Can my neighbour's fence encroaching on my property become their land over time?

What the Law Says

Adverse possession — the idea that someone can gain legal ownership of land by using it openly, continuously, and without permission for a set period — no longer exists in most of Canada. Provincial land title legislation has eliminated it to protect registered owners and simplify land ownership records.

Adverse possession was formally abolished across Canada’s common law provinces through provincial land registration reforms. For example, Ontario’s Land Titles Act extinguished adverse possession rights for land under the land titles system — which covers virtually all urban and most rural properties.

The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Zeitel v. Ellscheid (1994) did not revive or affirm adverse possession as a general rule. Instead, it addressed whether possessory interests acquired *before* a tax sale could survive that sale — and confirmed that such pre-existing adverse possession claims *could*, in narrow circumstances, persist against a tax sale purchaser — but only if they were already legally established before the sale.

Importantly, no federal or national statute governs adverse possession; it is entirely a matter of provincial law. And today, only Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island retain any form of adverse possession — and even there, strict conditions apply and success is rare.

What Courts Have Said

Courts across Canada have consistently upheld the abolition of adverse possession in land titles jurisdictions — treating registered ownership as conclusive, unless very narrow statutory exceptions apply.

What to Do

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