Easements and Rights of Way
Private access and service routes across a plot
An easement is a right one plot holds over another, such as a right of way or a drain. It attaches to the land, so it passes to each new owner automatically. The property register lists rights this plot benefits from; the charges register lists rights burdening it. HM Land Registry keeps both for England and Wales; Scotland calls them servitudes and Northern Ireland records folio burdens.
What This Means
Propbar does not break easements out as their own card. They sit inside the register wording you unlock, under the property and charges registers. A right of way over the drive means you cannot obstruct it. That right runs with the land, whoever owns the surface. The register is also not a complete list. A neighbour crossing this land openly for twenty years can gain a right that binds you unrecorded. This is one of the few things on this report that lenders and insurers price directly: a lender will not complete without a proven right of access to the public highway.
Practical Advice
- Ask your conveyancer to confirm from the property register that this plot has legal access to the public highway.
- Walk the boundary against the title plan to confirm who physically uses the drive, path or yard.
- Ask the seller's conveyancer, through the TA6 property information form, about anyone crossing the land without a recorded right.
- Ask your conveyancer to quote for a lack-of-easement indemnity policy if access depends on an unrecorded right.
Additional Information
A public footpath is not an easement. Public rights of way come from the council's definitive map, recorded separately, and never appear on a title register. So finding nothing in the register tells you nothing about the definitive map. This guide covers England and Wales. Scotland is governed by Registers of Scotland, Northern Ireland by Land & Property Services.