Even if you lost your personal copy of your deed after the destruction of your home or during a natural disaster, there should still be a copy of this document at the recorder’s office. If the recorder’s office was destroyed, contact your state government for more information on the registration of property records.
As long as no one else is challenging your ownership of the property, purchase documents should be enough to prove your ownership. You may have to combine them with other documents, such as receipts for property tax payments or a homeowner’s insurance policy.
The certificate of title for a mobile home typically won’t prove any ownership rights in the land underneath the mobile home, just the structure itself.
Even if you don’t have personal records, there will be records of tax payments at the county tax assessor’s office. These records typically list the name of the person making the payment. Paying property taxes for a house can be used to establish ownership, even if you aren’t the record owner of the property. This is known as adverse possession. However, gaining clear title to property using this method is relatively rare. [3] X Research source
As with payment of property taxes, it’s unlikely someone would be making mortgage payments on a house that wasn’t theirs. You have additional proof of ownership if the mortgage is in your name, since the lender would have done due diligence to determine you were the rightful owner of the house before issuing the mortgage. Even if you’ve lost your personal records of mortgage payments, your mortgage company will still have them.
Insurance companies typically verify ownership of property before issuing a homeowner’s insurance policy. Additionally, it is unlikely you would pay homeowner’s insurance premiums if you didn’t actually own the house.
While an affidavit of ownership does have legal significance, this method should only be used as a last resort to prove ownership of a house. If you do swear out an affidavit, support that document with as much other information as you have, including any mortgage, tax, or insurance records.
While having the address on your driver’s license doesn’t necessarily prove that you own the house, it can help to prove that you live there. Particularly if you were the victim of a natural disaster, you may have to prove both ownership and occupancy to be eligible for some types of aid.
Court documents require your address, in part to establish that the court has jurisdiction. Other legal forms or applications may also include your address. If you’ve lost your copies of these documents, you may be able to get new copies at the courthouse, or by contacting the store or other person involved in the transaction.
Since virtually anyone can start utilities at a house, utility bills are never proof of ownership. However, they are solid evidence that you live in the house. If the utilities are not in your name, you may still be able to prove occupancy if you can demonstrate your relationship to the person who turned on the utilities. For example, if your mother turned on the utilities, that relationship would typically be sufficient.
Mail provides better evidence if it is generated in the course of business, such as a credit card statement or a delivery notice. Anything that says “or current resident” (or similar) under your name won’t work to establish occupancy.
Whenever possible, have other documents to support your declarative statement. Even if a document isn’t enough to prove occupancy by itself, it may gain strength when combined with other documents.
If the squatters have been in the home for several weeks, police may not be legally able to do anything to remove them. If you don’t take steps to legally remove them, they may be able to challenge your ownership of the house. If you are able to get squatters removed as trespassers, you may be able to press criminal charges, or to sue them in civil court (particularly if they caused damage to your property while there).
As strange as it may sound, if people live in a house for an extended period of time, they may acquire the rights of tenants – even if they entered illegally and have never paid you any rent. This gives them some rights to occupy the property until you can get a court order. You can find forms online to use to evict squatters from property you own. The easiest way to make sure the forms you get are valid in your area is to look for forms provided by the court where you will file your lawsuit for eviction.
In court, you typically need a title deed or similar proof of ownership of the house to prove that you have the right to remove the squatters.
If you catch a squatter quickly, you may be able to call the police and have them removed as a trespasser without having to go through the eviction process again. You can also take additional steps to make the house less attractive to potential squatters. Install lights that are set on a timer, and place security cameras at the entrances. Keep the yard neat so the house doesn’t appear abandoned.
