## Facts

- A series of 50-foot waterfront lots on Hood Canal were affected by a long-standing survey/description error causing many owners to occupy parcels different from those described in their deeds.
- The Kuntos purchased a deed describing one lot but, in good-faith mistake, took possession of and used a neighboring lot containing an existing house and improvements (including a dock) as a summer home.
- The misdescription originated decades earlier and was unknowingly passed through successive owners who physically possessed the same improved parcel.
- A 1960 survey revealed the mismatch between physical occupation and deed descriptions; through a deed exchange, Howard obtained record title to the lot on which the Kunto house stood.
- Howard brought an action to quiet title against the Kuntos; the Kuntos asserted adverse possession and relied on tacking predecessors’ periods of possession to meet Washington’s ten-year statutory period.

## Issues

1. Whether seasonal (summer-only) occupancy of a summer beach home defeats the “continuous” possession element of adverse possession.
2. Whether successive occupants may tack periods of adverse possession when each deed misdescribed the land actually occupied, but possession of the same physical parcel was transferred through successive conveyances.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court and quieted title in the Kuntos by adverse possession.
- The court held that summer-only occupancy of a summer home can satisfy continuous possession when consistent with the property’s character and ordinary use by owners of similar property.
- The court held that tacking was permitted because there was sufficient privity of estate: successive owners, acting in good faith, intended to convey and did transfer possession of the same physically occupied parcel, despite erroneous legal descriptions.

## Legal Principles

- Adverse possession requires actual, open and notorious, hostile, exclusive, and uninterrupted possession under a claim of right made in good faith for the statutory period (ten years under Washington law).
- “Continuous” possession is assessed in light of the nature, condition, and customary use of the property; year-round residence is not required for recreational or seasonal property.
- Tacking is allowed when there is a reasonable connection (privity) between successive occupants, shown by intended transfer and actual delivery of possession of the same tract, even if deed descriptions do not match the land physically possessed.

## Conclusion

Seasonal use typical of a summer beach property may satisfy the continuity requirement for adverse possession, and successive occupants may tack their periods of possession when they intended to transfer and did transfer possession of the same parcel in privity, despite mistaken deed descriptions.


Howard v. Kunto, 3 Wn. App. 393, 477 P.2d 210 (Wash. Ct. App. 1970)