BETTERMENT ACT

betterment act.A statute requiring a landowner to compensate an occupant who improves the land under a mistaken belief that the occupant is the real owner. • The compensation usu. equals the increase in the land’s value generated by the improvements. — Also termed occupying-claimant act; occupant statute. [Cases: Improvements  4. C.J.S. Improvements § 5.][Blacks Law 8th]