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The Homestead Act, enacted during the Civil War in 1862, provided that any adult citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. government could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land. Claimants were required to live on and “improve” their plot by cultivating the land.
Urban Real Estate: In cities or villages, a homeowner can designate one lot and the house on it within a recorded plat as a homestead. Rural Real Estate: For rural areas, up to forty acres of land and the house on that homestead can be protected if not in a recorded plat, city, or village.
The new law established a three-fold homestead acquisition process: file an application, improve the land, and file for deed of title. Any U.S. citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. Government could file an application and lay claim to 160 acres of surveyed Government land.
End of homesteading The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 ended homesteading; by that time, federal government policy had shifted to retaining control of western public lands. The only exception to this new policy was in Alaska, for which the law allowed homesteading until 1986.
(c) "Homestead" means a dwelling or a unit in a multiple-unit dwelling, owned and occupied as a home by the owner thereof, including all contiguous unoccupied real property owned by the person. Homestead includes a dwelling and an outbuilding used in connection with a dwelling, situated on the lands of another.