[Hirsty]

We have an L shaped property in an Andalucian village. At the corner is a piece of land 3m x 3m only accessible by an alleyway underneath our house. We know the name of the owner as its on our deeds, we also have its catastral number and value (€1340) It is listed a suelo  urbano. We have been unable to find the owner, no-one locally recognises the name and since we have been here (7rs) we have used it to store our logs and have put a locked gate on the alleyway. Can we clain it as ours under the adverse possession law in three years time and if so how do we do that? Theocracy recently put the IbA Bill.in our letter b ok x €6.79 a year….should we pay it to reinforce our claim?

[Mark Stücklin]

Hirsty, I asked a lawyer about this.

His advice was definitely pay the IBI bill, as that will bolster your claim, as you rightly point out.

You can claim it as yours after 10 years providing the owner lives in Spain. If the owners lives abroad (overseas) it is 20 years.

Through a law court procedure, neighbours’ witnesses will be required that you have been using it as your own. That ruling is then lodged at the Land Registry and the change of ownership takes place.

More on this subject: Adverse Possession Explained by Raymundo Larraín Nesbitt

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