History shows us that the claim of free lands has been carried out since time immemorial. The task is to choose the right plot to claim. This article explains how to effectively claim the land for free.
The practice of claiming free land or property is not new. Our history books are testimony to this fact and if you open the pages you will get countless examples of this kind.
The new settlers who came to America can be ranked as one of the best examples in history. These new settlers came and claimed the free property as their own, creating their own houses and farmland on it.
Coming back to the present, it can be safely stated at this point that there are millions of those unclaimed parcels of land lying unregistered and unused waiting for someone to claim them.
The first step for you would be the identification of the property where you need to identify a parcel of land on which you would claim. You have to be selective about this and then do a little detective work.
An unclaimed property would always have some sure signs on them. You need to be able to identify those parcels with their overgrown gates and gardens, shattered and edged windows, shrub lands, abandonments, disused garages, or even abandoned business premises and industrial buildings.
Since such signs are never very obvious, you will surely miss them if you are driving rather than walking in your own neighborhood.
You must perform the registration verification once you have made your property identification. That is, you need to contact the local land registry to check whether the land is already registered or not. It may also be that the status is pending first application.
If the plot is already registered, there may be many reasons behind it. The owner could have died without leaving relatives behind. Or it may be that the relative does not want the land or it may be that the owner has moved abroad, abandoning this property.
Now, in case it is not registered, it means that it is not registered by anyone yet and therefore has no owner. This is your best claim bet, although it could mean that the landlord tracing part will become difficult for you.
Third, if the status is ‘First Pending Request’, it means that someone else has already made a claim on it. Therefore, it would be better if you abandon this plot and look for another one like that.
In adverse possession, tracing the owner is the third step to take, as in order to claim any land, you must first provide proof that you have attempted to contact the original owner.
Some of the effective ways to investigate the landlord is to ask immediate neighbors if they have any news about his whereabouts. Apart from this, other ways can be done such as consultation with the electoral function, local post office, kiosks, owners, milkman, even the inheritance registry office (in case it is no longer there).
When you are ready to claim the property, a good idea would be to create evidence of the start date of your claim. Although this is not required, contact two friends or neighbors to witness your document.
Put up ‘No Trespassing’ signs or even a mini fence to quickly bring an owner to the scene, if one exists.
The adverse possession process is lengthy, and the claim period sometimes runs as long as 10 to 12 years. In the meantime, what you can do is rent the land or do things like sell boots and the like.
Some people who might be helpful are the local neighbors of the parcel of land. This is because hardly anyone wants to live next to an overgrown abandoned building alongside a trash-filled creek where unwanted events could be happening overnight.
If you want detailed information on the various prevailing adverse possession laws and legislations, you can take the help of the countless CDs and brochures that are available in the market. There are also many websites that do the owner’s tracking detective work on your behalf.
All of this can be taken advantage of and you can actually find and claim a free plot of land for yourself.