Adverse possession
National Real Estate Exam glossary · Transfer Of Title
Definition
A method of acquiring title to another's real property by occupying it in a manner that is Open and notorious, Continuous, Exclusive, Actual, and—most critically tested—Hostile, meaning without the owner's permission, for the statutory period (OCEAN). Permission defeats the claim. Adverse use of a right of way without title yields only a prescriptive easement, not ownership.
Adverse possession in plain English
Adverse possession is the surprising rule that if you openly treat someone else's land as your own for long enough — and they never object or give you permission — the law can eventually make it legally yours. Think of a neighbor who fences in a strip of your backyard, mows it, and plants a garden there for years while you say nothing; eventually the court may decide it's really theirs. To win, the use must tick every box in OCEAN: Open (out in plain sight), Continuous (nonstop for the state's set number of years), Exclusive (they, not the public, used it), Actual (they physically used it), and Hostile (without your permission — this is the big one; the moment you say 'sure, go ahead,' the clock stops). One catch: if they only used a path across your land rather than possessing it, they get a right to keep crossing (a prescriptive easement), not ownership of the land itself.
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