Will Your Country Road Take You Home?

1st February 2004

T. Wyn Jones

Following my article last month regarding the right to roam under the CRoW Act I read an article in a recent law report (again concerning the CRoW Act) that will affect thousands of homeowners who may face substantial bills for the right to cross land bordering their property.

We as Agents have seen in recent years a dramatic increase in the value of properties that border onto common land due to, in my opinion, the beauty of looking out onto open spaces and the knowledge that they will not be engulfed by new housing or even commercial development.

However, since the introduction of the Countryside & Rights of Way (CRoW) Act these properties, having once been thought to provide an idyllic location and way of life, are now causing their owners a substantial headache.

Under the Act people living in such properties may need to formalise their rights of access over the common land to their property which will in effect mean paying a fee for the right to drive to their property - contrary to normal circumstances where anyone having used an access route over a neighbouring property for more than 21 years without any objections being raised acquires such a right.

The Act sets down that the charge for this formalisation is to be directly proportionate to the value of the property concerned.

The fee structure is another major bone of contention. The structure suggested by the Act indicates that owners of properties built before 1905 will have to pay 0.25% of the property value, those built between 1906 and 1930 will attract a charge of 0.50% and those between 1930 and 1983 will face charges of 2%. Newer properties (built since 1983) may be hit even harder.

Of particular note in respect of these newer properties is that the Act allows for negotiation between the property owner and landowner. An example of this is The National Trust who as one of the foremost owners of common land has indicated that the amount it intends to charge could be a percentage (suggested at between 25 & 50%) of the incremental value - the difference in value to the property with and without a formal right of access – a very hefty sum!

As there is no mandatory requirement for this right to be sought or granted the main dilemma for owners is therefore do they start the legal process and pay for the right of access or do they sit tight and hope that their right to their front door is not challenged?

Firstly, any home owner thinking of selling would be wise to address this matter before they place the property on the market as not only will solicitors and financial institutions now insist that before a purchase goes ahead the right of access is formalised the process can also be time consuming to an extent that the purchaser may not wish to wait until this issue is settled.

Secondly, as property prices increase so does the cost of formalising the access. Of course I would not for one minute suggest that the landowner will intentionally leave the matter lie but come to think of it the interest on the charge (which is in directly related to the property value) could be substantially higher than if it were placed in a bank!

You would hope that the common freeholders (landowners) would, as a gesture of goodwill to the local community agree a fee equivalent to the cost of carrying out such formalisation, we can only but wait and see.

Wyn Jones is a partner of McCartneys, Auctioneers, Surveyors & Property Agents. For further information on Property Matters he can be contacted on Tel 07702 722905 or by e-mail on wyn@mccartneys.co.uk