New York
Real Property Actions

ARTICLE 5
ADVERSE POSSESSION

Section 
        501  Action after entry.
        511. Adverse possession under written instrument or judgment.
        512. Essentials of adverse possession under written instrument
               or judgment.
        521. Adverse possession under claim of title not written.
        522. Essentials of adverse possession under claim of title not
               written.
        531. Adverse possession, how affected by relation of landlord
               and tenant.
        541. Adverse possession, how affected by relation of tenants in
               common.
        551. Right of person to possession not affected by descent cast.

  S 501. Action after entry. An entry upon real property is not
sufficient or valid as a claim unless an action is commenced thereupon
within one year after the making thereof and within ten years after the
time when the right to make it descended or accrued.

  S 511. Adverse possession under written instrument or judgment.  Where
the occupant or those under whom he claims entered into the possession
of the premises under claim of title, exclusive of any other right,
founding the claim upon a written instrument, as being a conveyance of
the premises in question, or upon the decree or judgment of a competent
court, and there has been a continued occupation and possession of the
premises included in the instrument, decree or judgment, or of some part
thereof, for ten years, under the same claim, the premises so included
are deemed to have been held adversely; except that when they consist of
a tract divided into lots, the possession of one lot is not deemed a
possession of any other lot.

  S 512. Essentials of adverse possession under written instrument or
judgment.  For the purpose of constituting an adverse possession by a
person claiming a title founded upon a written instrument or a judgment
or decree, land is deemed to have been possessed and occupied in either
of the following cases:
  1. Where it has been usually cultivated or improved.
  2. Where it has been protected by a substantial inclosure.
  3. Where, although not inclosed, it has been used for the supply of
fuel or of fencing timber, either for the purposes of husbandry or for
the ordinary use of the occupant.
  Where a known farm or a single lot has been partly improved, the
portion of the farm or lot that has been left not cleared or not
inclosed, according to the usual course and custom of the adjoining
country, is deemed to have been occupied for the same length of time as
the part improved and cultivated.

  S 521. Adverse possession under claim of title not written. Where
there has been an actual continued occupation of premises under a claim
of title, exclusive of any other right, but not founded upon a written
instrument or a judgment or decree, the premises so actually occupied,
and no others, are deemed to have been held adversely.

	
  S 522. Essentials of adverse possession under claim of title not
written.  For the purpose of constituting an adverse possession by a
person claiming title not founded upon a written instrument or a
judgment or decree, land is deemed to have been possessed and occupied
in either of the following cases, and no others:
  1. Where it has been usually cultivated or improved.
  2. Where it has been protected by a substantial inclosure.

  S 531. Adverse possession, how affected by relation of landlord and
tenant.  Where the relation of landlord and tenant has existed between
any persons the possession of the tenant is deemed the possession of the
landlord until the expiration of ten years after the termination of the
tenancy; or, where there has been no written lease, until the expiration
of ten years after the last payment of rent; notwithstanding that the
tenant has acquired another title or has claimed to hold adversely to
his landlord. But this presumption shall cease after the periods
prescribed in this section and such tenant may then commence to hold
adversely to his landlord.

  S 541. Adverse possession, how affected by relation of tenants in
common.  Where the relation of tenants in common has existed between any
persons, the occupancy of one tenant, personally or by his servant or by
his tenant, is deemed to have been the possession of the other,
notwithstanding that the tenant so occupying the premises has acquired
another title or has claimed to hold adversely to the other. But this
presumption shall cease after the expiration of ten years of continuous
exclusive occupancy by such tenant, personally or by his servant or by
his tenant, or immediately upon an ouster by one tenant of the other and
such occupying tenant may then commence to hold adversely to his
cotenant.

  S 551. Right of person to possession not affected by descent cast. The
right of a person to the possession of real property is not impaired or
affected by a descent being cast in consequence of the death of a person
in possession of the property.