Bill Text: PA HB1022 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: In limitation of time, further providing for the period of limitation relating to claims of adverse possession under certain circumstances; and providing for uniform notice, for mesne profits and for reimbursement.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 20-6)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2011-05-06 - Referred to JUDICIARY [HB1022 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2011-HB1022-Amended.html

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PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 1111 PRINTER'S NO. 1705
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 1022 Session of2011
INTRODUCED BY WHEATLEY, THOMAS, BOBACK, BUXTON, D. COSTA, CREIGHTON, DALEY, FABRIZIO, GEIST, GINGRICH, HORNAMAN, JOHNSON, JOSEPHS, KIRKLAND, KORTZ, KULA, MATZIE, McGEEHAN, MILNE, PASHINSKI, PAYTON, RAVENSTAHL, SANTARSIERO, VULAKOVICH, WAGNER AND YOUNGBLOOD, MARCH 14, 2011
AS AMENDED ON SECOND CONSIDERATION, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MAY 2, 2011
AN ACT
Amending Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the
Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in limitation of time,
further providing for the period of limitation relating to
claims of adverse possession under certain circumstances; and
providing for uniform notice, for mesne profits and for
reimbursement.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Title 42 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
Statutes is amended by adding sections to read:
§ 5527.1. Ten-year limitation.
(a) Adverse possession.--Title to real property may be
acquired after no less than ten years of actual, continuous,
exclusive, visible, notorious, distinct and hostile possession
of the real property.
(b) Contiguous lots.--
(1) Where an additional lot abuts and is contiguous to
real property and has been regularly used as part of and
incident to the real property, a possessor who seeks to
acquire title to real property pursuant to this section may
also include the contiguous lot in the action to quiet title
under subsection (c).
(2) In order to acquire title to the contiguous lot, the
possessor must show that:
(i) The area of the contiguous lot as described by
the metes and bounds does not exceed a total area of
one-half acre when combined with the real property.
(ii) The possessor has made actual, continuous,
exclusive, visible, notorious, distinct and hostile
possession of the contiguous lot for a period of not less
than ten years.
(c) Quiet title action required.--
(1) A possessor who seeks to acquire title to real
property pursuant to this section must, after meeting the
requirements of subsections (a) and (b), commence a quiet
title action and provide notice as required in this section.
(2) Notice of the action shall include information
relating to the respondent's opportunity to cure as specified
in subsection (d) and shall be provided to the record owners,
their heirs, successors and assigns.
(3) Notice shall be provided in a form approved by rule
of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which form shall include
the metes and bounds description, deed reference, street
address, postal zip code, uniform parcel identifier or tax
parcel number and the notices of the one-year period to cure
as stated in subsection (d).
(d) One-year notice.--
(1) The record owners or their heirs, successors and
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assigns shall have one year in which to respond by commencing
an action in ejectment against the possessor, which action
disputes the claim of adverse possession.
(2) (i) If an action in ejectment is so filed and
served in accordance with the requirements of this
section and the verdict and judgment in the ejectment
action are rendered in favor of the record owners, or
their heirs, successors and assigns, then both the ten-
year statute of limitations set forth in this section and
the 21-year statute of limitations set forth in section
5530 (relating to twenty-one year limitation) are tolled,
and the court shall render a judgment in favor of the
record owners, or their heirs, successors and assigns,
disposing of the quiet title action.
(ii) The period for running the statute of
limitations for any subsequent claim seeking title by
adverse possession under this section or section 5530
shall commence at a date not earlier than the date of the
judgment granting the relief requested in the ejectment
action.
(3) If no action in ejectment is so filed and served
within the one-year period, then judgment may be entered by
the court granting title to the real property by adverse
possession pursuant to this section and the Pennsylvania
Rules of Civil Procedure.
(4) A judgment granting title by adverse possession
pursuant to this section shall not, in and of itself:
(i) discharge, terminate or give rise to a
presumption of satisfaction or release of any interest in
the property that runs with title to the property,
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including, but not limited to, easements, profits,
covenants, mortgages, liens, judgments and leases; or
(ii) otherwise extend or limit the period of time in
which claims relating to the property may be asserted
against a possessor granted title by a judgment of
adverse possession.
(e) Nonapplicability.--This section shall not apply to real
property that is part of a common interest ownership community
established under 68 Pa.C.S. Pt. II Subpts. B (relating to
condominiums), C (relating to cooperatives) and D (relating to
planned communities).
(f) Definition.--As used in this section, "real property"
means real estate not exceeding one-half acre in area that is:
(1) Improved by a single-family residential dwelling <--
that is and has been occupied by a person possessor seeking <--
title under this section for the full ten years.
(2) Identified as a separate lot in a recorded
conveyance, recorded subdivision plan or recorded official
map or plan of a municipality.
§ 5527.2. Mesne profits.
(a) General rule.--Record owners, their heirs, successors
and assigns shall have the right to seek any mesne profits in an
action in ejectment filed in response to the notice served under
section 5527.1 (relating to ten-year limitation) or waive the
right to such recovery.
(b) Limitation on recovery.--Recovery shall be limited to
the mesne profits applicable to the six-year period ending with
the commencement of the action in ejectment pursuant to section
5527(b) (relating to six year limitation).
§ 5527.3. Reimbursement.
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The defendant in the ejectment action pursuant to section
5527.1 (relating to ten-year limitation) shall have the right to
recover such costs for maintenance, improvements, repairs,
renovations, taxes or other such expenses to benefit the real
property as the defendant can prove by a preponderance of the
evidence that were or should have been the responsibility of the
record owners, their heirs, successors and assigns.
Section 2. Section 5530(a)(1) of Title 42 is amended to
read:
§ 5530. Twenty-one year limitation.
(a) General rule.--The following actions and proceedings
must be commenced within 21 years:
(1) [An] Except as provided in section 5527.1 (relating
to ten-year limitation), an action for the possession of real
property.
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Section 3. This act shall take effect in one year.
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