How Does Adverse Possession Work in Florida?

Section 95.12 sets the 7 year frame. An action to recover real property cannot be maintained unless the person seeking recovery, or that person's predecessor, was seized or possessed of the property within 7 years before the action began.

Under section 95.16, a claim with color of title is founded on a written instrument, decree or judgment, followed by 7 years of continued possession. For possession that began after December 31, 1945, the instrument must be recorded with the clerk in the county where the property is located.

Section 95.18 covers claims without color of title. The property actually possessed is held adversely only if, within 1 year after entering possession, the claimant paid all outstanding taxes and matured special improvement liens, and within 30 days after that filed a return with the county property appraiser on a Department of Revenue form. The claimant must also have paid all taxes and matured installments of special improvement liens for all remaining years necessary to establish a claim of adverse possession.

Under section 95.18(4), the property appraiser sends a copy of the return by regular mail to the owner of record and adds a notation at the beginning of the first line of the legal description on the tax roll that an adverse possession claim has been submitted. Under section 95.18(3), the return must state that it does not create any interest enforceable by law in the described property.

Under section 95.18(9), a person who occupies or attempts to occupy a residential structure solely by claim of adverse possession under that section before making the required return commits trespass under section 810.08. Under section 95.18(10), a person who occupies or attempts to occupy a residential structure solely by claim of adverse possession under that section and offers the property for lease to another commits theft under section 812.014.

Section 65.061(2) lists adverse possession that has ripened into good title as a ground for a quiet title action. Under section 95.18(8), the property appraiser must include a clear and obvious notation in the legal description of the parcel information of any public searchable property database it maintains that an adverse possession return has been submitted. A title search is a separate review of the public records.