By Michael Estrin of Bankrate.com
“You dream of taking ownership of a vacant home by living in it. Then legal reality sets in.
Describing himself as a “savvy investor,” a man used an arcane property-law doctrine known as adverse possession to squat in a vacant Dallas-area home.
Kenneth Robinson’s gambit cost him $16 in filing fees paid to the county clerk’s office, and he got eight rent-free months in a home valued at $340,000. The ploy gave him a hook to peddle an e-book explaining how other people could use adverse possession to squat in vacant homes and eventually claim legal title to those properties.
But lawyers familiar with adverse possession say Robinson got the law all wrong. In February, the mortgage holder foreclosed. Robinson moved out, rather than face eviction. Although Robinson failed, his actions bring up the question of whether it’s possible to take a house via adverse possession.”