Adverse Possession & Prescriptive Easement Attorneys in Northern Virginia
Don’t Lose Your Land to Time
In Virginia, long and unchallenged use can turn someone else’s trespass into a legal claim on your property. Whether you need to defend your land or establish a right of your own, we handle both sides across Northern Virginia.
✓ Claim or Defend
✓ Leesburg & Fairfax
✓ Court-Ready
Ownership Can Turn on the Calendar
The Numbers That Decide These Cases
15 Years
Virginia period of continuous, hostile possession to claim ownership by adverse possession
20 Years
Virginia period of use to establish a prescriptive easement, a right to use land you do not own
Clear & Convincing
The heightened burden a claimant must meet to take title, so the owner starts ahead
Sources: Code of Virginia § 8.01-236 (adverse possession, 15 years); Harkleroad v. Linkous, 281 Va. 12 (2011) (elements and burden of proof); Virginia common law (prescriptive easement, 20 years).
The law rewards owners who protect their boundaries and can penalize those who wait. If someone is using part of your land, or if you have openly used land for years, the timeline is where your rights are won or lost.
When Use Becomes a Legal Right
Virginia law lets a person who occupies someone else’s land openly, exclusively, and continuously for fifteen years claim ownership of it. A prescriptive easement works the same way over twenty years, but it grants only the right to keep using the land, not to own it. Both doctrines exist because the law expects owners to watch their boundaries and act when someone crosses them.
On the defense side, we help owners cut off a claim before the clock runs, through a demand, a written agreement that makes the use permissive, or a suit to remove the encroachment. On the claiming side, we build the record needed to prove every element by clear and convincing evidence. Many of these matters begin as a boundary or encroachment dispute and end in a suit to quiet title.
Schedule a ConsultationWhere We Come In
- ✓ A neighbor is using part of your land and may be building a claim
- ✓ You have used or maintained land for years and want to secure title
- ✓ A driveway, path, or utility line crosses your property by long use
- ✓ You need to make an existing use permissive before it ripens
- ✓ A title search or survey revealed a possible prescriptive claim
- ✓ A sale is stalled by an unresolved claim over part of the parcel
What We Handle
Claims and Defenses We Handle
Whether the clock is running for you or against you, we protect your position on the land.
Defending Your Ownership
Stopping a neighbor’s claim before it matures, through demand, a permissive-use agreement, or an action to eject and remove.
Establishing Title
Proving actual, hostile, exclusive, visible, and continuous possession for the full fifteen years by clear and convincing evidence.
Prescriptive Easements
Establishing or defeating a claimed right to use a driveway, path, or crossing based on twenty years of open use. See our easement and right-of-way work.
Tacking & Privity
Adding a prior owner’s years of use to reach the statutory period, or breaking that chain when we defend the record owner.
Quiet Title to Confirm
Turning a possession win into recorded, marketable ownership through a suit to quiet title so the result holds at sale.
Encroachments That Ripen
Addressing a fence or structure over the line before it becomes a claim. Start at our boundary and encroachment page.
Adverse possession or prescriptive easement? The difference matters
Adverse possession transfers ownership. It requires exclusive possession for fifteen years and, when proven, gives the claimant title to the land itself. A prescriptive easement only grants a right to keep using the land, it does not require exclusivity, and it runs over twenty years. Knowing which one you are facing, or pursuing, shapes the evidence, the timeline, and the remedy. We identify the right theory early and build the case around it.
Attorney Insight
“These cases reward the owner who pays attention. A neighbor mowing a strip of your yard for a decade feels harmless, until it is fourteen years and the law is about to hand them your land. The fix is almost always simple if you act. Put the use in writing, or draw the line and enforce it. Waiting is the one thing that helps the other side.”
Anthony I. Shin, Esq.
Founder, Shin Law Office
Common Questions
Answers Before You Call
What is adverse possession in Virginia?
It is a doctrine that can transfer ownership of land to someone who has possessed it as if it were their own. In Virginia the claimant must show actual, hostile, exclusive, visible, and continuous possession, under a claim of right, for fifteen years, and must prove each element by clear and convincing evidence.
How long before someone can claim my land?
For ownership by adverse possession, the period is fifteen years of continuous possession. For a prescriptive easement, which is only a right to use the land, the period is twenty years. In both, the years must be unbroken, so acting before the period closes protects your rights.
What is the difference between adverse possession and a prescriptive easement?
Adverse possession gives ownership of the land and requires exclusive possession for fifteen years. A prescriptive easement gives only the right to keep using the land, does not require exclusivity, and runs over twenty years. The right theory depends on the facts, and it changes the proof and the remedy.
Can I stop a neighbor from gaining rights to my land?
Yes, and the sooner the better. Granting written permission makes the use permissive and defeats the hostility the claimant needs. A demand to stop, or a suit to remove the encroachment, also breaks the continuity of the claim. Each option turns on the facts, so get advice early.
What is “tacking”?
Tacking lets a claimant add a prior owner’s years of use to their own to reach the statutory period, as long as the two are connected through inheritance or sale. It can make or break a claim, which is why we examine the full chain of title on both sides of these disputes.
Related Real Estate Services
Protect Your Ground Before the Clock Runs
If someone is using your land, or if you have used land you want to secure, the timeline is working right now. Tell us what is happening. Serving Leesburg, Fairfax, and all of Northern Virginia.
Prefer to talk now? Reach Anthony I. Shin, Esq. at 571-445-6565.
Based in Loudoun County and serving clients across Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland, we know that when everything’s on the line, the right attorney doesn’t just make a difference, they determine the outcome.
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Copyright © 2026 Shin Law Office, PLC. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2026 Shin Law Office, PLC. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of any content on this site is prohibited except for individual, non-commercial, informational use. This limited permission does not allow modification, distribution, or incorporation of any content into other works or publications in any medium. You may not reproduce or distribute content from this site to any third party.