A southern Alberta man is praising Premier Danielle Smith for doing what her predecessors stretching back to at least the Klein era were unable to do — passing legislation to curtail adverse possession.
Usually referred to as squatter’s rights, the law stretches back to Canada’s colonial past and its adoption of common law principles of the United Kingdom, which allow for land to be claimed by occupants of other people’s property if in possession of it for a 10-year period.
For Bob Woodward, who saw 10 acres of his property successfully claimed by his neighbour, a man he’s known for eight decades, the move comes too late following a decision by the Alberta Court of Appeal in 2015 that upheld a lower court decision granting land Woodward had bought to his neighbour.
But he is overjoyed that such an action can’t happen again.
Woodward explained how in 1972, a new county road cut off the 10-acre section of land that became the subject of dispute with his neighbour William Reeder, who was using the orphaned piece of property.
“I didn’t know anything about adverse possession and this 10-year period,” said Woodward, who said he’d attempted in a neighbourly fashion to resolve the issue informally. “If I’d said to him within a 10-year period, ‘look, get your buns off of there, it’s my property, I bought it, paid for it and I’m going to use it,’ something would have been done.”
He said Reeder’s land bordered the 10-acre section, which he then proceeded to break up for hay.
“I’d look out my kitchen window and say to the wife, ‘he’s cutting our hay again,’” said Woodward.
But he said he didn’t raise a fuss about the situation as he figured Reeder required the hay more than he did.
By the time Woodward said he was ready to put his foot down over the issue, it was too late.
After the loss, Woodward said he became hyper vigilant regarding his property, finding another fence line on his property incorrectly placed and even getting a hunter to take down a blind that had been standing for a couple of years.
“There is no need for adverse possession. There is no place for it,” he said.
He lamented the fact the Alberta legislature had previously been unable to pass a law to get rid of adverse possession despite consistent support by all parties.“But I was very pleased to hear when the new premier in Alberta got in there and made some stipulations and that she was going to see to it that adverse possession was long gone,” said Woodward.
In December, the province passed the Property Rights Amendment Act 2022 ending adverse possession in Alberta.
