Prohibits any lands owned by a not-for-profit conservation organization from being taken by adverse possession; creates a cause of action by which not-for-profit conservation organizations and public bodies may compel the removal of encroachments on open space lands, or lands subject to a conservation easement, and recover restoration costs, reasonable attorney's fees, and multiple damages as appropriate, thereby shifting the cost burden of enforcing encroachments to the responsible party and discouraging further harm to open space managed for the public's benefit.
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
11418
I N A S S E M B L Y
May 15, 2026
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Levenberg)
-- read once and referred to the Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the real property actions and proceedings law, in
relation to lands owned in fee by not-for-profit conservation organ-
izations
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Legislative intent. The legislature finds that non-for-pro-
fit land conservation organizations spend a substantial amount of time
and resources defending against encroachments on conserved land. Exist-
ing mechanisms for addressing encroachments under New York law are not
sufficient to cover the costs of restoration, let alone the time and
expense of monitoring for encroachments and pursuing legal action to
compel restoration and recover damages. Conservation organizations face
additional burdens in ensuring that encroachments do not mature into
adverse possession claims, which may compromise the protected status of
lands acquired and managed as open space.
By streamlining the process of enforcing encroachments, better align-
ing the remedies available to conservation organizations and state
government entities with the associated costs, and providing for
enhanced penalties to dissuade especially malicious and damaging tres-
passes, conservation organizations would be better positioned to steward
their protected lands and advance the state's land conservation goals.
Moreover, conservation organizations would be shielded from future
adverse possession claims and similar attempts to acquire property
interests by hostile occupancy, significantly reducing the threat posed
by such claims to the continued integrity of conserved lands.
§ 2. The real property actions and proceedings law is amended by
adding a new section 513 to read as follows:
§ 513. ADVERSE POSSESSION; NOT-FOR-PROFIT CONSERVATION ORGANIZATIONS.
NO LENGTH OF POSSESSION, PRESCRIPTION, USE OR OCCUPANCY OF LAND BELONG-
ING TO A NOT-FOR-PROFIT CONSERVATION ORGANIZATION OR OF LAND SUBJECT TO
A CONSERVATION EASEMENT, AS DEFINED UNDER SECTION 49-0303 OF THE ENVI-
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15702-02-6
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