Adverse Possession in BC
Also known as: Squatter's rights BC · Adverse possession · Possessory title BC
The old doctrine that let someone occupying land long enough claim it from the registered owner. It does not work against registered land in BC: section 23(4) of the Land Title Act closed it, so a squatter cannot take title to land in the Torrens register.
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.
An adverse-possession claim is not 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.
Related terms
- BC Land Title Office (LTSA) — The BC land registration system operated by the Land Title and Survey Authority (LTSA) under the Land Title Act, RSBC 1996, c.
- Real Property Report (RPR) — A surveyor drawing that shows where the legal boundaries actually run and where the buildings, fences and decks sit against them.
- Title Insurance — A one-time-premium policy bought at closing that covers the owner, the lender, or both against loss from a title problem that pre-dates it.
See also
Use any of these formats. Codex content is licensed under CC BY 4.0 — attribution required.
@misc{bronsonjob-bc_lto_overview,
author = {Job, Bronson},
title = {{BC Land Title Office (LTSA) overview}},
howpublished = {BC Real Estate Codex},
year = {2005},
url = {https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.lto.overview},
urldate = {2026-05-09},
note = {Fact ID: bc.lto.overview, version 1.}
}Job, B. (2005). BC Land Title Office (LTSA) overview. *BC Real Estate Codex*. Retrieved 2026-05-09, from https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.lto.overview
BC Land Title Office (LTSA) overview — Bronson Job PREC, BC Real Estate Codex (2026-05-09). https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.lto.overview
Fact id: bc.lto.overview · v1 · machine-readable: /api/v1/facts/by-id/bc.lto.overview.json
Verified sources (3)· re-verified Aug 2, 2026Show sources
Every claim on this page is sourced to a primary government, regulator, or industry-association URL. We re-verify quarterly; the verification dates below show when each source was last confirmed against the live government page.
- BC Governmentretrieved May 9, 2026Land Title Act, RSBC 1996, c. 250https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96250_00
- Otherretrieved Aug 2, 2026About the Land Title and Survey Authorityhttps://ltsa.ca/about-ltsa/
- BC Governmentretrieved Aug 2, 2026Land Title Act [RSBC 1996] c. 250https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96250_01
bc.lto.overview · v1View in Codex →License: This definition is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: "Adverse Possession in BC", BC Real Estate Glossary by Bronson Job, https://www.bronsonjob.com/glossary/adverse-possession-bc.
