The Strip You Have Been Mowing
Idaho Code § 5-210 — twenty years of continuous possession, an enclosure or cultivation, and every tax paid
A person claiming land without a deed, judgment or decree is treated as having possessed it only where it was protected by a substantial enclosure, or was usually cultivated or improved.
Twenty years, and the taxes. Adverse possession is never established unless the land was occupied and claimed continuously for twenty years, and the claimant and those before them paid all the state, county and municipal taxes levied on it.
A recorded letter of permission stops it. Adverse possession is not established where a written instrument recorded with the county recorder declares that allowing the possession was not meant to define boundaries or ownership.
A particular boundary is a question for a licensed surveyor or a licensed Idaho attorney.
Sources for this section (1)
- Idaho Code § 5-210 — Oral claim — Possession defined — Payment of taxes
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Idaho attorney.