Source: https://nislick.com/2014/10/15/how-to-interrupt-a-claim-of-adverse-possession-and-prevent-the-acquisition-of-an-easement-in-massachusetts/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 08:09:44+00:00

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You are a Massachusetts landowner. You may have recently purchased your property. Maybe you have owned the land for a long time. One day, you realize that your neighbors are doing something that irritates you. Perhaps they are parking cars on your property. Possibly they are crossing over your property. Maybe they have erected a shed on your property. They may even be mowing the grass or cutting down trees on your land to use for firewood.
Whatever the neighbors are doing, it is annoying and you want them to stop. After all, this is your land, not theirs. You have a survey done and it is clear that the neighbors are encroaching on your property. You discuss it with them. They tell you to pound sand. Even worse, they tell you they have a claim for adverse possession or a prescriptive easement against you.
You are not exactly sure what that means, but it sounds intimidating. The main difference between adverse possession and a prescriptive easement can be understood this way: Adverse possession gives them ownership of your land, whereas a prescriptive easement gives them the right to use your land.
Questions swirl around in your head. Can they really take my land? Are they blowing smoke? What can I do to stop them? How can I protect my property?
If you in the midst of a land dispute, contact Robert Nislick, a Massachusetts attorney and former Land Court law clerk, to discuss your rights and remedies.
“While the posting of such a notice upon the land is an act of ownership and may constitute evidence bearing upon the continuity of an adverse possession . . . it does not necessarily, as matter of law, interrupt such possession.” Very few cases have discussed whether the posting of a notice pursuant to G. L. c. 187, § 3, interrupts the accrual of an adverse possession claim, rather than simply the accrual of a prescriptive easement. The most prudent course of action for the landowner is to file suit against the adverse possessor before twenty years of actual, continuous, open, exclusive, and non-permissive use pass.
If you are embroiled in a land dispute with your neighbor, call Robert Nislick, a Massachusetts real estate attorney, today.
 Totman v. Malloy, 431 Mass. 143, 145 (2000).
 Mendonca v. Cities Serv. Oil Co. of Pa., 354 Mass. 323, 326 (1968).
 Stone v. Perkins, 59 Mass. App. Ct. 265, 266 (2003).
 G. L. c. 187, § 2.
 Pugatch v. Stoloff, 41 Mass. App. Ct. 536, 541-542 (1996).
 Galinat v. Charlton, Land Court Miscellaneous Case No. 399614 (KCL), slip op. at 4-5 (Long, J.) (Jun. 8, 2009).
 Xifaras v. Andrade, 59 Mass. App. Ct. 789, 794 (2003).
 G. L. c. 187, § 3.
 Rothery v. MacDonald, 329 Mass. 238, 241 (1952).

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