Iowa Adverse Possession and Squatter Removal (Ch. 614, 560)

Iowa has no single adverse-possession statute; the doctrine rests on case law and the 10-year limitation in Iowa Code Sec. 614.17A, which bars an action to recover real estate 'based upon a claim arising more than ten years earlier' against a record-title holder in possession. To gain title, a claimant must show possession that is hostile, actual, open, exclusive and continuous for ten years under a claim of right or color of title. Iowa Code Sec. 560.1 protects an 'occupant of real estate' who 'has color of title thereto and has in good faith made valuable improvements' before any execution to dispossess. A squatter lacking these elements has no ownership claim and is removed through forcible entry and detainer under Chapter 648.

An owner cannot use force or self-help to remove an occupant; removal must proceed through forcible entry and detainer under Chapter 648. A genuine 10-year adverse possessor meeting all elements may instead quiet title to the property.