What is the test for establishing that a party registered on the title of a property has a legal and equitable interest in the property?

This section creates a rebuttable statutory presumption that persons registered on the title of the property are presumed to hold its legal and equitable interest. The burden is on the party seeking to challenge the state of title to prove otherwise (Bajwa v. Pannu, 2006 BCSC 921, 57 B.C.L.R. (4th) 161 aff’d 2007 BCCA 260, 66 B.C.L.R. (4th) 192).

The presumption can be displaced by equitable principles including the enforcement of an agreement between the parties to prevent unjust enrichment if the face of the title is upheld (Skender v. Skender, 2005 BCSC 418, aff’d 2006 BCCA 162 at para 13; Kiyon v. Lanegraff, 2007 BCSC 1299).

Unjust enrichment considers whether a plaintiff received and retained something given from the defendant with the absence of a juristic reason for the enrichment (Kerr v. Baranow, 2011 SCC 10, [2011] 1 S.C.R. 269 at para. 32).