Porch Bandits - Adverse Possession Remains Alive And Well In Toronto

• Published date: 29 November 2021
• Law Firm: Gardiner Roberts LLP
• Author: Mr James R.G. Cook and Mikaela Chorney (Articling Student)

The doctrine of adverse possession remains alive and well in Toronto despite the conversion of most properties into the Land Titles registry system many years ago. Under the Land Titles Act, properties are not generally subject to claims for unregistered ownership. However, claims for unregistered ownership interests that were created before the date of conversion into Land Titles may survive. In older Toronto neighbourhoods, where homes are often in close proximity, such ownership interests may have been created years before the properties were converted into the Land Titles system.

In Macquarrie v. Singh, 2021 ONSC 3896 (CanLII), the court addressed a claim for adverse possession by the applicants over a section of their front veranda that was built over the property line onto their neighbour's property. The homes of the applicants and the respondents were connected by a common wall. For as long as anyone could remember, four feet of the veranda of the applicants' property encroached upon their neighbour. The veranda led only to the front door of the applicants' property and abutted the outer wall of the respondent's house. The veranda was physically attached to the respondent's house on the roof, on the deck, and by concrete steps due to the close proximity of the two houses.

In 2016, the respondent bought his house without notice that the applicants' veranda encroached over the lot line onto his property. However, there was proof...