No. The Appeals Court affirmed a Land Court judgment that a Hyde Park homeowner did not gain title to a strip of her neighbor’s land through a hammock, a swing set, yard work, children’s play and an annual holiday gathering, because those uses barely reached the strip and were not exclusive or continuous for twenty years. This is an unpublished Appeals Court decision under Rule 23.0, which courts may cite as persuasive but not as binding precedent.
What happened
Two adjacent properties in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston are owned by a realty trust and a company. In 2022, the trustee sued the company in the Land Court, claiming title by adverse possession to a strip of the company’s land that abuts the trust’s property. She relied on the period from 1984 to 2004 and pointed to a hammock, swing set and bird feeder, landscaping, her children playing, and annual Greek Easter celebrations with tables and chairs set out. After a trial that included a view of both properties, the judge found she had not proven adverse possession of any part of the disputed area and entered judgment for the record owner. The parties agreed that a garage extending partly onto the company’s land met the test; that issue was not part of the appeal.
What the court decided
The Appeals Court affirmed in Michaelidis v. HHC One Arnold, LLC, No. 24-P-1079 (Mass. App. Ct. October 14, 2025) (Rule 23.0 decision). The parties had agreed to a streamlined trial under the Land Court’s rules, so the panel asked only whether the judgment had any rational basis in the evidence. It said the result would be the same under the clear error standard.
The test. To gain title by adverse possession, you must prove nonpermissive use that is actual, open, notorious, exclusive and adverse for twenty years. Kendall v. Selvaggio, 413 Mass. 619 (1992). The person claiming title carries the burden on every element. Lawrence v. Concord, 439 Mass. 416 (2003). Whether the elements are shown is mainly a question of fact. Brandao v. DoCanto, 80 Mass. App. Ct. 151 (2011).
Actual, open and notorious use. Each use encroached minimally, if at all. The hammock, swing set and bird feeder sat over the claimant’s own grass, though one end of the hammock may have been tied to a tree in the strip. Guests at the Easter gatherings stayed in the claimant’s side yard, and at most a third of a folding table reached the strip. Actual use requires changes to the land showing control like an owner’s. Sea Pines Condominium III Ass’n v. Steffens, 61 Mass. App. Ct. 838 (2004). Open and notorious use must put the true owner on notice so the owner can act. Lawrence, 439 Mass. 416.
Exclusivity. In the 1980s and 1990s, the strip was trees, bushes and brush, separated from the claimant’s yard by a strip of dirt. The judge did not believe testimony that the area under the trees was regularly mowed. The claimant never put up a fence or structure. When she bought her property in 1984, a chain link fence ran along the disputed area, and someone else removed it around 1994 or 1995. Exclusive use means keeping out the owner and everyone else the owner would keep out. Brandao, 80 Mass. App. Ct. 151.
Continuity. The bird feeder hung over the strip for an unknown time. The hammock was removable, with no proof of how long it stayed up. Yard work varied. Once a year gatherings are sporadic, not continuous; the panel cited McLaughlin v. Marblehead, 68 Mass. App. Ct. 490 (2007), where sporadic public use did not meet the twenty year continuous use requirement.
The panel denied the company’s request for appellate fees because the appeal was not frivolous.
What this means for you
This decision shows how hard it is to turn long use of a neighbor’s yard edge into ownership. Light, family use of a yard edge, especially use that stays mostly on your own side of the line, will not do it. Neither will once a year events or removable items.
What tends to count is use that looks like ownership: a fence, a structure, a garden or lawn you keep up year after year, all while keeping others out. The judge here walked the properties and did not credit some testimony. Photos, dated records and neutral witnesses carry more weight than family memory alone. If you own the land, remember that the claimant must prove every element for the full twenty years.
What to do now
- Get a survey so you know exactly where the boundary is before a dispute grows.
- Collect dated photos, aerial images and receipts showing who used, fenced or maintained the strip and when.
- Identify neighbors or former owners who can describe the area over the full twenty years.
- Be able to describe the exact area you claim; a vague description can sink a claim.
- Talk to a lawyer before you file or answer a Land Court claim.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. These cases move on short deadlines.
