Anne-Marie Mizzy
Maybe you are the owner of a vacant home or have inherited a piece of land that has been vacant for a long period of time. One day you check on the property to find that people have been squatting there, maybe even for several years, without your knowledge. You might be familiar with the term “squatter’s rights” causing you to wonder, “do these people have any rights to my property and what can be done to remedy the situation?”
Legally speaking, the notion of squatters’ rights comes from the doctrine of adverse possession. This legal doctrine allows for people to potentially gain possession of property that they legally do not own. In Canada, to make a claim of adverse possession people have to demonstrate that they have had open, notorious, continuous, adverse, exclusive and actual possession of the property for a prescribed amount of time. Essentially the person claiming adverse possession has to act like the owner of the property, making their possession known to others, and not be challenged about their use of the property. In some provinces, such as Ontario, squatters may acquire squatter’s rights if they have used the land in a manner that is contrary to the owner’s use for a prescribed time period, such as growing fruit on an owner’s property where that property is completely unused.
However, in British Columbia people are luckily almost completely protected against anyone squatting on their property. This is because under section 28 of the BC Limitation Act it is stated that unless a right to land through adverse possession came into effect before July 1, 1975, “no right or title to land may be acquired by adverse possession”. This means that unless people have been living continuously and exclusively on your property before 1975 for at least 20 years, they do not have a right to claim your property as their own. This piece of legislation protects against squatter’s rights.
It is also important to note that this section of the legislation extends further than just people being on your property. For example, a fence could have been built on a property by a neighbour who knew that it was encroaching on the neighbouring owner’s property but the owner of the neighbouring property was unaware. The legislation may be able to protect the owner’s interest in the encroached land if, once the owner comes to realize that the encroached land actually belongs to the them and challenges the neighbour, the neighbour brings a claim that the neighbour has rights to encroached land. With this legislation in British Columbia, property owners or those who have inherited property can feel more at ease if they have concerns when it comes to squatters. It may not be an easy process to have squatters removed but the law is on the owner’s side to make sure squatters do not have any rights to the property. If you are concerned about squatters on your property, contact a legal professional who can suggest what legal solutions are available to you to remedy the situation.
Denese Espeut-Post is an Okanagan-based lawyer and owns Avery Law Office. This article was written by Anne-Marie Mizzi. www.averylawoffice.ca
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