Canadian property law
Squatters' rights in Nova Scotia: 20 years, and what registration changes
Twenty years for private land and forty for Crown land, according to the provincial Department of Justice. Under section 74 of the Land Registration Act, the full period must usually have run before the parcel was first registered.
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- Statutory period
- 20 years (40 for Crown land)
- What's different here
- registering a parcel freezes most claims, with a 20% exception
- Statute
- Land Registration Act, SNS 2001, c 6, ss 74 and 75
Nova Scotia's Department of Justice describes the rule plainly: use of someone's land without permission that continues for 20 years puts the title holder at risk of a claim for ownership. The use must be open, notorious, continuous and exclusive, over all the land claimed, and without permission. Against Crown land the period is 40 years.
The Land Registration Act changes the picture once a parcel is migrated into the land registration system. Section 74 provides that no one obtains an interest in a registered parcel by adverse possession or prescription unless the required period was completed before the parcel was first registered. Registration does not wipe out a claim that had already matured, but no new one can accrue.
Section 75 is the exception: an adjoining owner can still acquire part of a registered parcel by adverse possession where that part does not exceed twenty per cent of the parcel. This keeps boundary and driveway disputes alive between neighbours while shutting out claims to whole properties.
Where Nova Scotia sits against the rest of Canada, in years
Of 13 places in Canada on these pages, 5 have a shorter clock and 6 a longer one or none at all.
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 20 years (40 for Crown land)A 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
How long are squatters' rights in Nova Scotia?
Twenty years of open, notorious, continuous and exclusive use of private land without permission, and forty years for Crown land. On parcels registered under the Land Registration Act, the period generally has to have been completed before first registration.
Does registering my parcel stop adverse possession in Nova Scotia?
Largely, yes. Section 74 of the Land Registration Act stops new claims from accruing after first registration, but a claim already complete before then survives. Section 75 still allows an adjoining owner to claim up to twenty per cent of a registered parcel.
How does a Nova Scotia owner remove an unauthorized occupant?
Nova Scotia legal information sources point to notices under the Protection of Property Act or a removal order from the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. If the occupant may be a tenant, the Residential Tenancies Act governs how the tenancy ends, and a landlord cannot simply lock them out.
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.
14 days before the first charge · Nothing is switched on until you say so