Q: Can I claim a rights to property next to mine that I have been paying taxes since 2011?
I paid to have it segregated because it belongs to my dad and uncle. We have our part now but next door my uncle has not paid the taxes since 2011 so the state did not take it, I have been paying on it. There is no house on this land. Can I apply for ownership of it?
A:
The process by which you could acquire ownership of someone else's real estate property in your possession is usucaption. Article 788 of the Puerto Rico Civil Code states that you must be in possession of said property for 10 consecutive years, if you have possession in just title and good faith; or be in possession of the real estate for 20 years without the need for just title. From what you've written, although you've paid property taxes, you do not have just title, seeing as, you have not stated whether your dad and uncle are alive. If they are, you may have cause to dun them for payment of taxes. After whichever term applies (10 years or 20 years), you would need to file a lawsuit to acquire the real estate through usucaption: you would need to serve your father and your uncle; and procure and provide sworn statements from the propietors of all adjacent properties, stating to the fact that they recognize you as owner of the property in controversy throughout the time that you have been in possession.
A more advisable approach would be to negotiate with your father and uncle the cession, donation, or sale of that land in exchange for your payment(s) of sales taxes; giving that non-payment would get the land initially embargoed and later, possibly, expropriated.
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