Adverse Possession in Ontario: Can a Neighbour Claim My Land?

A neighbour's garden bed, driveway, shed or fence creeps over the line. It has been that way for years, and you wonder whether they could one day claim that strip as their own. This idea is usually called adverse possession.

Whether a claim is even possible in Ontario depends heavily on how your land is registered. This article explains the time limits, the main exceptions, and what you can do to protect yourself.

What adverse possession means

Adverse possession is a claim that a person who has occupied land that belongs to someone else, for long enough, has gained the right to it. In Ontario this works through time limits. If the true owner waits too long to act, the law stops them from recovering the land.

The Real Property Limitations Act says that no one may enter land or bring an action to recover land except within ten years after the right to do so first accrued. When an owner is dispossessed, that right accrues at the time of the dispossession or discontinuance of possession.

When the time limit expires, the right and title of the person who could have recovered the land is extinguished. This is the basis for adverse possession claims to land outside the Land Titles system. The courts have also developed tests about the kind of possession that counts. Those come from case law, and a lawyer can explain how they apply to a specific set of facts.

Land Titles changes the answer

For land registered under the Land Titles Act, no title, right or interest that is adverse to the registered owner can be acquired by any length of possession or by prescription. This applies despite the Real Property Limitations Act. In plain words, adverse possession cannot start running once land is in Land Titles.

There is a narrow exception. The Land Titles bar does not prejudice an adverse claim based on possession by a person who was in possession when the first owner was registered with a possessory title only. Claims that were already complete before land moved into Land Titles are also a question for a lawyer to review.

Exceptions that can change the time limit

• Written acknowledgment: a written acknowledgment of the owner's title affects when the limitation period runs against the person entitled to the land.
• Minors and incapable persons: if the owner was a minor or incapable when the right accrued, they may sue within five years after the minority or incapacity ends, or after their death, whichever happens first.
• Crown land: the Crown has sixty years to recover land, and the ordinary limitation sections do not apply to waste or vacant Crown land.

These exceptions are fact-heavy. Whether one applies to your strip of land is something a lawyer should confirm.

Fences, surveys and a related issue: easements

The Line Fences Act covers only fences on a boundary line, and in most of Ontario it lets neighbours settle fence disputes through fence-viewers appointed by the municipality. That process deals with sharing the work and cost of a fence, and it does not decide where the line is. The government says owners must settle boundary disputes themselves, often with legal advice and a survey.

Only a licensed person may prepare plans that determine or establish a boundary, subject to supervised staff working under a licensed member. If the boundary itself is in doubt, an application can be made to the Director of Titles to confirm it under the Boundaries Act.

A similar time-based idea exists for rights of way. A claim to an easement cannot be defeated if the right was actually used without interruption for twenty years, and after forty years of such use it is absolute. The 40-year right does not arise if the use was by consent or agreement expressly given in writing. Land Titles also bars new claims of this kind on registered land.

What to do next

• Find out whether your land is in Land Titles. A lawyer can check this on your property records.
• Get a current survey if you are unsure where the line is.
• Keep a record of how the disputed area is used and for how long.
• If a neighbour uses your land with your permission, consider putting that permission in writing.
• Do not sign any document about the area without legal advice, because a written acknowledgment of title can affect the time limit.
• Speak with a lawyer early. Time limits matter.

Frequently asked questions