USUCAPIO, Roman Law term, which means a way to become the owner of a property or asset that used to belong to someone else in the past (car, furniture, house, boat, etc) after the established term by law (Civil Code) and always challenging it in Court and obtaining the Judge’s Resolution.

Now that the concept of this legal subject has been explained, it’s very important to know that this Usucapio is 2000 years old, and was firstly established and regulated by the Romans and we have been using it until nowadays.

There are four different kinds of Usucapio: Ordinary; Extraordinary; Estate or Movable Assets.

The regulation of the Usucapio is established in the Civil Code (CC), in section 1931 to 1959 CC, it’s also ruled in section 35 and 36 of the Mortgage Act.

There are four minimum requirements the Usucapio must fulfil:

1.- To be a Real Owner: The person who acquire the property or asset must do it as a real owner and not as a tenant or getting the property as a gift, for example.

2.- Public possession: Section 1941 CC states that the usucapiens (who takes the possession and ownership) must do it in a public and notorious way, it means he or she should not do it hiding from the current owner, family or neighbours.

3.- Peaceful possession: peaceful, according to the civil law means without violence at all, and without opposition by a supposed real owner, for example, an inheritor.

4.- Continuous possession: this means the usucapiens claims the property of the asset because since the beginning he or she has been possessing it and nobody has ever claimed for it Judicially in Court or out of Court.

Now I should let you know the most important aspect regarding this matter, which is the term. You all must make the question, for how long do I have to Possess a property to become the new owner in the Land Registry or Movable assets Registry, so legally?

It depends on what you have been possessing. Section 1955 CC states that the term for acquiring a movable asset, such as a car or boat is three years, always under good faith by the usucapiens, so the asset must belong to him or her legally (ordinary). And after the term of six years even without good faith, so the asset could have been stolen in case (extraordinary).

On the other hand, sections 1957, 1958 and 1959.2 CC establish three different terms to acquire a property or estate under different requirements. An estate (land or house) could be acquired after just ten years if the former owner has not died or gone to another country. If he or she has died the term now increases ten more years, so it’s twenty years, and always considering the usucapiens’ good faith, proving and showing enough title deed (ordinary usucapio).

And finally, section 1959 CC establishes that even if it’s not under good faith or not existing title deeds an estate could be acquired and legally transferred to the usucapiens after the term of thirty years (extraordinary usucapio).

It’s very important again to remember that all this has to be proved to the Judge and show all the evidences, as much as you can. Eventually water, electric, telephone or sewage bills could be enough to win the case in Court showing you have been living in the property or using the boat or car for that long.

Glossary:

1.- Acquire: Adquirir un bien mueble o inmueble por el lapso del tiempo descrito en la Ley. Es un término utilizado principalmente en Derecho Mercantil inglés, como por ejemplo cuando se compra una empresa, participaciones sociales o acciones de la misma, no tanto en Civil puro, no obstante, en la figura de la Usucapio sí se utiliza y se sobreentiende que es el derecho a adquirir un bien como propietario por prescripción.

2.- Term: Plazo, término, duración o período. En otro orden también significa términos o condiciones. En inglés jurídico “Term” tiene numerosos significados pero en lo que ahora nos ocupa, es decir, en la prescripción adquisitiva es el plazo o lapso de tiempo que se posea el bien mueble o inmueble. No se emplea con tanta asiduidad en Inglés jurídico procesal donde se emplearía más comúnmente el término “maturity term” o “deadline”.

3.- Movable Asset: Bien Mueble, se refiere también a valores y no sólo a un vehículo, dinero, cuentas bancarias, una embarcación u otro objeto, si no también a valores en bolsa. También sería correcto decir “Moveable”.

4.- Title Deed: Título de propiedad, escritura traslativa de dominio de un bien, sea mueble o inmueble. También se le conoce vulgarmente como “The deeds” en plural, a la escritura notarial de una vivienda por ejemplo. En la Usucapio sería el título de dominio o propiedad suficiente y bastante para probar ante el Juez que se es dueño de algo que lleva siendo usado por el que lo reclama durante años.

Gabriel Padilla.
Lawyer.