PRIVATE RIGHTS OF WAY

    For rural and agricultural property owners, the issue of private rights of way can be a major concern.
    These claims are sensitive as they tend to involve neighbouring land and they can have considerable impact on your business or personal life.

    With expertise in identifying the extent and existence of easements, as well as resolving access and boundary disputes, we will work with you to ensure the value of your land or interest is preserved.

    We have in-depth agricultural industry knowledge and a track record of litigation success. We have successfully won or defended many rights of way claims over decades. Our specialist Agriculture Litigation Team is independently recognised to provide a ‘Top Tier’ level of service and is ranked in ‘Band 1’ by the leading legal directories, ‘The Legal 500’ and ‘Chambers Guide’.

    We are also the sole appointed legal advisors to the ‘Business Clinic’ in the industry leading publication ‘Farmers Weekly’.

    KEY CONTACTS

    Russell Reeves

    Partner 0117 930 9598
    View Team

    EXPERTS IN LAND AND LITIGATION

    Our team are specialists in rural and agricultural land issues and boast significant experience in resolving a wide array of disagreements and complexities related to private rights of way. We will work with you to understand your needs and objectives and have an excellent track record in both claiming and disputing the existence of rights of way for agricultural purposes.

    We will take an in-depth look at your land including, where appropriate, conducting detailed site visits, local authority inquiries, map inspections and historical research. This meticulous approach ensures that we provide you with clear, comprehensive advice. Our team will explore all the options available to you, so you can be confident that you are making the right decisions.

    With strong industry connections we can create a bespoke team for your situation, including specialist surveyors where required. We are highly experienced in resolving disputes without recourse to court proceedings however, if your case does go to Court, we have an excellent track record of successfully defending our clients.

    • Successfully represented one of Europe’s largest soft fruit companies in a five-day trial concerning a right of way to its farmland. The neighbouring landowners unsuccessfully appealed to the Court of Appeal as a result of which our farming client’s right of way to its farmland was protected.
    • Acted for a landowner after a neighbour blocked a right of way across agricultural land, causing major difficulties in access. We successfully proved the existence of a prescriptive right of way through more than 20 years’ historic, undocumented usage.
    • Acted for three owners of agricultural land, successfully defending them against a neighbour’s claim of a prescriptive right of way across their land. This right of way would have included rights to cross their land with cars, horses and carts, with serious potential valuation consequences.
    • Advised an owner of farm land on whether his right of way allowed him various rights of entry/exit points along the full length of a route, following his neighbour’s effort to impose one specific entry/exit point, potentially causing substantial interference with the usage of the land.
    • Advising a commercial unit owner on whether to grant temporary access permission to defeat a neighbour’s claim for a prescriptive right of way. The claim was resolved, thereby preserving the development potential of the land and avoiding neighbours’ attempts to prevent development by claiming to have undocumented rights of way.

    Our expertise in this area encompasses:

    • Advising on excessive use of a right of way
    • Determining the route, extent and type of user applicable to a right of way
    • Easements
    • Land Registration Act
    • Overriding interests
    • Private nuisance
    • Proving that a right of way exists after an obstruction
    • Resisting claims for a right of way where none has existed previously
    • Registered land
    • Rights of way by deed
    • Rights of way by prescription
    • Restrictive covenants
    • Unregistered land

    Industry Accreditations

    We have strong ties to the following:

     

    Acting as National Farmers Union panel solicitors for more counties than any other law firm in the country, we have strong ties to the following:

    • Agricultural Law Association 
    • British Institute of Agricultural Consultants
    • Central Association of Agricultural Valuers
    • Country Land and Business Association
    • Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
    • Tenant Farmers Association

    We are also proud to be the sole designated legal contributor to the Farmers Weekly Business Clinic.

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    NFU Members

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    As an NFU Panel Firm we offer NFU Members a 12.5% discount on our fees for qualifying cases and if you subscribe to the NFU’s Legal Assistance Scheme further funding from the NFU may be available.

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