What is the appropriate compensation for an easement which has been declared?

However, the task for the Court of fixing compensation for the easement which it will declare is not simple in this case. According to the evidence, these circumstances are very unusual if not unique with respect to the West Point Grey/Dunbar area of Vancouver, if not the whole city. There are many cases of fences or outbuildings, such as garages or barns, encroaching over property boundaries, especially in rural or semi-rural areas, but evidently not of encroaching residential structures in a completely urban environment. As a result, the cases brought to my attention by counsel are not too helpful as to the appropriate amount of compensation in this case. Much of the jurisprudence on the subject deals with whether, balancing the equities, an easement ought to be ordered. It certainly does not indicate any single or preferred method of fixing compensation. I do, however, find helpful the following language of Quijano J. of this Court in Rowse v. Halloran [1997], B.C.J. No. 2213: 23. The compensation to be awarded to the petitioners is not, as I have said, to be based on an expropriation formula. This is because relief under s. 36 is equitable relief and must take into account the overall impact on the parties of the order granted, not just the estimated value of the portion of the property affected. ….