Adverse Possession in BC

Adverse possession (informally "squatter's rights") was a common-law doctrine where a person who openly, continuously, and adversely occupied land for a statutory period (typically 10-20 years in common-law jurisdictions) could claim ownership against the registered owner. In British Columbia, adverse possession against REGISTERED land was abolished by section 23(4) of the Land Title Act, RSBC 1996, c. 250 — under BC's Torrens system, the registered title is generally conclusive, and no period of unauthorized occupation will displace the registered owner.

The trap most BC owners fall into: assuming an adverse-possession claim is impossible. Two narrow exceptions remain: (1) BC Crown land (not registered under the Land Title Act in the same way), where adverse-possession-like claims sometimes succeed; (2) unsurveyed or boundary-disputed parcels — particularly older rural lots where the survey reference monuments have been disturbed — where boundary adjustment by long use is occasionally argued. For 99%+ of BC residential transactions, adverse possession is a non-issue. The greater real-world risk for BC buyers is BOUNDARY ENCROACHMENT (a neighbour's fence on your land or vice-versa) — that risk is what an updated Real Property Report addresses.