday, July 2, 2006 in The New York Times

Government / Politics Land Use New York

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