What do surface rights owners in Alberta own?

In Alberta, surface rights owners have ownership over the surface of their land, along with certain substances found on it, such as sand and gravel. This is an important distinction in property law, as it specifies what rights accompany land ownership. Surface rights primarily give the owner control over the top layer of the land, allowing them to engage in activities such as farming, building, and mining for certain materials that do not include oil and gas, which are typically reserved for the government or underlying mineral rights holders.

Under Alberta's land legislation, when an individual owns the surface rights, they do not automatically gain ownership of the minerals and resources located beneath the surface. These resources often belong to the Crown or are allocated to separate entities through mineral rights leases. This separation of rights is significant in the context of rural property management and can lead to complex legal relationships between surface rights owners and mineral rights holders.

Thus, the correct understanding is that surface rights include ownership of the land’s surface and certain materials, not the minerals below it, which aligns with the laws governing land use in Alberta.