A property reached over a lane crossing someone else’s land is completely ordinary in rural Kilkenny. Whether that access is a documented legal right or forty years of nobody minding is the difference between a normal sale and a stalled one.
Three Very Different Positions
A right of way may be expressly granted in the deeds, which is the strongest position — the right exists, its terms are recorded, and everybody can see what it covers. It may be registered as a burden on the folio of the land it crosses, which is likewise clear. Or it may be claimed by long use, on the basis that the route has been used openly and continuously for many years. That third category is where the difficulty lies. It is a real legal concept and rights are genuinely acquired this way, but establishing one requires evidence rather than assertion, and it may need to be formalised — typically by agreement with the owner of the land crossed, or by an application to have the right registered. A buyer’s lender will want documented access, not an assurance that nobody has ever objected, and that is not unreasonable: the bank is taking security on a property whose value collapses if access fails.
The Questions Beyond Existence
Even a documented right needs reading. What does it cover? A right for agricultural purposes may not extend to construction traffic if you intend to build, and a right for one dwelling may not cover two. Who maintains the lane, and how are costs shared? An unmaintained shared lane is a recurring source of neighbour disputes. Do services cross other land — water pipes, electricity, drainage — and are there documented wayleaves for them? That question is asked far less often than access itself and causes just as much trouble, particularly where a percolation area or a well sits partly on a neighbour’s ground. And does the right actually reach a public road, or does it stop at another private lane with its own separate question? For sellers, the practical conclusion is the same as everywhere else in rural conveyancing: establish the position before you go to market. Resolving undocumented access takes negotiation with a neighbour, and neighbours negotiate very differently when they know a sale depends on it.
Buying a site to build on? Access is the first question, not the last — and it must cover construction traffic and the eventual dwelling, not merely the existing use. More on sites here.
Access not documented? 01 5827148.
Richard O’Shea — Solicitor & TEP
Solicitor at Mary Molloy Solicitors, established 1981, with an office at 2 Rose Inn Street in Kilkenny city centre and a second office in Dublin. The firm handles residential and rural conveyancing across Kilkenny and the south-east — buying, selling, sites and farmland, family transfers, remortgages and transfers of equity. Richard is a TEP of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, which matters more in conveyancing than people expect: a great many property transactions in Kilkenny arise out of an estate, a family transfer or a succession plan, and those need both sides handled together. Nothing here is tax advice — stamp duty and any gift or inheritance tax questions belong with your accountant and Revenue. 01 5827148 · richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com · LinkedIn
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