Rural house - access/right of way

G

GlenGlasker

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I'm looking at an auction property in the area I currently live in so I know the property and the area well. The house comes with a walled-in garden per the land maps, and to the side there has traditionally been access to enable you to drive around and park at the back of the house (on land that comes with the house, much like if your driveway was behind your house instead of in front of it). To do this you have to drive a few metres up what I had thought was a public road (small, boreen type road). Yesterday neighbours who live closest and further along the boreen erected gates at the entry to it meaning that access to the side entrance of the property is now blocked. I don't know the neighbours well enough to ask them about it but it's a bit of a red flag.

The land maps are unclear as to who owns this roadway - it definitely isn't part of the folio for the house I'm looking at or, according to the land maps, part of the neighbour's land. When I hover over it on the website it says it's not registered with the PRA. It's time sensitive with the auction coming up and my solicitor isn't sure he'll be able to look into it in advance of the auction. Is there anything I can do myself to try and figure out who owns the roadway?

If there are informal or formal disputes around boundaries etc. I don't want any part of buying the house (been there, done it) and the legal pack is very vague.
 
GlenGlasker said:
Yesterday neighbours who live closest and further along the boreen erected gates at the entry to it meaning that access to the side entrance of the property is now blocked.
Click to expand...

So they want the property to be sold cheaply to themselves or one of their friends.

This should put most people off.

Brendan
 
If you say ‘traditionally’ this boreen has always be used but is not a formally registered right of way on the folio, chances are it’s a statutory right of way and depending on how long current owners of the place you want have been using it, you could try getting it formalised as a condition of sale.
 
Unfortunately it’s a bank sale so I’m not sure how effective it would be to try and make it a condition of sale. The property has been vacant for a number of years. I like the house but could quite happily live the rest of my life without any neighbour issues.
 
I hear you. Is it the only access route to the property though? In which case the neighbours can’t realistically block it off.
 
No, the front of the property is on a public road so there’s pedestrian access to the house itself through a gate there. However the neighbour’s new gate blocks vehicle access to the side/rear of the property and the parking area behind the house. You could probably park a car out the front on the road but it’s a busy narrow country road so I wouldn’t like to chance it!
 
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