New Hampshire requires 20 years of possession before a squatter can claim land by adverse possession. RSA 508:2, I bars any action to recover real estate "after 20 years" from when the right to recover accrued, so the remaining elements of adverse possession come from case law.
RSA 508:2, I provides that "no action for the recovery of real estate shall be brought after 20 years from the time the right to recover first accrued to the party claiming it or to some persons under whom the party claims." Because the owner's right to eject a possessor is barred after 20 years, possession that is open, notorious, exclusive, continuous, and hostile for the full 20-year period can ripen into title. New Hampshire has not codified the adverse-possession elements, so those requirements are drawn from court decisions, while RSA 508:2 supplies the 20-year limitation period. A possessor may also "tack" successive periods by predecessors to reach 20 years. A separate 5-year period applies only to certain reverter and re-entry interests.
No specific statutory penalty; this is a civil limitations and quiet-title matter. After 20 years the record owner is time-barred from an action to recover the land under RSA 508:2.
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