Legal Definitions - disseisee

Disseisee

A disseisee is an individual who has been unlawfully removed from the ownership and physical control of their real property. This means someone else has taken possession of their land or building without legal right, thereby depriving the rightful owner of their freehold estate.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a homeowner, Ms. Chen, who leaves her vacation home unoccupied for several months. Upon her return, she discovers that a group of individuals has broken in, changed the locks, and is now living there, claiming it as their own. Ms. Chen is the disseisee because she has been wrongfully deprived of the freehold possession of her property by the squatters.

• Consider Mr. Davies, who owns a large plot of undeveloped land. His neighbor, without permission or legal right, extends their own garden fence several feet onto Mr. Davies's property, effectively annexing a strip of his land. Mr. Davies is the disseisee for that specific strip of land, as he has been unlawfully dispossessed of a portion of his freehold estate by his encroaching neighbor.