Title 21 — Real Property

The government of Guam shall have power to acquire property by the exercise of eminent domain. SOURCE: CC § 1001 as amended by P.L. 12-107.

Eminent Domain is the right or power of the government to take private property for public use, the right of the government or department or agency thereof, or public corporation to whom the power is delegated by law to condemn private property for public use and to appropriate t…

Public use means any use of purpose inuring to the benefit of the public generally or any substantial segment thereof. When the Guam COL112508 Legislature declares a use to be public, such use shall be presumed to be an authorized public use, but the contrary may be proved. SOURC…

Subsequent to any taking of private lands by condemnation, the Government shall be allowed a period of five (5) years to proceed with the public use it has declared to be the reason for condemning the property, or an alternative public use should it become necessary due to a comp…

(a) The power of Eminent Domain may be exercised by the government of Guam upon authorization and appropriation by the Guam Legislature of funds necessary for payment of just compensation. Such power shall be exercised by the Governor of Guam (b) The power of Eminent Domain may a…

The Superior Court of Guam shall have jurisdiction over all actions for condemnation of private property for public use by the government of Guam. The procedure in such actions will be governed by the appropriate provisions of the Rules of the Superior Court. COL112508 SOURCE: CC…

Public Use; Taking of Possession and Title; Authority; Procedure. In any proceeding in any court of the Territory of Guam which has been or may be instituted by and in the name of and under the authority of the government of Guam for the acquisition of any land, or easement, or r…

Giving Bond as Preventing or Delaying Vesting of Title. No appeal in any cause under this Chapter nor any bond or undertaking given therein shall operate to prevent or delay the vesting of title to such lands in the government of Guam. SOURCE: CCP § 1242.

the Government of Guam to Pay Ultimate Award When Fixed. No action irrevocably committing the government of Guam to the payment of the ultimate award shall be taken unless the Governor of Guam shall be of the opinion that the ultimate award probably will be within any limits pres…

Additional to Existing Rights, Powers, and Authority. The right to take possession and title in advance of final judgment in condemnation proceedings as provided in this Title shall be in addition to COL112508 any right, power, or authority conferred by the laws of the government…

When the taking of private property for public use in the Territory of Guam has been authorized either by the Guam Legislature or the Congress of the United States, the government of Guam and its employees, agents, and contractors shall have the right to enter upon any private pr…

In any inverse condemnation action instituted by a private landowner to obtain fair compensation for land that has been expropriated by the government of Guam for public purposes and for which no action in eminent domain has been instituted, the court may award the landowner reas…

The purpose of this Chapter is to establish a uniform policy for the fair and equitable treatment of persons displaced by the acquisition of real property by government of Guam land acquisition programs, by building code enforcement activities, or by a program of voluntary rehabi…

As used in this Chapter: COL120106 (a) Agency means any department, agency or instrumentality of the government. (b) Person means any individual, partnership, corporation, or association. (c) Displaced Person means any person who, on or after the effective date of this Chapter, m…

(a) If any agency acquires real property for public use, it shall make fair and reasonable relocation payments to displaced persons and businesses as required by this Chapter, for: (1) actual reasonable expenses in moving himself, his family, business, farm operation, or other pe…

(a) In addition to payments otherwise authorized by this Chapter, the agency shall make an additional payment not in excess of Twenty-two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($22,500) to any displaced person who is displaced from a dwelling actually owned and occupied by the displaced …

In addition to amounts otherwise authorized by this Chapter, an agency shall make a payment to or for any displaced person displaced from any dwelling not eligible to receive a payment under § 17104, which dwelling was actually and lawfully occupied by the displaced person for no…

(a) Whenever the acquisition of real property for a program or project undertaken by an agency will result in the displacement of any person on or after the effective date of this Chapter, the agency shall provide a relocation assistance advisory program for displaced persons whi…

Whenever the acquisition of real property for a program or project undertaken by an agency will result in the displacement of any person on or after the effective date of this Chapter, the agency shall assure that, within a reasonable period of time prior to displacement, there w…

(a) An agency, in accordance with the Administrative Adjudication Act, shall adopt rules and regulations necessary to assure that: (1) the payments and assistance authorized by this Chapter shall be administered in a manner which is fair and reasonable, and as uniform as practica…

In order to prevent unnecessary expense and duplication of functions, and to promote uniform and effective administration of relocation assistance programs for displaced persons, the agency shall carry out its functions and duties under this Chapter through Guam Housing and Urban…

Funds appropriated or otherwise available to any agency for the acquisition of real property or any interest therein for a particular program or project shall be available also for obligation and expenditure to carry out the provisions of this Chapter as applied to that program o…

Rehabilitation. A person who moves or discontinues his business or moves other personal property, or moves from his dwelling on or after the effective date of this Chapter as the direct result of building code enforcement activities, or a program of rehabilitation of buildings co…

No payment received by a displaced person under this Chapter shall be considered as income or resources for the purpose of determining the eligibility or extent of eligibility of any person for assistance under any territorial law or for the purposes of the territory's corporatio…

Any person or business concern aggrieved by a final administrative determination pursuant to the Administrative Adjudication Law, concerning eligibility for relocation payments authorized by this Chapter may appeal that determination to the Superior Court of Guam. SOURCE: GC § 13…

In addition to other payments authorized by the Relocation Assistance Act, the instrumentality or agency of the government of Guam involved may, as part of the cost of any program or project, reimburse the owner reasonable and necessary expenses incurred for: (a) Recording fees, …

result in Acquisition or is Abandoned. A court having jurisdiction over a proceeding instituted by an instrumentality or agency of the government of Guam to acquire real property by condemnation shall, when required by federal law or by a federal grant contract governing the proj…

A court, rendering a judgment for the plaintiff in a proceeding awarding compensation for the actual physical taking of the real property by an instrumentality or agency of the government of Guam, or the instrumentality or agency thereof effecting a settlement of any such proceed…

Uniform Relocation Act. Notwithstanding the provisions of § 17103, § 17104 and § 17105, whenever any agency is required to make relocation payments under this Chapter, such payments shall not be less than the amounts the agency would COL120106 have been required to make under sim…

Requirements. (a) When any department, agency or instrumentality of the government of Guam, or other political subdivision, or any other public or private entity subject to the provisions of the federal Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1…

Occupancy for any period confers a title sufficient against all except the government of Guam or the United States and those who have title by prescription, accession, transfer, will, or succession: provided, however, that the title conferred by such occupancy shall not be a suff…

Occupancy for the period prescribed by Title 7 of this Code as sufficient to bar an action for the recovery of the property, confers a title thereto, denominated a title by prescription, which is sufficient against all. SOURCE: CC § 1007. NOTE: Former Civil Code '§ 1013-1019, Acc…

When a person affixes his property to the land of another, without an agreement permitting him to remove it, the thing affixed, except as provided in § 20106, belongs to the owner of the land, unless he chooses to require the former to remove it. SOURCE: CC § 1013

Where, from natural causes, land forms by imperceptible degrees upon the bank of a river or stream, navigable or not navigable, either by accumulation of material or by the recession of the stream, such land belongs to the owner of the bank, subject to any existing right-of-way o…

If a river or stream, navigable or not navigable, carries away, by sudden violence, a considerable and distinguishable part of a bank, and bears it to the opposite bank, or to another part of the same bank, the owner of the part carried away may reclaim it within a year after the…

An island, or accumulation of land, formed in a stream which is not navigable, belongs to the owner of the shore on that side where the island or accumulation is formed, or, if not formed on one side only, to the owners of the shore on the two sides, divided by an imaginary line …

If a stream, in forming itself a new arm, divides itself and surrounds land belonging to the owner of the shore, and thereby forms an island, the island belongs to such owner. SOURCE: CC § 1018.

A tenant may remove from the demised premises, any time during the continuance of his term, anything affixed thereto for purposes of trade, manufacture, ornament, or domestic use, if the removal can be effected without injury to the premises, unless the thing has, by the manner i…

Every person is guilty of a forcible entry who either: (a) By breaking open doors, windows, or other parts of a house, or by any kind of violence or circumstances of terror enters upon or into any real property; or, (b) Who, after entering peaceably upon real property, turns out …

Every person is guilty of a forcible detainer who either: COL372014 (a) By force, or by menaces and threats of violence, unlawfully holds and keeps the possession of any real property, whether the same was acquired peaceably or otherwise; or (b) Who, in the nighttime, or during t…

A tenant of real property, for a term less than life, is guilty of unlawful detainer: (a) When he continues in possession, in person or by subtenant, of the property, or any part thereof, after the expiration of the term for which it is let to him, without the permission of his l…

In either of the following cases, a person who holds over and continues in the possession of real property, after a three (3) day written notice to quit the same shall have been served upon him, or if there is a subtenant in actual occupation of the premises, also upon such subte…

The notices required by the preceding section may be served, (a) By delivering a copy to the tenant personally; or, (b) If he be absent from his place of residence, and from his usual place of business, by leaving a copy with some person of suitable age and discretion at either p…

No person, other than the tenant of the premises and subtenant, if there be one, in actual occupation of the premises when the complaint is filed need be made party defendant in the proceeding, nor shall any proceeding abate, COL372014 nor the plaintiff be nonsuited for the nonjo…

Except as provided in the preceding section, the provisions of 7 GCA Division 2, beginning with Chapter 10, relating to parties to civil actions, are applicable to this proceeding. SOURCE: CCP § 1165. 2013 NOTE: In the transition from the CCP to the GCA, the term Part was replace…

The plaintiff, in his complaint, which shall be verified, must set forth the facts on which he seeks to recover, describe the premises with reasonable certainty, and may set forth therein any circumstances of fraud, force, or violence which may have accompanied the alleged forcib…

COL372014 The summons must require the defendant to appear and answer within five (5) days after the service of the summons upon him, and must notify him that if he fails to so appear and answer, the plaintiff will apply to the court for the relief demanded in the complaint. In a…

If the complaint presented establishes, to the satisfaction of the judge or justice, fraud, force, or violence in the entry or detainer, and that the possession held is unlawful, he may make an order for the arrest of the defendant. SOURCE: CCP § 1168.

If, at the time appointed, the defendant does not appear and defend, the court must enter his default and must not render judgment in favor of the plaintiff, as prayed for in the complaint, without first hearing the proofs of the plaintiff. SOURCE: CCP § 1169.

On or before the day fixed for his appearance, the defendant may appear and answer or demur. SOURCE: CCP § 1170.