CASE: McFarland v Gertos [2018] NSWSC 1629

GUEST: Christa Chapman, Property Lawyer at Roberts Crosbie Mortensen

In 1998 Mr Gertos was visitng a client who lived on Malleny Street in Ashbury. As he was in the neighbourhood he noticed the house at number 6 appeared to be unoccupied and was falling into disrepair. When no owner could be found, he laid claim to it: he did some renovations, changed the locks and rented it out.

In 2017 Mr Gertos applied to be registered as the legal owner of the property. It was at this time that the family of the deceased owner were notified and they objected to Mr Gertos being named the owner of their family home.

In this episode, Property Lawyer Christa Chapman joined me to explain the legal concept of 'adverse possession' and how it can to be that Mr Gertos became the owner of a $1.4m house in Sydney.

THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.