Under KRS 413.010, a squatter can claim title only after 15 years of adverse possession of real property. KRS 413.060 shortens the period to 7 years where the occupant holds under color of title connected of record to the Commonwealth (a deducible-of-record patent). A tenant in permissive possession can never acquire adverse possession.
These adverse-possession statutes apply statewide, unlike URLTA. KRS 413.010 provides that "an action for the recovery of real property may be brought only within fifteen (15) years after the right to institute it first accrued" — the general 15-year clock. KRS 413.060 sets a shorter 7-year bar for an occupant who "has a connected title thereto in law or equity, deducible of record from the Commonwealth," and occupies "under such title, for seven (7) years." Kentucky courts also require open, notorious, continuous, exclusive, and hostile possession. Because a tenant occupies with permission, that possession is not hostile, so renters and holdover tenants cannot ripen into owners; landlords remove true squatters through ejectment or eviction.
No specific statutory penalty. A successful claimant after 15 years (or 7 with record color of title) bars the owner's recovery action and may quiet title; short of that, the occupant is a trespasser removable by ejectment or forcible-detainer eviction.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
See how Burlington's squatter's rights & adverse possession rules stack up against other locations.
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.