What is Squatter’s Rights?

Squatter’s Rights is the concept that if you openly adversely possession someone else’s land continuously for the required length of time (usually 20 year for privately owned land, 40 years for Crown land), that you can apply to the court for an order declaring that you have become the legal owner of that land. The idea is that a land owner can’t sit back for decades and do nothing and then come out of the woodwork and demand their land back.

Permission From the Legal Owner to Occupy the Land

One way people end up possessing another person’s land for a long period of time is through the original consent of the owner of the Property. An example of this is where a parent or other family member permits a relative to set up a mobile home or other dwelling on a portion of their land. Over time the relative begins to view the property as their own. Sometimes a family may be living on another person’s land for decades as the home gets passed down to the next generation – even after the original person who granted them permission to live there has died.

Typically, what happens in these circumstances is a new owner comes along and demands the family get off of ‘their land’. The family does not what to leave because they have come to view the land as their own and sometimes have even invested in improving the land (adding a driveway, clearing/maintaining a lawn, building/improving a dwelling, erecting fencing or outbuildings and/or installing water and septic).

Possession by Permission Does Not Meet the ‘Adverse’ portion of the Test

Unfortunately, in the vast majority of these cases, despite the family being on the land for well over the required number of years, they will not be successful in a squatter’s rights claim. A fundamental principle of “Squatter’s Rights”, which is more formally known as “Adverse Possession”, is that the possession has to be ‘adverse’ to the legal owner’s intended use. If the owner has given permission, expressly or otherwise, then it is not possible that the possession was ‘adverse’.  This is a tough pill to swallow for the family that has been living on the land and possessing it as their own for decades. However, the key thing to understand is that if their possession of the land stems from permission to be there, the legal title holder (even if it's a new title holder and not the person who originally granted the permission), has the authority to revoke that permission and ask you to leave.

The “Clock” Stops if the Legal Owner Comes on the Land

Another fundamental principle of Squatters Rights and Adverse Possession in Nova Scotia is that if the legal owner is in possession of the Property, no one else is. The courts have interpreted this to mean in most cases if the legal owner so much as walks onto the land they are taking possession of it.  So even if there had been a dispute between the legal title owner and the family residing on the land, the 20 year ‘clock’ stops and resets anytime the legal title owner sets foot on the part of the land the family is claiming to possess.

Proprietary Estoppel May Force the Court to Enforce a Promise to Have the Land

In some rare circumstances, the Court may find a way to grant title to the ‘squatter’ if the circumstances were less so permission to stay on the land and more of a promise to have the land. This concept is known a Proprietary Estoppel. This could arise if in addition to permission to be on the land, the person who granted permission indicated that the land would eventually be yours if certain conditions were met. You would have to prove that such an agreement was in place and that you had met all the conditions. Learn more about what circumstances qualify for Proprietary Estoppel in Nova Scotia in our blog “ENFORCE PROMISES WITH RESPECT TO LAND IN NOVA SCOTIA WITH PROPRIETARY ESTOPPEL

If you have any questions regarding squatter’s rights, you can call us at (902) 826-3070 or email us at info@highlanderlaw.ca to set up a meeting with one of our lawyers at our Tantallon law firm. You can also schedule a no commitment Issue Review Consult for $250+HST where you have the opportunity to explain your situation to a lawyer and get basic advice before deciding whether or not you'd like to retain us.

By: Dianna M. Rievaj, MBA, LLB - Founding Lawyer

The information and materials on this blog are provided for general informational purposes only and are not intended to be legal advice. Nothing contained on this blog is legal advice or constitutes a legal opinion. While it is our goal to provide information which is current, legislative changes and court decisions, among other matters, may result in some information no longer being current or accurate. You should consult a lawyer before relying on any information. The views expressed herein by individual contributing lawyers posting entries to the blog are solely those of the authors and should not necessarily be attributed to or considered representative of the firm of Highlander Law Group Lawyers