Reclaiming Land: Legal Tips


Questioner

I am looking into something for a family. This family has a piece of land, about three hundred square meters in the countryside of a small village in Brabant. The father of this family gave a neighbor verbal permission about 25 years ago to use this land to grow some plants and trees. Now this family wants the land back. Are there any legal consequences or can they reclaim their land without any problems.

Lawyer

Asking and giving permission implies that the rights of ownership are respected and so there is at most a usage agreement, not acquisitive prescription. The owners can reclaim the land with due observance of a reasonable term.

Lawyer

The owners can reclaim the land, but will encounter resistance from the user if the (written) proof of the verbal permission for the use of the land is missing. The user will then be able to invoke prescription and take the position that this makes him the owner of the plot. The owners will then have to demonstrate that it has been a matter of loan for all these years. A holder of the land (in the case of loan for use) can never become the owner of the land by prescription.

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