What is Adverse Possession?

Adverse possession allows a person who has occupied another’s land for at least 10 years to potentially claim ownership of that land. The occupation must be exclusive, open, notorious and continuous. In today’s Alberta, it involves two people: the person in actual possession of the disputed property (the occupier) and the registered owner of the disputed property (the registered owner). This executive summary outlines the most common adverse possession claims as well as our recommendations […]

May 28, 2022

Improving Alberta’s Dower Act

February 15, 2022

Should Alberta Abolish Adverse Possession?

Adverse possession allows a person who has occupied another’s land for at least 10 years to potentially claim ownership of that land. The occupation must be exclusive, open, notorious and continuous. In today’s Alberta, it involves two people: the person in actual possession of the disputed property (the occupier) and the registered owner of the disputed property (the registered owner). This infographic outlines the three most common adverse possession claims.

May 28, 2020

Adverse Possession and Lasting Improvements to Wrong Land, Final Report 115

Adverse possession allows a person who has occupied another’s land for at least 10 years to potentially claim ownership of that land. The occupation must be exclusive, open, notorious and continuous. Adverse possession is commonly, but mistakenly, referred to as squatter’s rights. ALRI is recommending that the law of adverse possession be abolished in Alberta. This change would prevent new claims from being brought in the future, but would not affect claims that have been […]

Contracts for the Sale and Purchase of Land: Purchasers’ Remedies, Final Report 97

Under the present law of Alberta, specific performance of a contract for the sale and purchase of land will not be granted to the purchaser under the contract unless the land is unique in the sense that no substitute is readily available. In 1996, the Supreme Court of Canada, in Semelhago v Paramadevan, said that it is no longer the case that every piece of real estate is unique and that it therefore cannot be assumed […]

October 29, 2009

Proposals for a Land Recording and Registration Act for Alberta, Final Report 69 Volume 2

October 29, 1993

Proposals for a Land Recording and Registration Act for Alberta, Final Report 69 Volume 1

Volume 1 of this report recommends that a new Land Recording and Registration Act be enacted to provide a modern and more efficient system of land recording and registration for Alberta. The new Act would replace the Land Titles Act (Alberta). The report contains a draft of the proposed Act. Parts 1 to 8 of the draft Act establish a reformed system of recording and registering interests in land which preserves the beneficial aspects of the existing system of […]

Section 195 of the Land Titles Act, Final Report 63

This report recommends that section 195 of the Land Titles Act be amended so that purchasers may rely on the Land Titles Office register. The amended section should make it clear that actual or constructive notice of an off-register interest does not affect a non-fraudulent purchaser who acquires an interest from the registered or caveated owner of the interest. This report contains a draft of an amended section 195. Section 195 protects the purchaser against finding that […]

February 1, 1993

Towards a New Alberta Land Titles Act, Report for Discussion 8

This Report for Discussion accompanies the report of the Joint Land Titles Committee entitled Renovating the Foundation: Proposals for a Model Land Recording and Registration Act for the Provinces and Territories of Canada. The core of the Joint Committee’s report is a Model Land Recording and Registration Act. In this Report for Discussion we discuss some existing Alberta law and make some comparisons between it and the Model Act. We do so only to illuminate […]

August 2, 1990

Partition and Sale, Final Report 23

This report is a study of the law of partition and alternative methods of termination of co-ownership and contains a draft Act. The matrimonial home is the most common, but not the only, example of property which is the subject of co-ownership in Alberta. Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only two provinces in Canada that do not have revised legislation providing for termination of co-ownership. The current law in Alberta is contained in three English […]

March 1, 1977