24 Hour Loans glossary of financial terms

Adverse Possession

Adverse possession is the legal term used to describe the rights of someone that is occupying land that actually belongs to somebody else. The occupation of the land ? subject to the legal parameters involved with adverse possession regulations ? may be transferred to the new occupant from the actual land title holder in certain circumstances.

The rules controlling adverse possession vary in terms of how they work and how long possession must last before the rules can be applied. Basically, however, land title can sometimes be transferred from the property holder to the new occupant if they use the property without the current holder stopping or challenging their use over a specified number of years. The key thing here is that the original property holder has not challenged the new occupancy of the land. In this instance the new occupant may be able to apply for adverse possession of the land.