Occupying Claimant; Compensation for Improvements

When any person, under color of title in fee and in good faith, has peaceably taken possession of land for which that person has given a valuable consideration, or when any person has taken possession of land under the official deed of any person or officer empowered by law or by any court of competent jurisdiction to sell land, and such deed is regular upon its face, and the person has no actual notice of any defects invalidating the same, neither such person, nor the person's heirs, representatives, or assigns, shall be ejected from such land, except as hereinafter provided, until compensation is tendered the person or the person's heirs, representatives, or assigns for such improvement which the person or the person's heirs, representatives, or assigns have made upon such land previous to actual notice of the claim upon which the action is founded, or, in case of possession under an official deed, previous to actual notice of defects invalidating the same. The word "improvement" shall be construed to include all kinds of buildings and fences, and ditching, draining, grubbing, clearing, breaking, and all other necessary or useful labor of permanent value to the land. When the occupant holds as heir, devisee, or grantee, either immediate or remote, of any person who is not a resident of the state, the good faith of the original taker shall be presumed.