The Provincial Court of Navarra has confirmed that a woman will be able to preserve land that has been used as a garden for more than 50 years. house inherited from his mother. It was delimited with a stone wall and had exclusive access from his home, but his cousin, who had inherited the neighboring property, claimed ownership. Justice considers that the possession was peaceful, continuous and public for decades, and that, therefore, the woman can register it in her name as owner by usucapion.
According to the ruling of February 12, 2025, when the owner inherited the adjacent land, he opposed the woman registering that space as hers in the Property Registry. Although there is no formal writing of sale, the woman alleged that her family had acquired that land in the 1960s in exchange for building a retaining wall to prevent landslides, and that they had used it without interruptions since then.
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The Court of First Instance No. 1 of Aoiz considered it proven that both families—the woman’s and her cousin’s—had verbally agreed to transfer the land in exchange for building a retaining wall. The plaintiff’s family built that wall and used the land since then, with exclusive access from the home and without interruptions, and ordered its registration (first registration) in the Property Registry and the modification of the Cadastre.
The Court endorses the usucapion, since the land was used continuously, with good faith and with just cause
The Provincial Court of Navarra confirmed the court’s decision based on articles 355 to 357 of the New Law of Navarra, which regulate acquisitive prescription (usucapión), highlighting that not only was the continuous possession of the land proven for more than five decades, but also that there was an inseparable link with the main property, and that the use of the plot “cannot be conceived separately.”
In addition, he recalled that Law 361 of the New Jurisprudence allows the heir to take advantage of the time of possession of his deceased to consolidate the usucapion. In this case, that possession was peaceful, public and uninterrupted since at least 1975.
For this reason, the Court confirmed that the property right is valid and that the woman can register the land as hers. Despite this, the sentence was not final and could be appealed in cassation before the Supreme Court or the Superior Court of Justice of Navarra.