A squatter took possession of a small fiber cement house before selling it for almost 1.5 million dollars and the huge sum of money was given to his widow.
Ross Paul held the one-bedroom property at Gymea Bay, in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, for almost 50 years after Joseph Louis Saric died in July 1968.
The couple lived in nearby suburbs and Mr Paul organised the Croatian migrant’s funeral when he died, however it is unclear whether the two men were friends.
Mr Paul later died in 2018 and the executor of his estate began legal proceedings that would allow him to sell the property.
He argued that Mr. Paul owned the cabin by adverse possession, a term commonly known as “squatter’s rights.”
In May, New South Wales Supreme Court Judge Francois Kunc ruled that Mr Paul was the rightful owner.
It concluded that none of Mr Saric’s heirs had a right to the house since no one had claimed it and the 40-year statute of limitations had ended in 2009.
“What has been shown is that Mr Paul arranged Mr Saric’s funeral and then treated Mr Saric’s fibre cement cottage at Gymea Bay as if it were his own for the next nearly 50 years until his own death in 2018,” Judge Kunc said.
The house in Gymea Bay, in Sydney’s Sutherland County, eventually sold for $1.5 million, with the owner’s family receiving nothing.
Mr Saric died of cancer in July 1968 when he was about 40 and the divorcee left no will and lost contact with her family.
Judge Kunc said Saric had died “without family and, perhaps, without friends.”
Mr. Paul reported the death to the authorities and held a funeral a couple of days later.
The judge ruled that Mr. Paul did everything a homeowner could do: he insured the house, paid the taxes and electric bills and split the cost of a fence with a neighbor.
Mr. Paul even rented the house since at least 1995.
The court found it was “highly unlikely that Mr Paul would have allowed the cottage to fall into disrepair”.
In his ruling, the judge referred to “the possibility that Mr Saric may have told Mr Paul that the latter could keep the cottage, perhaps in exchange for the care provided by Mr Paul.”
But he said there was no evidence of that.
Judge Kunc concluded that “the precise nature of Mr Saric’s relationship with the late Mr Ross Paul is not apparent from the evidence.”
Macquarie Law School professor Cathy Sherry told the The Sydney Morning Herald This was “a fairly typical adverse possession case.”
She said this shows how “people can lose track of the land and lose track of their relatives.”
The court heard that Mr Saric is likely to be survived by his mother and at least one brother.
Ms Sherry said there was “no doubt” that after Mr Saric’s death his family would have been entitled to the house, but “like all rights to land, there is a time limit, and they did not assert it in the time period required”.
The judge ruled that Mr Paul did everything a homeowner could do: he insured the house, paid the rates and electricity bills and split the cost of a fence with a neighbour.
