How Do I Find a Right of Way Easement?

How Do I Find a Right of Way Easement?

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Overview

Rights of Way, rights of light, right of access, rights of light and rights of support are all easements. A Right of Way may arise in several ways, but only two such are shown in the Land Registry documents. These are Rights of Way created expressly and those arising by implication.

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Rights of Way created Expressly

An express right of way is created by Deed, e.g. in the Transfer or Conveyance Deed made between a vendor and a purchaser. When that Deed is sent to the Land Registry with an application to register a new owner, the Land Registry create a Title Register which will include the Right of Way, and a Title Plan which will illustrate it with coloured markings.

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Rights of Way created by Implication

A right of way created by implication can be gathered from the wording of a Deed or Title Register. The wording must show the clear intention of the parties and its use in order to create an implied Right of Way.

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The Documents which refer to a Right of Way

The following documents are examples of those which detail a Right of Way:

Legal Ownership Documents:

• Title Register
• Title Plan
  

Other Registered Documents (Associated Documents):

• Transfer
• Conveyance
• Deed of Easement

The legal ownership documents are the Documents of Title. Section A of the Title Register will refer to a Right of Way that benefits the use of the property and Section C will refer to a Right of Way that burdens it.

To exist, a private Right of Way must relate to adjoining properties that are owned by different people. The Title Register for each of the adjoining properties will refer to it. It will always be shown in the A section of one property and in the C section of the other property, depending on which property has the benefit and which property has the burden.

The Transfer Deed is the modern instrument wherein a Right of Way is usually created. The detail in the Transfer Deed is copied by the Land Registry into the Title Register. It will also be shown in the Title Plan by a coloured tint or hatching.

A Conveyance is an older, pre-registration Deed that was once used as a vehicle to create a Right of Way.

A Deed of Easement is created where the need for a Right of Way arises between property transfers. It is lodged with the Land Registry who will add the details to the Register and Plan.

The latter three documents are all Associated Documents and can be purchased by selecting the Associated Documents Search.

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The Detail of the Right of Way

The full detail of the Right of Way is not necessarily copied into the Title Register by the Land Registry, especially if the detail is lengthy or not all needed. In such cases the Land Registry may decide to insert a precis of the Right of Way into the Register, and to take a digital copy of the Transfer creating it. The Registry will then insert a memo at the end of the paragraph in the Register that refers to the Right. The memo will simply read "copy made".

Wherever the Land Registry insert such a memo this means that the Deed copied is available to purchase. The Deed, of course, will contain the full detail of the Right of Way.

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Rights of Way Arising by Other Means

Other Rights of Way, not referred to in the documents, are:

1. Rights of Necessity
2. Rights of Way by Prior Use
3. Prescriptive Rights of Way

These rights usually arise as a result of a Court decision, based on the Common Law and by evidence given by the parties, so they do not appear in any of the ownership documents.

Rights of Way Search