FLOWER MOUND, Texas (AP) _ It sounds like a Texas tall tale: a man finds a 2-story, 3,250-square-foot house in a middle-to-upper class Dallas suburb of Flower Mound worth $340,000. He likes it and moves in after paying just $15.
Kenneth T. Robinson laid claim to the 14-year-old house under the obscure Texas law of “adverse possession,” commonly known as “squatter’s rights.”
The Dallas Morning News reports Robinson determined that the owner of record moved out about a year ago and cannot be found, and the property wasn’t listed for sale. He filed an affidavit of adverse possession with Denton County for a $15 fee, turned on the utilities and moved in.
Robinson’s new neighbors haven’t warmed to the 50-year-old vitamin salesman. Sandy Dawson says neighborhood residents “believe in working for what you get.”
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Information from: The Dallas Morning News
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)