In Texas a squatter can claim title only through adverse possession, with periods that shorten as the claim strengthens: 3 years under title or color of title (§ 16.024), 5 years with a registered deed plus paid taxes (§ 16.025), 10 years for bare possession capped at 160 acres (§ 16.026), and 25 years under a recorded instrument (§ 16.028).
Under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.024, an owner must sue within three years against a possessor holding "under title or color of title." Section 16.025 sets a five-year bar where the possessor cultivates, uses, or enjoys the land, "pay[s] applicable taxes," and claims "under a duly registered deed" (excluding quitclaim, forged, or forged-power-of-attorney deeds). Section 16.026 sets a ten-year bar for one who cultivates, uses, or enjoys the property, "limited…to 160 acres" without a recorded instrument fixing larger boundaries. Section 16.028 sets a 25-year bar for a good-faith holder under a recorded instrument purporting to convey the property, which "extends to…all of the property described in the instrument, even though the instrument is void on its face or in fact." Possession must be actual, open, exclusive, hostile, and continuous.
No specific statutory penalty against the owner. A squatter gains title only if every adverse-possession element is met for the applicable 3-, 5-, 10-, or 25-year period; otherwise the occupant has no possessory right and is subject to removal through the eviction or trespass process.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Richmond, TX
Richmond does not publish a code section setting numeric residential quiet hours. Loud noise complaints are addressed through Chapter 22 (Nuisances) and Texa...
Richmond, TX
Richmond requires durable fence materials and bans scrap lumber, plywood, sheet metal, plastic, fiberglass, barbed wire, welded wire, agricultural fencing, a...
Richmond, TX
Richmond requires the finished side of any fence to face outward toward neighbors and the right-of-way, and forbids placing a fence outside surveyed lot line...
Richmond, TX
Richmond requires a fence permit for new construction, replacement with different materials, height changes, reconfiguration, driveway gates, and any fence e...
Richmond, TX
Richmond limits residential fences to 42 inches in front yards and six feet in side and rear yards, with narrow exceptions for steel tubular and wrought iron...
Richmond, TX
Richmond, as an incorporated city in Fort Bend County, bars outdoor burning of brush, debris, and trash inside the city limits regardless of state burn-ban s...
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