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Dorchester homeowner wins land case against developer
Proves to court that she and the previous owner of her multifamily used and maintained the vacant lot for 20 years.
Carla B. Monteiro was 4 years old and living in the Fields Corner section of Dorchester when her parents separated. A tragic event for any kid was made much worse when the landlord evicted them because her mother was unmarried. When Monteiro heard that story at the age of 16, she committed to buying a home one day so nothing like that would ever happen to her again.
After years of saving and taking Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance‘s home buyer classes, Monteiro, a first-generation home buyer, bought her Dorchester multifamily in 2010. One of the reasons she liked it was the unusually large, fenced-in yard where her son could play. She said she asked both agents, hers and the seller’s, whether the property included all of the land within the fencing, and they confirmed that it did.
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The lot is unusually large because the house on the corner lot next door burned down in the ’70s. So did the one on the other side of that house. In fact, a walk through that neighborhood reveals several empty lots where homes reportedly once stood.
The previous owner of Monterio’s home had bought the corner lot years earlier. They used and maintained the lot next to that as well and eventually fenced it all in.
For nine years, Monteiro cut the grass, removed litter from the yard, and enjoyed her homeownership — until that day in 2019 when a sign from the city appeared on the fence announcing it had sold a 4,000-square-foot chunk of the Dorchester land to a developer called Shanti Acquisitions, which intended to build on it and was seeking a variance.
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Shocked, Monteiro stayed up late into the night scouring the internet to see what her options were. As a social worker, she was used to researching solutions to complex problems. The word NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) had taken on a personal meaning.
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She learned about the legal doctrine of “adverse possession.” It’s when someone can claim ownership of land by demonstrating that they have been using it and maintaining it for 20 years — and that the owner has not.
“I used my research and advocacy skills to advocate for myself,” she said. “My experiences throughout my life have prepared me for this moment and many others. Whether it was advocating for my family, friends, neighbors, or clients in hospital settings, the bank, or a utility company, I have always been proactive in seeking justice.”
To find out more, she called attorneys Morjieta Derisier and Sheryl Furnari of BayState Law Group. Because she hasn’t been using the land for 20 years, she had to prove that the previous owners had, a process called “tacking.”
“The crazy thing about Carla’s case is: She really did have a textbook case,” Derisier said. “Tacking is something everybody with an adverse possession case wishes that they could use. The only reason tacking worked was because the heirs were still alive to vouch for the timeframe that we needed, and they wrote affidavits.”
Monteiro won a judgment in June 2021, but Shanti appealed. Neither Solomon Chowdhury, Shanti’s registered agent, nor his attorney responded to interview requests.
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In November 2023, an appellate court affirmed the lower court’s decision finding Monteiro did demonstrate her right to the land, but there’s a catch: Shanti has a mortgage attached to the land even though the firm doesn’t own it. According to court documents, Shanti took out a $1.135 million construction loan on the property from First Development in March 2021, while the suit with Monteiro was well underway. The land can’t be sold or developed until the mortgage has been discharged.
Monteiro spent more than $20,000 defending her right to the Dorchester property.
“I knew I had a good case, but I was nervous, because you hope that it will all work out,” she said. “People need to do their research and find out what their rights are and advocate for themselves.”
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