In what circumstances will a tenant be permitted to cut down trees on a parcel of land where there are no trees?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from The Corp. of Delta v. 569244 B.C. Ltd., 2003 BCSC 280 (CanLII):
The defendant emphasizes the concurring decision of Hagarty C.J. in Drake v. Wigle where he quotes, at 414, an earlier decision to the effect that: ...where the soil and freehold of a bog has been demised as bog, or where all the land demised is bog and only valuable as such, the tenant may, in analogy to the right acquired by a demise of a coal mine, cut it as he pleases for profit.... The Chief Justice went on to say that it would not be waste to cut a reasonable portion of trees in order to render the land fit for cultivation. Decision
I conclude that one must view the judgments in Drake v. Wigle in the context of clearing for cultivation. The cutting of merchantable timber for profit, and the removal of gravel or peat from the property, is something different. Trees, gravel and peat are, unlike cultivated crops, non-renewable resources. Their removal will diminish the value of the interest held by the purchaser.
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