Practice Area
Panel
- Scottish Panel
1 Contributions by Stuart King
PRACTICE NOTES
Investigating access for Scottish land transactions and developments: adopted roads, ransom strips, servitudes (deed, prescription, implied), public rights of way, right to roam, site assembly and tenement access
Ownership, leasing or any other lawful use of land typically depends on being able to get to it, so that the land can be enjoyed. The public may use roads and footpaths adopted by local authorities and, where a plot abuts an adopted road, gaining access is usually uncomplicated. Where access must cross another person’s land, recourse to common law or statute might be available, but buyers will ordinarily prefer a formal arrangement—such as a contractual right or servitude—where none already exists. If land is held in common or jointly, each owner may reach and traverse it without needing separate access rights. This Practice Note outlines the typical access questions that can arise in Scottish property deals and the matters a seller’s and a buyer’s solicitor may need to consider. The same themes can arise in lease transactions between landlord and tenant solicitors; for simplicity in this Practice Note, the parties are described as ‘seller’ and ‘buyer’ and the deal as a sale or purchase.
Access from a publicly adopted road
Local authorities maintain lists of publicly adopted roads; those lists, however,...
Property
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