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ARTICLE · 02 JUNE 2017

Licences And Easements – A Distinction With A Big Difference

McCarthy Tétrault
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Licenses and easements are not the same thing! Depending on the rights you wish to convey, there is an important distinction between the two, which was recently highlighted in an Ontario Court of Appeal case.

CanadaReal Estate and Construction
Canadian Real Property Law Blog
Canadian Real Property Law Blog
Abraham Costin
Abraham Costin
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Licenses and easements are not the same thing! Depending on the rights you wish to convey, there is an important distinction between the two, which was recently highlighted in an Ontario Court of Appeal case.1 The Court was faced with a neighbouring property owners' fight concerning a waterline. Beginning in 1966, the predecessors in title to the neighbours entered into a series of agreements to allow one neighbour to lay a pipeline to draw water from Sturgeon Lake to serve the other neighbouring property owner.  The dispute arose because the neighbour drawing the water replaced the galvanized steel pipeline with a PVC line.

The Court, in its ruling, made two significant findings:

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