Re-establishing Your Boundaries
Re-establishing Your Boundaries
Property ownership in Canada has long been considered one of the most lucrative investments a family or a company can make. For individuals, the purchase of land is often their first entry into the process of growing wealth over their lifetime. It makes up a significant portion of most owners’ portfolio of financial holdings, valued at as much as 65% of their overall net worth. With only a few reversals, according to Stats Canada, owner-occupied homes have increased steadily in value since the 1950’s, with an especially large surge of 40% of value between 2016 and 2021. Commercial properties, though more varied in nature and usage, have largely followed suit. Since real estate forms such a large portion of a person’s or a company’s wealth, it makes sense for the owners of property to know exactly what they own, its extent on the ground and the existence of any third-party rights to which it may be subject. It may seem surprising, but many boundaries are lost to even the knowledge of the owners of the property defined by those boundaries. This happens in all types of property…residential, commercial industrial or recreational.
Cottage and Recreational Properties
About 20 years ago in Canada, the average value of a recreational property such as a cottage exceeded that of the average permanent residence property for the first time in history. Cottages, often built in the 1940’s and through the 1960’s, tended to be uninsulated, heated by wood or propane heaters, and reachable only by traversing a narrow, poorly-kept gravel or dirt laneway through the farm property from which they were sold. Some were surveyed at the time they were created. Many were not, and their boundaries were identified more or less by common understanding with neighbours. As people continued to visit these cottages and families grew, the cottage lots were improved. Sleeping cabins were added, parking was expanded, and garages were built to contain the ever-growing stable of boats, ATV’s and snowmobiles. Access roads were physically widened and sometimes rerouted to accommodate larger construction vehicles as people upgraded cottages to 3- and 4-season homes. All this development took place incrementally, and pressures with neighbours, themselves undertaking similar expansion efforts, began to cause friction over the use of the land and possible encroachment over each other’s boundaries.
Commercial and Industrial Properties
In Ontario, boundary law follows the same precepts for all types of properties, with the exception of Crown lands in certain cases. It is very common for a company, having rented space from a landlord for a number of years, to find their accountant recommending that the next logical financial step for them is to stop paying rent to someone else and buy or construct a building of their own. In this process, the company will seek a suitable existing property for sale or perhaps approach an owner of a larger land holding and request that they obtain a land severance of a smaller parcel from the larger holding. In either case, it is advisable, and in the case of a land severance, mandatory to engage the services of an Ontario Land Surveyor to re-establish the boundaries of the existing land or create the boundaries of the proposed land severance. These commercial and industrial properties generally have a much higher value than residential properties. It is a worthwhile investment to have the boundaries of the parcel well researched and properly marked on the ground and illustrated on a Plan of Survey.
Ontario Land Surveyors
As these issues begin to arise, lawyers and others will often suggest to the cottage owner or the commercial or industrial landowner that they hire a surveyor to mark their actual boundaries. In Ontario, under the Surveyors Act, Ontario Land Surveyors have the sole mandate to define and mark boundaries of land. They are obligated, under the Surveys Act of Ontario, to determine through research, visual inspection and under the Rules of Evidence, the best evidence of the location of boundaries of the properties they survey. Engaging the services of an Ontario Land Surveyor will provide value to you as a landowner in being assured of your boundaries, your rights in the land and any restrictions on it imposed by municipal bylaws or other constraints.
Kerr & Potvin Inc.
Ontario Land Surveyors
Kerr and Potvin Inc. was established to provide exactly the types of services noted in this article. With over 40 years of experience in Eastern Ontario, we will provide legal surveys to mark boundaries, severance application services and general consulting concerning your boundaries and the various uses and conditions attached to your property.