The Strip You Have Been Mowing
ORC 2305.04 — twenty one years, and the elements the Supreme Court of Ohio attached to them
The fence page on this site is about a line both neighbors know. This page is about a line one of them has been ignoring for a very long time, and what the law does with that. The period is in a statute, the elements are in a case, and the case is hard on the person claiming.
Who handles this in Ohio: legal aid programs, lawyer referral and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
Twenty one years to recover real property. An action to recover the title to or possession of real property is brought within twenty one years after the cause of action accrued. That is the period a possessor's use has to run before the owner's right to take the land back is barred, which is what adverse possession is.
Exclusive, open, notorious, continuous and adverse, for the whole period, proved clearly and convincingly. To acquire title by adverse possession a party proves, by clear and convincing evidence, exclusive possession and open, notorious, continuous and adverse use for a period of twenty one years. Failure of proof as to any one element is failure of the whole claim.
Adverse means without the owner's permission. The claimants in the case the court decided had asked the record owner whether they could use the strip and knew he held the title, and the court held that asking is the opposite of adverse: use by leave is not use against the owner, however long it runs.
The statute says nothing about taxes. Paying them on the strip does not shorten the period, and not paying them does not on its own defeat the claim. A fence, a garden or a driveway is evidence of the open and notorious element rather than a substitute for the years, and continuous means the whole period without a break.
| The element | What it means |
|---|---|
| The elementExclusive | What it meansThe possessor holds it, not the possessor and the owner together |
| The elementOpen and notorious | What it meansUse visible enough that the owner could have seen it |
| The elementContinuous | What it meansThe whole twenty one years without a break |
| The elementAdverse | What it meansWithout the owner's permission; asking for leave defeats it |
| The elementThe standard | What it meansClear and convincing evidence, on every element |
Adding together the periods of successive possessors, boundary by acquiescence, prescriptive easements, which is the same idea applied to a right of way rather than to ownership, and the effect of a survey or a quiet title action are not on this page. Whether a particular strip has been held adversely for the period is a question of fact for a court, and a licensed Ohio attorney and a surveyor are the two people it takes to answer it.
Sources for this section (2)
- ORC 2305.04 — Twenty one years to recover the title to or possession of real property
- Grace v. Koch, 81 Ohio St.3d 577, 1998-Ohio-607 — Adverse possession is proved by clear and convincing evidence of exclusive possession and open, notorious, continuous and adverse use for twenty one years
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.