ADVERSE-POSSESSION UPDATE

It's clear, from the calls and e-mails we receive, that the continued application of New York's adverse-possession law troubles many property owners throughout our state.
Last week, we contacted Denize Pryzbylo, one of the defendants in Walling v. Pryzbylo--an adverse-possession case that reached the New York State Court of Appeals--to find out the status of her efforts to effect legislative change. Here is her latest report:

Hi Lucas:
Since we last spoke, we have met with our local Senator Elizabeth Little, Senator Bruno's office, Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's office.

We are hoping they will amend the current bill from 10 years to 20 years and revise the wording. The current versions provide that the purpose of the legislation is to "disqualify individuals who have knowledge of actual boundary lines from claiming property through adverse possession." [You will find the links to the Senate and Assembly bills, below.] My complaint about the proposed change is that it still involves many hours of court time, financial resources to pay attorneys, and continued uncertainty as to what is sufficient proof of "knowledge." Since the wording to too vague, I will be pushing to make it clearer. By way of example, if a survey has been performed for either landowner, that should preclude an adverse possession claim. At a minimum, the adverse possessor must pay tax on the land during the governing "window period" before any claim may vest.

As for our case, the judge has signed the judgment. We now officially don't own that part of our land which was "staked" by our neighbors in the litigation. We also had to pay them $3,433.97 in costs. This included a bill for the survey they performed. We also had to pay for another survey to be sure the line was accurate. Now our property has been surveyed 4 different times. Needless to say, the surveyors are on board to help amend this law. No taxes that we have paid for the last decade or so will be reimbursed. We now have to let the Town know we no longer own the parcel in question and our tax assessment will need to be adjusted.

Please encourage anyone with an interest in this topic to contact their local Senate and Assembly representatives. We continue to receive phone calls from New York State residents affected by this law. A case in the Third Department involving two brothers is now pending: Robinson v. Robinson--case 99697. We await the Third Department's decision and are curious to see how the court will rule in that case.

Thank you for helping this NYS cause.
Denise Przybylo