Pennsylvania courts have recently handed down several important decisions in the realm of real estate law that provide context for future cases.

  • The long-standing rule in Pennsylvania that lands of a local municipality must be put to a public use in order to be exempt from adverse possession claims.

 In City of Philadelphia v. Galdo, 2018 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 105 (2018), the city of Philadelphia held title to a parcel of undeveloped real property situated adjacent to Interstate 95, having taken title thereto by a declaration of taking filed on Nov. 13, 1974. On Jan. 19, 1976, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania filed a notice of condemnation condemning a temporary easement over the property for the relocation of a railway line adjacent to the interstate.  In the late 1970s, following the completion of this relocation, the city retook possession of the property with the intention of holding it for future use or sale. However, the city never physically occupied the property, or performed any acts of maintenance thereon.