Ever sense I was a kid, I was aware of bits and pieces of land that where either not occupied, maintained, or controlled by anyone, but part of an adjacent property. Sometimes (as seems to be more common around lakes) these properties are not even owned by anyone.
I currently know of 3 different situations where someone is trying to claim adverse possession of a particular space of ground. Based on my understanding of the law, I doubt any of them stand a chance. From the way a former surveyor co-worker explained it to me, in Michigan, one of the standards requires both owners to have understanding and knowledge of the property lines and the person seeking adverse possession needs be able to prove improvement or occupancy of the land.
There is also a strange part of my property behind the back corner of my garage that is part of the neighbor’s property. It is full of garbage, brush, dead trees, and weeds. The adjacent property owner said that he will get around to cleaning it up soon… but soon was two years ago. Being this is a rental property, I might just ask him if we would be interested in doing a quick claim deed and I would write up new legal descriptions to acquire that part of the property (it would create a nice boxed corner and I can finish my privacy fence) in return I would clean up the that part of the property. It would make is rental property look better, make my property look better, and create a win-win for everyone. I figure he does not maintain it with the rest of the property, why would he want it?