Canadian property law
Squatters' rights in New Brunswick: does possession ever lead to title?
Not against land registered under the Land Titles Act. Section 17 provides that no right, title or interest adverse to the registered owner is acquired by the possession of another.
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- Statutory period
- None on land titles land
- What's different here
- the Land Titles Act bars possession against the registered owner
- Statute
- Land Titles Act, SNB 1981, c L-1.1, s 17
New Brunswick moved its land records into a land titles system, under which the register guarantees who owns a parcel. Section 17 of the Land Titles Act provides that no right, title or interest adverse to or in derogation of the title of the registered owner or their right to possession is acquired by the possession of another, and that easements and similar rights are not acquired by prescription either.
The Alberta Law Reform Institute's cross-country review lists New Brunswick among the jurisdictions where adverse possession is not available against titled land.
A property that has never been brought into land titles is the only place an older possession claim could still arise, and the rules there come from the province's older real property limitation law rather than the Land Titles Act. For registered land, the question an owner faces is removing an occupant rather than losing title to one.
Where New Brunswick sits against the rest of Canada, in years
Here possession cannot become ownership on any clock, so there is no bar to draw.
Sources checked
How it unfolds
From the day someone moves in to the day a claim is possible
The same three stages in most places. The exact rule, and whether the last stage exists at all, is on each place's own page.
- Day oneMoving inCaught in the act, it is usually a matter for the police: a trespass, not a tenancy.
- Weeks to yearsSettled inOnce someone lives there, removing them usually takes a court order, the same route as for a tenant.
- After the full periodA claim becomes possibleOnly if every test held, without a break, for the whole period. Where the law allows no such claim, this stage never comes.
Not yours to do, once they have moved inChanging the locks, cutting the water or power, or removing belongings yourself. It is illegal in every US state and most places on these pages forbid it too. Each page says how removal works there.
Before it is ever a court case
The record a court asks for, kept as you go
Wherever your property stands, removing an occupant usually comes down to showing who had the right to be there, and since when. Dardaris files every lease, message and document for a building by date, so that record already exists on the day you need it.
- Every lease, with who signed it and when
- Every message with a tenant, on the thread it was sent in
- Every document, filed against the building it concerns
Frequently asked questions
Are there squatters' rights in New Brunswick?
Not against land in the land titles system. Section 17 of the Land Titles Act prevents another person's possession from creating any right adverse to the registered owner.
How long is adverse possession in New Brunswick?
For land registered under the Land Titles Act there is no period, because possession does not run against the registered owner. Only land never brought into land titles could be subject to an older possession claim.
How does a New Brunswick owner remove an occupant?
An occupant with no tenancy is a trespasser, handled through the police or the courts. If the occupant may be a tenant, the Residential Tenancies Act governs how the tenancy ends, which rules out a landlord changing the locks on their own.
Elsewhere in Canada
The same question, on a different clock. Every place sets its own period and its own shortcuts.
This is general information, not legal advice.Laws change, and a county or a city can add its own wrinkle on top of the state rule, the way New York City does. Confirm the current rule for your address before acting on it, and talk to a local attorney before relying on any of it in a real dispute.
Know who is actually in your property, before it becomes a court case.
Hand over one building and see every lease checked against what is actually happening on the ground.
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