Buying right of way to our side passage from neighbour - how to value it?

[Saltedcaramel2014]

Hi. We have a side passage that we want to expand our house into as the house is very narrow. Neighbours have the right to use it, but have only done so once in five years or so and are happy for us to buy this from them. Only problem is neither of us have any idea how much we should pay them. Anyone done this and know who I should ask? A solicitor? Estate agent? Thank you!

I should imagine its a goodwill type payment, as it doesnt increase the value of your house (as it is) and doesnt decrease the neighbours value, assuming they can still get in their back yard without it.

Maybe £1000. Id ring around and ask several EAs.

Thanks Sunny. There is a degree of inconvenience for them in losing it (albeit mostly theoretical) in that tradesmen would only be able to access their garden through their house now (we're a terraced street with ours one of the only gaps allowing access). So perhaps a bit more than £1k, but calling the EAs sounds like a plan.

I'm not sure that this is something that estate agents can easily value. Can't you have a chat with your neighbours and see if you can agree a price between you. If not, then you may need to instruct a surveyor to value it. Don't forget you'll need to pay their legal costs too for the transfer. I'm guessing those could be as much as £750 to £1,000 especially if they have a mortgage and need their lender's consent.

Good luck with your project!

If that was the only way of getting into the back garden (wheelie bins, bikes into shed, to mow front lawn etc), perhaps it does have a value. a bit like end terrace as opposed to mid terrace, but not as much.

An EA would know if this was something that was desirable and thus added value to a house.

You need a surveyor, not an EA, to value this if you can't agree between you. A properly RICS qualified professional.

It is possible for such a passage to be sold but for the right of way to remain active, so do be careful, especially if it's likely your neighbours may move on. Our neighbours have the passage on their deeds but the right of way remains for all five neighbours who surround it.

Do any other houses back on to the passage? If they do, then it's possible they'll have rights over it too, whether exercised or not. You can check in their deeds via Land Registry.

We took over the bottom of our garden which was a passageway and Land Registry tried to find the owner (dated back many decades to a no longer existent church organisation) but as they couldn't we just had to pay land reg fees. Our new neighbour tried to reinstate the right of way, and we took legal advice, which cost quite a lot, to prove that the right had been abandoned by the previous two owners.

It can be a complicated area so perhaps an initial call to the land registry might be a good starting point.

Thanks all for the very helpful replies - that gives us some starting points

Rights of way are tricky - our house has a right of way through a neighbour's passageway and it is written into our deeds. She apparently had problems with the previous owners as she tried to replace the gate and narrow the access which they disagreed with. She went ahead and did it and they took her to court and won, so she had to make it back as it was. Cost her tens of thousands so I hear. Because it's in the deeds on our property, she can't touch it.

Is the right of way written in your neighbour's deeds? If so then I imagine they would need to remove this from the deeds otherwise, even if they are happy with your plans, any future owners could make you reinstate it. We would be lost without that access and I imagine in a row of terraces it would be quite a selling point. They might even change their mind if they want to sell.

I think a qualified surveyor is definitely a good place to start.

Useful to hear this story Kirsty - thank you

Are you sure it is only the one set of neighbours that has right of way? It sounds odd if there are so few gaps.

another thought, if the neighbour has a mortgage on their property then it is likely that their approval would also be needed (would possibly devalue the neighbours property).

How on earth would they sell their property, if they wanted to move away? No-one would buy without access to the rear, surely?
Are there front gardens, for wheely bins etc?

Terraced housing is quite common, no? Certainly is in London, you go through the house to get to the back. Bins out the front. This is the first place I've ever lived with a side passage, definitely wouldn't stop them being able to sell their house, they've only used it once in five years to build an extension. Good point on mortgage, thank you. God it's looking complicated!

Don't be too frightened by all of this. Your situation is not unusual and it's very easy to release rights of way. The biggest stumbling block will be the mortgage lender as they will need to join in the release of the rights. You'll need to foot the bill for all of this so take this into account when discussing price with your neighbour!

Sorry, I've lived in terraces all my life, but always had access- guess theres more room outside London.
I'm just thinking back to the last poster that asked about this, and she got torn to shreds for thinking her neighbour unreasonable for not wanting to give up their access

I thought of that thread too!

It's in classics isn't it?
I often wonder what happened in the end.

Every terrace I lived in has access via the end or middle of the terrace. Sometime the side ally was the or four houses away. I can't imagine your neighbour giving up access without a fight.

Do your houses meet on the first floor or are they separate all the way up?

Just re read that the neighbours are happy.

If it's land that can be built on, I'd imagine it has a value greatly in excess of £1k?? I wonder why the neighbours are so happy to let you have it for a token amount?

I remember watching a Grand Designs episode where they had to buy a "ransom strip" in order to access their development of an old pumping station - the cost was something like 1/3 of the increase in the value of the property that releasing the ransom strip brought about.

Whilst this isn't the same as your situation since you seem to own the land, when I googled ransom strips, it said Another way that a ransom can occur is an easement which grants another party permanent rights over the land, regardless of ownership — for instance, rights of way.

This might be something to double check.

If I was the neighbour I wouldn't want to sell. It must surely affect the value of the property.

I've never known terraces without rear access, either via a side passage or rear alleyway. Where I live it's essential, as due to the way the downstairs is laid out large appliances can only be got into the kitchen by the back door.

In some places houses that don't have their own side passages have right of access over neighbours' back gardens to access a common passage. OP, you'd need to establish whether such a right of way exists or has ever existed.

I wouldn't want to lose the passage way either. If your neighbours are happy I'd organise it as soon as possible as I doubt future owners would be so accommodating.

Thanks all. Neighbours are completely unfussed and lovely and appreciate our need to make our living space big enough to live in (ground floor is tiny). They never use the side passage. Passageway is about a metre wide, and we are joined at the first floor level.