Delaware Squatters and Adverse Possession

Del. Code tit. 10 § 7901 sets the limitations period: 'No person shall make an entry into any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, but within 20 years next after the person's right or title to the same first descended or accrued.' To gain title by adverse possession a claimant must hold the land openly, notoriously, continuously, exclusively, and hostilely (without the owner's permission) for the full 20 years. A squatter who simply occupies a vacant property acquires no rights short of that period. Owners cannot use self-help; they remove a trespassing occupant through a summary possession or ejectment action in the Justice of the Peace Court or Superior Court, depending on the claim. Because 20 years is among the longest periods in the country, squatter title claims in Delaware are rare.

No specific statutory penalty for the owner. A squatter without a valid 20-year claim has no ownership; the owner regains possession by court order, and the occupant may face trespass liability, but removal must go through legal process.