1. You Can lose an interest in a portion or all of your Title/Property as a result of “Squatter’s Rights”, legally known as Adverse Possession. This happens when somebody else uses your property for a long enough time to meet the legal requirements to establish a permanent right/ownership in a property they do not own. Once properly established through the Court system, this can actually be registered on your Title and delete all or part of your property ownership.
2. The basic Test requires that, for at least 10 continuous years, the squatter must have: 1- actual possession of the property, 2- use the property in a way that intends to exclude the true owner from using it and, 3- the true owner was in fact excluded from using the property. This will typically have to be established through facts and evidence in a Court proceeding.
3. This will Not apply to properties that are in the newer Land Titles system [typically newer urban and suburban areas], although some of these properties are only partially ‘Qualified’ Land Titles properties or Older ‘Registry’ system properties. You can Protect against this by knowing your property boundaries, checking its system registration, making sure fences are maintained, erecting “no trespassing” or “private property” signs, monitoring and challenging, in writing, and evidencing, any unauthorized use or entry onto your property. This is particularly important in rural or cottage properties or large unbounded lots.
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