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Section I   The right of accession in relation to immovable property

Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2022)

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Section I   The right of accession in relation to immovable property

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    369.   Ownership of the soil carries with it ownership of what is above and what is below it; except that a mine may be alienated and owned apart from the land above it.

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    The owner may make upon the soil any plantations or buildings he thinks proper, saving the exceptions established in the book respecting servitudes.

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    He or she may make below it any buildings or excavations he or she thinks proper, and drawn from such excavations and products they may yield, provided that no injury is done thereby to the property of others.

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    370.   All buildings, plantations and works on any land or underground, are presumed to have been made by the owner at his or her own cost, and to belong to him or her, unless the contrary is proved; without prejudice to any right of property, either in a cellar under the building of another or in any other part of such building, which a third party may have acquired or may acquire by prescription.

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    371.   The owner of the soil who has constructed buildings or works with materials which do not belong to him or her, must pay the value of the materials. He or she may also be condemned to pay damages, if there be any; but the owner of the materials has no right to take them away.

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    372.   When improvements have been made by a possessor with his or her own materials, the right of the owner to such improvements depends on their nature and the good or bad faith of such possessor.

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    If they were necessary, the owner of the land cannot have them taken away. He or she must, in all cases, pay what they cost, even when they no longer exist; except, in the case of bad faith, the compensation of rents issues and profits.

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    If they were not necessary, and were made by a possessor in good faith, the owner is obliged to keep them, if they still exist, and to pay either the amount they cost or that to the extent of which the value of the land has been augmented.

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    If, on the contrary, the possessor were in bad faith, the owner has the option either of keeping them, upon paying what they cost on their actual value, or of permitting such possessor, if the latter can do so with advantage to himself or herself without deteriorating the land, to remove them at his or her own expense. Otherwise, in each case, the improvements belong to the owner, without indemnification. The owner may, in every case, compel the possessor in bad faith to remove them.

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    373.   In the case of the third paragraph of the preceding article, if the improvements made by the possessor be so extensive and costly that the owner of the land cannot pay for them, he or she may, according to the circumstances and the discretion of the court, compel the possessor to keep the property, and to pay the estimated value of it.

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    374.   In case the party in possession is forced to give up the immovable upon which he has made improvements for which he or she is entitled to be reimbursed, he or she has a right to retain the property until such reimbursement is made, without prejudice to his or her personal recourse to obtain repayment; except in the case of surrender in any hypothecary action, as specially provided for in the Book respecting Privileges and Hypothecs.

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    375.   Deposits of earth and augmentations which are a stream or river are called alluvion. Alluvion is the property of the owner of the adjacent land.

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    376.   As to ground left dry by running water which insensibly withdraws from one of its banks by bearing in upon gradually and imperceptibly formed on land contiguous to the other, the owner of the uncovered bank gains such ground, and the owner of the opposite bank cannot reclaim the land he or she has lost.

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    This right does not exist as regards land reclaimed from the sea, which forms part of the public domain.

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    377.   Islands and deposits of earth which are formed in rivers belong to the owners of the banks on the side where the island is formed. If the island be not formed on one side only, it belongs to the owners of the banks on both sides, divided by a line supposed to be drawn in the middle of the river.

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    378.   If a river or stream, by forming a new branch, cut and surround the land contiguous to it, and thereby form an island, the owner retains the property in such land.

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    379.   If a river or stream abandon its course to take a new one, the proprietors of the land newly occupied take as an indemnity the ancient bed, each in proportion to the land which has been taken from him.

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