Lucas A. Ferrara in New York Times Real Estate Section, PAYING TAXES WON'T GUARANTEE TITLE, July 30, 2006.

Q. I am writing about the "Your Home” column of July 2, which described a court case, an “action to quiet title by adverse possession,” in which a property owner acquired title to part of a neighbor’s property after using the land for more than 10 years. My question is this: Since the owner paid taxes on the entire property during that 10-year period, wouldn’t that be enough to guarantee his continued ownership? ... S. Lee, Manhattan

A. Lucas A. Ferrara, a Manhattan real estate lawyer, said that the ruling referred to by the letter writer was the case of Walling v. Przybylo, in which a G. Scott Walling, a lawyer, claimed title to a neighbor’s property in Queensbury, N.Y., under the centuries-old legal doctrine of adverse possession.

“In order for adverse possession to ripen into legal title in New York, the use must be actual, hostile, open, notorious, exclusive and under claim of right for a continuous 10-year period,” Mr. Ferrara said. In other words, the “adverse possessor” must be using someone else’s land without permission, without trying to hide the use and to the exclusion of the actual owner for at least 10 years.

“The fact that the owner paid all the property taxes during that time period will not be enough to defeat a claim of adverse possession,” Mr. Ferrara said. “As the Court of Appeals noted in the Walling case, the issue has more to do with who is using and occupying the property rather than who is paying the bills.”