The Realtors’ Association is weighing in on big questions surrounding Crown Lands.

CEO Bill Sterling says realtors and their clients are continually encountering difficulties as it relates to buying and selling properties.

He says people who are trying to buy or sell property that they think they own and think they have clear title to, are being told that they’re occupying the land illegally and their only option is to pay a fair market price for the land.

Sterling says property on the Bonavista Peninsula for instance has skyrocketed in price in recent years. People who wanted to sell their property as part of their retirement plan are suddenly being told that they have to pay market value for the land on which they’ve been living “illegally.”

“It just doesn’t make sense,” says Sterling.