Marina owns 2 properties in Managua and gave in loan the second home to her brother Carlos, nevertheless, it was an estimate only for a year and after 20 years in uninterrupted he continues denying to return the house in spite of the verbal insistence of Marina. If this situation seems familiar to you, the following information may be useful.
You may have heard that if you rent a house for more than 15 to 20 years you can claim it as yours, as Carlos claims the house of Marina, who for lack of information gave the house for so long, even though she had duly registered the property at the registry and always made the payment of taxes.
What can Marina do?
Marina did not defend herself during those 20 years and wherefore Carlos did not receive any legal proceedings where the property was claimed, therefore, she must resort to a lawyer to make her brother leave the house by an agreement.
And since an indubitable public instrument exists a lease and it stipulates that it was given the use of the property for a certain time in exchange for a price that would be paid on a monthly basis, then, the ownership and possession of the property It is maintained by Marina.
Can Carlos take the house away from Marina in any other way?
Yes, he can, but only if Carlos has 30 years of living in the property of Marina without interruption, in good faith and without anybody to carry out a formal claim.
If so, Carlos could have opened a trial where he would claim possession of the house and with the sentence he would eventually register it as his own.
In Nicaragua, laws indicate that if someone remains in a property for 1 year without interruption and in good faith and no one requests that an eviction, then ownership of the dwelling is acquired, but if a lease exists, then the uninterrupted possession so that the property can be acquired is invalid.
Bad habits
In order to prevent such situations, it is necessary to avoid certain actions, such as, for example, dispensing verbal contracts and formalizing them in writing.
On the other hand, it is extremely important to have experts in the field, in this case lawyers who provide information and also timely solutions in time needed. In this way your assets will be safe and there will be no major problems.