G.L. c. 260, §§ 21, 22; G.L. c. 185, § 53; Kendall v. Selvaggio, 413 Mass. 619 (1992)
Adverse possession in Massachusetts — twenty years, and registered land is immune
A claim in Massachusetts trial courts · Last verified August 26, 2026
Adverse possession transfers ownership of land to someone who has used it long enough, openly enough, and without permission. In Massachusetts the period is twenty years, set by G.L. c. 260, § 21: "An action for the recovery of land shall be commenced, or an entry made thereon, only within twenty years after the right of action or of entry first accrued."
Most of these cases are not land grabs. They are fences built a few feet off the line in 1985, driveways that always crossed the corner, and lawns mowed to a hedge that turned out to be on the neighbour's side.
What the claim is
You have used part of someone else's land as your own for two decades, and you want the title — or a right to keep using it.
Where the right comes from
The limitations statute, c. 260 § 21, applied by the common law. The seminal modern statement of the elements is Kendall v. Selvaggio, 413 Mass. 619 (1992).
What a claimant has to prove
Possession that is:
- Actual — real use of the land, of a kind an owner would make of it;
- Open and notorious — visible enough that a reasonably attentive owner would notice;
- Exclusive — not shared with the record owner or the public;
- Adverse — without the owner's permission; and
- Continuous for twenty years.
All five, for the whole period, and the claimant carries the burden on each.
"Adverse" does not mean hostile in any emotional sense. It means non-permissive. Most successful claims involve people who believed the land was theirs — which is why a boundary mistake is a stronger case than a deliberate encroachment, not a weaker one.
Tacking
G.L. c. 260, § 22 allows successive possessors to add their periods together where there is privity between them — a deed, a will, an inheritance. Twelve years by one owner and nine by the buyer makes twenty-one, provided the land passed between them.
Without privity, the clock restarts. A squatter who leaves and is replaced by an unrelated squatter gives the record owner a fresh twenty years.
Prescriptive easements
A prescriptive easement is the same claim for a right of use rather than ownership — a right of way across a neighbour's land, a drainage pipe, a shared driveway.
The elements are the same except exclusivity. A person claiming a right of way need not have excluded everyone else; using the path alongside the owner is consistent with the easement claimed.
The period is the same twenty years.
What defeats it
Permission. This is the complete answer and the most common one. Use with the owner's consent is not adverse, and a licence granted at any point during the twenty years restarts the clock. A short letter from an owner saying "you may continue to use the driveway" is worth more than any fence.
Registered land. Under G.L. c. 185, § 53, title to land registered in the Land Court cannot be acquired by adverse possession or prescription. No period of occupation will do it. This is the single most important thing to check before advising anyone about a claim, and it is checked at the registry.
Government land held for a public purpose, which is protected by statute from adverse possession.
A break in continuity — a gap in use, an interruption by the owner, an ejectment action.
Land held by a non-profit conservation organisation. Section 21 itself carves out an action by or on behalf of a non-profit land conservation corporation or trust for the recovery of land held for conservation, parks, recreation, water protection or wildlife protection purposes.
How long you have to file
There is no deadline to bring the claim — the claimant is asserting a title that has already vested once twenty years ran.
The record owner has twenty years to sue to recover the land or make an entry on it. After that, the owner's action is barred and the possessor's title is good.
What has to happen before you file
Nothing procedurally. In practice a survey and a title examination come first, because the claim is proved with a plan, deeds, and evidence of use across two decades — aerial photographs, tax photographs, testimony from neighbours, dated receipts for fencing and paving.
What the claim pays
Title to the land, in adverse possession — a judgment that can be recorded.
A right of use, in a prescriptive easement claim, defined by the use that established it.
No damages, no multiplier, no attorney's fees.
Where the record owner has interfered with the possessor in the meantime, or the reverse, trespass and nuisance claims may travel alongside — and under G.L. c. 242 § 7, cutting trees on land the defendant did not own can treble damages.
Which court
The Land Court, which is the specialist forum and handles most of these, or the Superior Court. The Land Court's registration and title resources make it the usual choice, and a try title or quiet title count is often pleaded with the adverse possession claim.
Common defenses
- Permission, express or implied, at any point in the twenty years.
- Registered land, under c. 185 § 53 — a complete bar.
- The use was not exclusive, for an adverse possession claim.
- The use was not open and notorious — a subterranean encroachment nobody could see.
- A break in continuity, or no privity for tacking.
- Government or conservation land.
- The twenty years is not complete.
What people get wrong
Paying the property taxes is not required. Some states make it an element. Massachusetts does not, and paying them neither establishes the claim nor shortens the period.
Registered land cannot be taken. However long the fence has stood, c. 185 § 53 ends the inquiry.
Bad faith is not required — and not helpful. Most winning claims are honest boundary mistakes.
Permission destroys it. An owner who discovers an encroachment can protect the title with a letter granting permission, and that is usually a better move than litigation.
Twenty years means twenty continuous years, by one possessor or by successive possessors with privity between them.
Trimming a branch is not possession. Massachusetts follows the rule that an owner troubled by overhanging branches or intruding roots may cut them back to the property line and has no claim beyond that.
Where it came from
Adverse possession looks like a reward for trespassing and is better understood as a statute of repose for land titles. Its function is to make old possession conclusive so that ownership can be determined from the recent record rather than from an unbroken chain running back indefinitely.
Massachusetts kept the traditional twenty years, longer than most states, and then did something about the resulting uncertainty that few states did: it built a land registration system. Land registered in the Land Court has a title certificate that is conclusive, and § 53 makes it immune from adverse possession, because a system that guarantees title cannot allow that title to be lost through inattention.
The result is two regimes running side by side. Recorded land, where twenty years of open use takes title, and registered land, where it never does. Which one a parcel sits in is a fact about the parcel, not about the parties, and it decides the case before the elements are reached.
Common questions
How long does adverse possession take in Massachusetts?
Twenty years of actual, open and notorious, exclusive, adverse and continuous possession.
Do I have to pay the property taxes?
No. Massachusetts does not require it, and paying them does not shorten the period.
What is a prescriptive easement?
A right to keep using someone else's land — a path, a driveway, a pipe — acquired by the same twenty-year use, without the exclusivity requirement.
Can I lose land to a neighbour's fence?
Yes, if the fence and the use behind it were open, exclusive and without your permission for twenty years. Granting permission in writing stops it.
Does it work on registered land?
No. Title to land registered under G.L. c. 185 cannot be acquired by adverse possession or prescription.
What if I bought the property partway through?
You may add your predecessor's time to yours where the land passed between you — that is tacking, under c. 260 § 22.