Canadian property law
Squatters' rights in Nunavut: a 10-year rule with little land to apply to
On paper, ten years: Nunavut uses the Limitation of Actions Act it inherited from the Northwest Territories. In practice, most land is Crown land, leased, or held under land claim agreements, none of which is open to a claim.
14 days before the first charge · Nothing is switched on until you say so
- Statutory period
- 10 years, on little land
- What's different here
- little private land, as most homes stand on leased land
- Statute
- Limitation of Actions Act, RSNWT (Nu) 1988, c L-8, ss 18 and 43
When Nunavut was created in 1999, it took over the Northwest Territories' statutes, including the Limitation of Actions Act. Its section 18 limits proceedings to recover land to 10 years after the right first accrued, and section 43 extinguishes the owner's title at the end of that period.
The Alberta Law Reform Institute's cross-country review lists Nunavut, like the Northwest Territories, as a place where adverse possession remains available against privately owned land in the land titles system. It also calls Nunavut an exceptional jurisdiction, because there is little fee simple ownership.
According to that review, most individuals hold their property under an equity lease from the municipality, and much of the rest of the land falls under land claim agreements, neither of which is subject to adverse possession claims. For most occupied homes, the question an owner or lessee faces is removal through the police or the residential tenancy process, not a claim to title.
Where Nunavut sits against the rest of Canada, in years
Of 13 places in Canada on these pages, 0 have a shorter clock and 8 a longer one or none at all.
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 10 years, on little landA 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 Nunavut?
In law, a 10-year limitation on recovering privately owned land still applies, under sections 18 and 43 of the Limitation of Actions Act that Nunavut inherited from the Northwest Territories. In practice, little land in Nunavut is held in a form it can run against.
Can leased land in Nunavut be claimed by adverse possession?
The Alberta Law Reform Institute notes that land held under leasehold, such as the equity leases most individuals hold from municipalities, and land under land claim agreements is not subject to adverse possession claims.
How does an owner in Nunavut 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 locking them out 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.
14 days before the first charge · Nothing is switched on until you say so