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I want to convey a meaning that, a person was and is owner of that place. Obviously, saying "he was always an owner of that place" is other way of saying it, but it means- right from the start.

This is not a law question but I want to say that, a person was an owner of that place when some incident happened in the past (may be or roughly 25 years a go or who knows, may be 35), and now also he is owner of that place. So, how to use a verb indicating that he was and he is the owner of the place?

Update:

A comment and an answer suggest that I should use present perfect tense.

Is this sentence correct? Does it convey, what I want to say?

He has been owner of that house when incident happened.

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  • @Centaurus using present perfect "he has always been" means, he was owner of that place right from the start and until today he is owner. But, I already covered in my description that, he wasn't always the owner, but somewhere before certain time and until now.
    – user310669
    Apr 22, 2019 at 1:48
  • There's no single verb or tense that does that. The phrase you need will depend on the level of formality that's appropriate and the way you want to order things. It sounds as though the incident has already been mentioned, in which case you could say X was then (and is now) the owner of the property or at that time the property belonged to X, who still owns it today / and it still does.
    – user339660
    Apr 22, 2019 at 4:23
  • I don't believe there is any single verb for this. I have always just heard was and is or was and still is.
    – Jason Bassford
    Apr 22, 2019 at 4:45
  • Please forget my previous comment. I just misunderstood your question. I think you would have to say something like "He is the present owner and he was also the owner when the incident happened."
    – Centaurus
    Apr 23, 2019 at 0:27

1 Answer 1

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What you are asking for, it appears, is the English present progressive tense of the verb to be. This will indicate an action (of ownership of the place, not necessarily from its outset) and continuing into the present.

Hence, „He has been the owner of that place.“

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  • Please edit all your posts that have the wrong sort of quotation marks so that they are correct in written English.
    – tchrist ♦
    Apr 22, 2019 at 14:33

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