Adverse Possession

Adverse possession—more commonly known as squatter’s rights—is the legal acquisition of someone else’s property through extended inhabitation, or "squatting" on the property. Every state has a different length of time that a person must remain in a unit to gain ownership of it.

Squatter’s rights are hard to achieve. In general, the person attempting to squat must live in the property in an obvious, known way that prevents anyone else from using it for an extended, uninterrupted period of time. In most states, that period of time is multiple years.