HB 1596 -- Adverse Possession

Sponsor:  Pollock

This bill establishes requirements for the taking of real
property by adverse possession.  In its main provisions, the
bill:

(1)  Specifies that a person or entity is an adverse possessor of
real property when the person or entity occupies another's
property, with or without knowledge of the other person's or
entity's ownership rights, that would cause an action for
ejectment;

(2)  Specifies that an adverse possessor gains title to the
occupied property after the statute of limitations for an action
to recover property has expired if the adverse possession claim
has been open and notorious, continuous, exclusive, and actual;

(3)  Prohibits a claim of right from being required if the
property owner cannot be ascertained in the records of the
appropriate county recorder of deeds.  A claim of right is a
reasonable basis for the belief that the property belongs to the
adverse possessor or property owner;

(4)  Specifies the instances where land will be deemed to have
been possessed and occupied for the purposes of constituting an
adverse possession founded upon a written instrument, judgment,
or decree and specifies the instances where it is not founded
upon a written instrument, judgment, or decree;

(5)  Deems a premises to have been adversely held if there has
been continued occupation under a claim of right;

(6)  Specifies that possession of a tenant is deemed the
possession of the landlord until 10 years after the tenancy
terminates or the last payment of rent.  After that time, a
tenant may commence adverse possession actions; and

(7)  Prohibits adverse possession in regards to the existence of
certain encroachments, including fences, hedges, sheds, and
nonstructural walls, and for the acts of lawn mowing or similar
maintenance across property boundary lines.

Missouri House of Representatives
95th General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated September 14, 2010 at 3:11 pm