The Honourable Gerry Byrne, Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture, is providing details of new actions to help residents clarify title to large areas of land in historically settled communities. This includes issuing a “dispossession certificate” declaring the Crown claims no interest in certain pieces of land on a community level.
As announced October 15, 2024, the Provincial Government is enacting measures to remove barriers for people when applying for, or securing property title to, Crown lands, including better support for title seekers trying to acquire legal ownership of Crown lands based on adverse possession – commonly referred to as “squatter’s rights.”
Adverse possession against the Crown was abolished on January 1, 1977, outside of a 20-year exemption period of 1957 to 1977. Prior to that, the exemption was for a 60-year period. Recently announced measures will make it easier for applicants to prove adverse possession against the Crown by changing the required land possessory period from the current 20 continuous years immediately prior to January 1, 1977, to a period of 10 continuous years immediately prior to January 1, 1977. No other province or territory has created such applicant-friendly laws.
Another new policy will enable the Provincial Government to relinquish its right to Crown lands by issuing a quitclaim deed for a primary residence to title seekers who have occupied lands long-term, thus enabling them to privately resolve challenges associated with securing title.
For situations where conditions of adverse possession have been met on a community level, another legislative change will allow the Provincial Government to issue a dispossession certificate declaring the Crown claims no interest in land. This would generally apply to areas containing multiple homes and properties in communities where historical occupation of land knowingly preceded the time period applied to adverse possession. Issuing a dispossession certificate would relinquish the Crown’s claim to property without granting title or transferring interest, which would formally release a Provincial Government claim to Crown lands.
The Provincial Government will be reviewing areas where such situations occur, such as downtown St. John’s and historic towns such as Bonavista or Twillingate. Only areas with legacy possession will be included in this process, with emphasis on areas where long-term possession can be determined using various tools within municipal planning boundaries. Discussions will take place with municipal authorities and departmental planners to coordinate boundaries of dispossession certificates.
Other recently announced measures to help streamline and clarify the process of securing property title include:
• Allowing the Minister the option to approve additional structures under Section 7 of the Lands Act related to shoreline reservations.
• Providing more flexibility for applicants by allowing the removal of timeframes currently required under the Act for such things as completion of surveys.
• Continuing policy review that will improve and modernize Crown lands management, service delivery, application processing times, and enforcement.
• Preparing to launch the modernized, mobile-friendly Online Crown Lands Application Portal to improve the Crown lands application process.
The department has been working with the Office of the Chief Information Officer to complete the Online Crown Lands Application Portal, which will be launched together with the Primary Residence Property Title Program. This program will create better housing security and secure peace of mind for those who have a primary residence situated on land that has not met any of the new pathways to achieve marketable title.
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“There are areas within the boundaries of some of the province’s historic legacy communities, such as the Town of Bonavista, where the Crown has obviously been dispossessed of its claim to land title for many years. This bold change means the Crown can issue a dispossession certificate for areas where clearly, the Crown has been dispossessed. This is where common sense meets common law and common practicality – this is about Crown lands for the future.”
Honourable Gerry Byrne
Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture
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