Rights of Way may exist over private land or public land. Rights of Way over private land are known as easements and only apply to parcels of land that adjoin each other and only apply between the respective land owners. Rights of Way over public land are rights for the general public to pass over land not belonging to them, subject to restrictions on how they travel the route, e.g. footpaths are to be travelled by foot only, whereas bridleways may be travelled by horse, cycle or foot.
The Rights of Way search provides all documents needed to resolve private and public rights of way, or to select one or the other.
Private rights of way are rights (easements) that affect two adjoining properties and are usually settled by looking at the Land Registry documents for each property and by using our detailed and illustrated guidebook. Public rights of way affect all members of the public and are usually resolved by looking at environmental documents, mapping and highway law. We provide all of this in our Rights of Way search.