Articles Tagged with Squatters rights in NJ

It’s easy to think that under New Jersey real estate law, “squatter’s rights” is a thing of the past.  However, it is very much alive, although very difficult to prove.  There are two similar ways to obtain an interest in property owned by another, through either adverse possession or a prescriptive easement.  While the requirements for each are similar are similar, they are still different.  These requirements were recently examined in a New Jersey appeals court decision in the case of Shea vs DiPopolo.

Kenneth and Catherine Ann Shea purchased a home on Columbia Turnpike in Florham Park, New Jersey in 2003.  The survey showed that their horseshoe shaped driveway, both ends of which connect to Columbia Turnpike, ran onto the edge of the neighboring property.  The Shea’s house was built in 1981, and aerial photographs show that the driveway was in use and going over the neighbor’s property since at least April 19, 1990.  It was originally gravel, but the Sheas paved it between 2005 and 2007.   They .used it until 2021 when their neighbors Romo and Dolores DiPopolo, sent a letter telling them to stop using it and then put a fence up barring their access.

The DiPopolos bought the neighboring property in 2001.  It vacant until they built a house there and moved into it in 2016.  The DiPopolos also owned the property behind it.  They developed that property in 2004 and 2005, using the disputed driveway – which ran on both properties – to move the construction equipment used in the development.