Have you been letting your neighbor park his car on your property for years? Be careful, you risk losing this plot if the latter takes legal action after 30 years. In a judgment of September 7, 2023, the Court of Cassation in fact ruled in favor of a man who claimed ownership of part of the adjoining land where he used to park. And this, “despite an amicable boundary having demarcated everyone's property in 1991”, we can read on the official website of the French administration.
But since that date, the neighbor had continued to use this piece of land for parking as he did before. And 30 years later, he asked the court to note the acquisition by prescription of this plot.
Boundaries between neighbors are not enough
According to the law, “it is necessary to demonstrate the existence of continuous and uninterrupted, peaceful, public, unequivocal possession as owner of real estate for a period of 30 years” to obtain a win. of cause in such a procedure. The court of appeal dismissed the neighbor's appeal, considering him in bad faith. “He could not have been unaware that the parking of their vehicles or the storage of their equipment was done in part on the portion of land identified by the surveyor as not belonging to them,” the judges then ruled.
But the Court of Cassation annulled this decision, recalling that “the demarcation carried out between neighbors does not imply, in itself, their agreement on the ownership of the disputed plots”. The owner therefore lost a piece of land for letting his neighbor occupy it for more than 30 years.