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ARTICLE · 28 MARCH 2025

Landowner Compensation For Constructive Expropriation

Miller Thomson
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Did you know that expropriation of land can occur in two ways?

CanadaReal Estate and Construction
Nizar Dahrouge
Nizar Dahrouge
Caitlin Smith
Caitlin Smith
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Did you know that expropriation of land can occur in two ways?

Formal expropriation occurs where a public authority acquires legal title to the land without the landowner's consent. Constructive expropriation (also known as "de facto" expropriation) covers a situation where a public authority imposes such restrictive land use regulations that the landowner is effectively deprived of all rights to use and enjoy the land. Specifically, the conditions for constructive expropriation are (1) a public authority has acquired a beneficial interest in the land; and (2) a regulation removes all reasonable uses of the land.

The Supreme Court of Canada's ("SCC") decision in St. John's (City) v Lynch provides useful guidance on calculating compensation where a parcel of land has been constructively expropriated.

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