What is a Homestead?

By Ruth Pradzynski

What is a homestead? 

A homestead is a property that serves as a family’s residence, including the surrounding land and outbuildings. For an urban family, it is the principal residence they own.  For a rural family, it is the “Home quarter” or acreage, a place that includes the house, and outbuildings. 

What is the historical context?

The Dominion Lands Act, passed in 1872, was intended to settle the Western prairies.  It offered, for a $10 administration fee, 160 acres of land to any male person, 18 years of age or older, willing to build a house on the land, cultivate it, and live there for a minimum of three years. 

Between 1872 and 1930, approximately 625,000 homesteads were granted, particularly after 1890, when the Canadian government advertised heavily in Britain and Europe. Historians estimate these individual land grants were responsible for the migration of well over a million settlers into the Prairie provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

Why did the legislation target males only?  Because, at the time, women were not considered legally “persons” and could not own land.  

The Homestead Act (1989):

Today in Saskatchewan, The Homesteads Act, 1989 refers to a specific provincial law designed to protect non-owning spouses from being left without a home. It prevents one spouse from unilaterally selling, leasing, or mortgaging the "homestead" (the family home) without the explicit, written consent of the other spouse. 

The consenting spouse must acknowledge their agreement separate and apart from the owning spouse, before a lawyer or Notary Public, to ensure it is done freely and without compulsion. 

In recent years, the law has been updated to change the definition of “spouse” to include a common law or same-sex partner.

What does this mean for me? 

If you invite a friend or sexual partner to spend the night in your home, and they later become your common law spouse or same sex partner, they develop Homestead rights over your property. You will not be able to sell, lease or mortgage the home without their consent. 

Often couples will enter into a pre-nuptial or cohabitation agreement to specifically remove the Homestead Act, 1989 in relation to the property they owned prior to entering the relationship.

 It is important to seek legal advice, to ensure your rights are protected.

Ruth Pradzynski is a lawyer with A.R.E. Law in Regina