Squatters rights in Illinois?
Anyone know a website I can search about Squatters rights in Southern Illinois. I have owned my property for 9 years and my new neighbors have started mowing into my property. Now, out here in the country no one has had any of their land surveyed. So, if my neighbor has his land surveyed and we find some of my property is his, do I lose that land?? Or is the fact that I’ve maintained it for 9 years mean it’s mine. They have lived next door for only 3 years.
The previous owners and I agreed on the property line but apparently the new neighbors don’t like that agreement.
Well, I’m not going to leave because I purchased 5 acres and I paid to build a house on it. The question is where is the property line??
May 25th, 2010 at 9:27 pm
There is a law in California that if a neighbor builds a fence( 1 inch to a foot or how many feet) it is a a structure like part of a shed that is over on to your property and you do not contest at that time or I think it is in the ball park of 7 years. then it goes to the other person. I had a fence installed on a back of a hill following a drainage ditch. The people never complained and it automatically became part of my property.
May 25th, 2010 at 9:27 pm
There are no squatters’ rights. If you don’t own the land, then you need to leave, no matter how long you’ve maintained it.
Now if the previous owners and you agreed on a property line, then you could make the argument that that agreement was a contract that modified the ownership, and the new owners are bound by it.
June 20th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
In Illinois you can make a legal case for “adverse possession” if you’ve “openly and notoriously” used someone else’s property for 20 years or more. This can apply even if the use was originated by the previous owners of your property. You haven’t told us how much property is in dispute or how critical it is (does your house straddle the property line?). If you have a written agreement with your former neighbor or if he’ll testify to a verbal contract you may be able to enforce your claim as an easement. In any case you should check the full legal description of your property on the deed or at the courthouse. If it’s a 5 acre parcel it is not subject to the Illinois Plat Act but probably has corner pins, rent a metal detector and try to find them. Beyond that you’ll have to get a survey. Hard to imagine a scenario wherein you’d have to leave your property. These matters are best handled between the parties. Discuss the matter with your neighbor and figure out where he’s coming from. Maybe he just likes to mow grass.