Homeowners Sue City Over Waterfront Orlando Area Property

The law in Florida says that "private citizens can never adversely possess public land," but two Orlando area property owners are fighting to claim a small patch of land on Windermere´s shoreline.

In June, the town council rejected "mediated settlements in two lawsuits brought by residents, who are suing to gain title to shoreline easements between their" Orlando area properties "and the edges of lakes Bessie and Down."

In the Lake Down case, the Orlando area property owners´ deed "conveyed specific platted and numbered lots that were contained in the plat of the town," but the deed does not include Lake Street, "which runs between the platted lots and the shoreline of Lake Down." Their lawyer plans to argue that Windermere does not own that strip of Orlando area property, "and while it might have been platted as a road in the 1920´s, the town never accepted the dedication."

In the Lake Bessie case, the homeowners´ lawyer will argue that the "town does not own the right-of-way in ´fee simple`...in which the owner controls all ownership interest" in the Orlando area property.

Both lawyers argue that the "town hasn´t needed the property for 80 years." But the city of Windermere stressed that these homeowners are attempting to extinguish public access and use of the Orlando area property in question.