Have you ever felt like you were living at work? Now, you might be. Post-COVID-19, more people are working from home than ever before. Even after recent return-to-work orders, office buildings are still only seeing 63% occupancy. Office to residential building conversions have been proposed as the creative solution to repurpose unused buildings and revitalize abandoned downtown streets. In Montgomery County, Maryland, the county instituted a tax abatement called PILOT, or “payment in lieu of taxes,” under which office buildings converted into residential spaces are wholly exempt from real property tax for twenty years. However, many cities have land-use restrictions in place that may force developers to go through the time-consuming and costly process of requesting a variance, an exception to zoning regulations. So, are cities actually being revitalized through office to residential conversions when there are strict land-use restrictions in place?

In 2010, my family had new neighbors move into the house behind us—their backyard shared a fence with ours. Our neighborhood allowed for most houses to have a backyard and a substantial amount of space, but not an excessive amount. For example, I could see the yards of my neighbors on all sides from my yard. For a few months, there was no change. However, after about six months, they got chickens. Not one or two, but an entire henhouse of chickens and a rooster. Not only did the rooster wake the neighborhood up with its crowing at dawn, but the chickens attracted the ever-growing fox population in my Pennsylvania suburb.

Imagine finding out that a person suddenly gains ownership of your property. This would send any person into a frenzy. But that is exactly what the doctrine of Adverse Possession allows. While it doesn’t frequently make headlines, Adverse Possession—sometimes referred to as “Squatter’s Rights”—is a growing concern among property owners nationwide. It essentially enables a non-owner to gain title to land or personal property after the owner fails to recover possession.