Adverse Possession

See RSA 231:174. Lines of Telegraph and Other Companies in Highways. No Prescriptive Right.

See RSA 236:30. Highway Regulation, Protection and Control Regulations. General Provisions. No Adverse Right.

See RSA 367:45. Formation and Union of Railroad Corporations; Leases and Extensions. Adverse Possession.

See RSA 491:22, Declaratory Judgments

See RSA 508:2. Limitations of Actions. Real Actions. This is what people generally think of as "the" adverse possession statute.

RSA 539:5. State Lands, and RSA 539:6. No Right Acquired by Adverse Possession of State Lands, deal with adverse possession of state lands.

"The common-law doctrine of adverse possession developed from the statutes of limitation on actions for the recovery of land. The primary purpose of such statutes is to bar stale claims by legal owners of land. Because an owner of land must bring an action within the statutory limitation period, the possession of the occupant must be of such a nature as to have given the owner a cause of action. To successfully maintain a claim based on adverse possession, the possessor and its predecessors in title must show adverse, continuous, uninterrupted use of the land he claims in such a manner as to give reasonable notice to the record owner that an adverse claim was being made to it."

"In order to obtain title by adverse possession, the adverse possessor must prove, by a balance of probabilities, twenty years of adverse, continuous, and uninterrupted use of the land claimed so as to give notice to the owner that an adverse claim is being made. In addition, adverse use is trespassory in nature, and the adverse possessor's use of the land must be exclusive."

"A use of land is adverse when made under a claim of right where no right exists. Adverse use has been defined as a use without license or permission. Adverse use is trespassory in nature. Use is trespassory if it consists of a wrong which the fee holder can prevent or for which he can obtain damages by means of legal action."

"The doctrine of ‘tacking,’ … is one which permits an adverse possessor to add his period of possession to that of a prior adverse possessor, in order to establish continuous adverse possession for the prescriptive period. Title by adverse possession depends upon open, notorious and exclusive use which is maintained adversely to the true owner for more than twenty years. If such use can be established, title by adverse possession is shown, regardless of any change in the identity of the true owner."

"In this state, the legislature has specifically provided that declaratory judgment actions can be brought in superior court by parties faced with adverse claims to an interest in real property."

"[O]uster of an adverse possessor requires conduct that puts a reasonably prudent person on notice that he or she actually has been ousted. ... [D]emands communicated over the telephone or by e-mail are no more effective at ousting an adverse possessor in the present day than demands shouted from a nearby property or delivered by letter would have been at the time of Locke [1835]."

"Because the State's rights in land are not always enforced and protected with the same vigilance as private rights, the legislature has determined that no person can acquire title to State lands by adverse possession."