Right Of Way

[keestha]

Not sure if I am posting this in the right forum, but I think there are a few posters here who are active in real estate development, and one of them might be able to answer my question.

Suppose parcel of land B is only accessible through parcel of land A, does this put the owner of parcel A under the obligation to provide right of way?

I would reckon yes, but suppose the owner of parcel B starts a business on his land like a guesthouse, bar or restaurant, would the owner of parcel A also be obliged to tolerate the passing through of customers of parcel B’s owner?

According to the law of my native country, right of way has to be provided by the neighbour if there is no access through a public road, but the inconvenience has to be limited to a minimum.

[Riley'sLife]

Your assumption is incorrect. There is no such provision in Thai law. (I assume you are from NZ where this commonplace?)

In the case you state, the owner of land B has no "rights" whatever to access across land A, unless there is some agreement already in place, although in practice such rights are granted in Thailand for the sake of harmony.

[Lite Beer]

Yes. Check out any right of way before you buy.

They are under no obligation to give you right of way. Many a Farang have "bought" land and found out they have no access.

You are in the wrong forum by the way. Hopefully it will be moved to the house and land forum.

Edited June 7, 2008 by Lite Beer

[lannarebirth]

In many western countries "prescriptive easements" such as you describe are legal if the right of way is adversely possessed. Thailand has no such law and there are no implied easements here.

[joskydive]

Not sure if I am posting this in the right forum, but I think there are a few posters here who are active in real estate development, and one of them might be able to answer my question.

Suppose parcel of land B is only accessible through parcel of land A, does this put the owner of parcel A under the obligation to provide right of way? No

I would reckon yes, but suppose the owner of parcel B starts a business on his land like a guesthouse, bar or restaurant, would the owner of parcel A also be obliged to tolerate the passing through of customers of parcel B’s owner? No

According to the law of my native country, right of way has to be provided by the neighbour if there is no access through a public road, but the inconvenience has to be limited to a minimum.

Parcel of land A is private property

Parcel of land B is private property.

Should one want to have access via the others property, the owner should be approached and an agreement made. If the owner of that piece of land that you want to utilize as access to your property objects to your proposal but you use it anyway, he can sue you for trespass.

[Cuban]

Suppose parcel of land B is only accessible through parcel of land A, does this put the owner of parcel A under the obligation to provide right of way?

I stand to be corrected on the exact legal status - however in my own experiance of obtaining a section of land that had been used as conveniant access route to another's plot. We did not undertake any liability to provide or maintain any access across our property, we explained this to the affected land owner who accepted the situation. In fact they were the first to fence off part of 'their' access route from our land. There is no mention of access rights in our land title, this might be the controlling factor in such situations.

I think you may find that local law (for the word law read 'what the village head decides') will prevail in some rual situations, in particular access to farming land by use of the slightly raised walkway paths between rice fields. It is custom that you allow others to use 'your' paths.

...but suppose the owner of parcel B starts a business on his land like a guesthouse, bar or restaurant, would the owner of parcel A also be obliged to tolerate the passing through of customers of parcel B’s owner?

I would guess that you own parcel B? If the owner of parcel A choose to develop a large hotel on his land which meant that you would be walking through his kitchen to access your front door, can you see this 'right of way' being supported in the law courts?

If there were a written contract between the two parties that made provision for a right of way and hours of access for which a fee were paid for a set duration - then you might have some security in gaining access to parcel B. There is a reason that land with direct road access and services is valued more highly than an island of land with no access.

Be careful before you buy, get contracts written in Thai and translated to your satisfaction, for it is the Thai version that would be contested in court not any translated version.

[johnnyk]

Owner A might have a nice money maker in his hands.

[Lite Beer]

Owner A might have a nice money maker in his hands.

And he can name is own price.

[Chang_paarp]

As has bee pointed out, there is no automatic right of way.

What happens in Oz is that the acces to the rear block is part of the title of the rear block, getting the anme "battle-axe block" due to the handle being the driveway.

Another thing to check if you buying a block of land is to ensure the road to the block is a registered road and not a local shortcut that someone owns, and can close at their whim.