House File 2335 - Introduced



                                       HOUSE FILE       
                                       BY  PETTENGILL


    Passed House,  Date               Passed Senate, Date             
    Vote:  Ayes        Nays           Vote:  Ayes        Nays         
                 Approved                            

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to the possession and repossession of
  2    agricultural land, by restricting the application of the
  3    doctrine of adverse possession and providing for an action of
  4    ejectment.
  5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
  6 TLSB 5479HH 81
  7 da/je/5

PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 557.5, Code 2005, is amended to read as
  1  2 follows:
  1  3    557.5  ADVERSE POSSESSION.
  1  4    1.  Adverse possession of real estate does not prevent any
  1  5 a person from selling that transferring the person's interest
  1  6 in the same real property.
  1  7    2.  A person does not acquire title to real property by
  1  8 asserting a claim of adverse possession, if, within ten years
  1  9 prior to the date on which an action is brought asserting a
  1 10 claim of adverse possession, the real property was assessed as
  1 11 agricultural land for purposes of property taxation.
  1 12    Sec. 2.  Section 614.1, subsection 5, Code 2005, is amended
  1 13 to read as follows:
  1 14    5.  WRITTEN CONTRACTS == JUDGMENTS OF COURTS NOT OF RECORD
  1 15 == RECOVERY OF REAL PROPERTY.  Those founded on written
  1 16 contracts, or on judgments of any courts except those provided
  1 17 for in the next subsection, and those brought for the recovery
  1 18 of real property, within ten years.  However, an action of
  1 19 ejectment may be brought within ten years from the last date
  1 20 that the real property was assessed as agricultural land for
  1 21 the purposes of property taxation and the possessor of the
  1 22 real property shall not have a counterclaim of adverse
  1 23 possession during that ten=year period.
  1 24                           EXPLANATION
  1 25    This bill relates to the common law doctrine of adverse
  1 26 possession in which the wrongful possessor of real estate may
  1 27 nevertheless acquire title to the real property.  The purpose
  1 28 of the doctrine is to quiet title and bar stale claims in the
  1 29 same way as a statute of limitations.  The situation often
  1 30 arises when a person mistakenly possesses land by erecting a
  1 31 fence on neighboring property and both the person and the
  1 32 neighbor treat the fence as a legal boundary.  In order to
  1 33 claim adverse possession, the possession of the land must be
  1 34 hostile, actual, open, exclusive, and continuous under a claim
  1 35 of right or color of title.  Under common law, the depossessed
  2  1 owner of the real property must bring an action of ejectment
  2  2 within a certain period time, e.g., 20 years.  Code section
  2  3 614.1 amends the common law period by providing a 10=year
  2  4 statute of limitations for the recovery of such real property.
  2  5 See Carpenter v. Ruperto, 315 N.W.2d 782 (Iowa 1982), in which
  2  6 the supreme court recites the elements for a claim of adverse
  2  7 possession and holds that the claim must be proved by clear
  2  8 and convincing evidence after the 10=year period.
  2  9    The bill limits the application of the doctrine of adverse
  2 10 possession and allows the depossessed titleholder of real
  2 11 property to bring an action of ejectment within 10 years prior
  2 12 to the date in which the real property was assessed as
  2 13 agricultural land for purposes of property taxation (see
  2 14 generally Code chapter 427).
  2 15    The bill does not affect a claim of title based on an
  2 16 unbroken chain of title of record for 40 years or more as
  2 17 provided in Iowa's marketable record title law (Code sections
  2 18 614.29=614.38).
  2 19 LSB 5479HH 81
  2 20 da:rj/je/5