Is There Still Squatter Rights In Ontario?

I practice real estate law in both Manitoba and Ontario and if this question was asked in Manitoba, the answer is a hard no; the common law concept of squatter’s rights, or otherwise known as adverse possession has been abolished in Manitoba. For Ontario, it is actually a maybe. If a landowner can prove that they or the previous owners have had unchallenged access and control of the property to the exclusion of the legal owner for 10 years (in Ontario, the Real Property Limitation Act sets that period of time to 10 years) prior to the date of conversion (when land was still in the old Registry system in Ontario as opposed to the Land Titles system), a claim for adverse possession may still arise. Manitoba has essentially always been under the Land Titles system, so that common law principle does not apply.

The reason I discuss this is because as the weather warms, people start getting interested again in their cottage property or look at acquiring or selling their cottage property in Ontario and this is where access and control of that property, especially in unorganized territory, becomes an issue. These properties are not commonly surveyed and people might historically be entirely using someone else property for a very long time; generations even. An example would be when a client tells me that our family has always used that point of land and now our new neighbours say it’s theirs.

Courts do not take adverse possession claims lightly and are not keen in allowing possessory title but it does happen, including the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision rendered on September 19, 2025 (Kosicki v. Toronto (City)) where it was upheld that the City of Toronto lost title to a strip of parkland that was intended to be used for public purposes.
The possibility that land was under the old Registry system in Ontario diminishes the farther north and west you go in the Province, as its been more recently settled, but the possibility that there could be squatters rights in cottage country of the Lake of Woods/District of Kenora area could still exist. The risk diminishes the more time elapses from the date of conversion as well but if you think you may have a parcel of land that may be subject to or may have grounds for claim of squatter’s rights, it is best to seek legal counsel and we can be there to help.

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