Right of Access

Do you have a query about moving to Andalucia and buying property in Andalucia. Find out by posting questions and reading about other peoples experiences.
Timski
Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2017 8:28 am
Location: Abu Dhabi

Right of Access

Postby Timski » Fri Feb 09, 2018 9:22 am

Good Morning all from a Sunny UAE,

I have a question about Servidumbres and would greatly appreciate any words of wisdom.

We are considering purchasing a finca. Access from the public road passes over about 20 metres of land belonging to an adjacent property. This is on the edge of their piece of land which is wooded and has no structure. This access has been in place since 1997 and is the only way to our proposed purchase. Would we have to obtain a written agreement or as it has been in use for over 20 years it is automatically given?

We have a couple of options as I see it.
1. Withdraw from the purchase
2. Ask the seller (hard headed and awkward) to get an easement in place
3. Purchase the land as well

All constructive comments gratefully received.

Cheers

User avatar
costakid
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 5754
Joined: Sun Feb 13, 2005 11:55 am
Location: malaga este

Re: Right of Access

Postby costakid » Fri Feb 09, 2018 9:57 am

Well if you can buy the piece of land. You will never need to worry about falling out with neighbours over the access. I personally would never buy a property with a shared drive or access.

jhonie99
Andalucia.com Amigo
Posts: 134
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 12:05 pm

Re: Right of Access

Postby jhonie99 » Fri Feb 09, 2018 10:42 am

We had a similar situation with our property.

A Spaniard will regard every new buyer as an opportunity to screw for money, etc.
It doesn't matter how friendly the previous owners are/were with the owner of the strip of land. You are new meat!

Unless it's in the escritura about the servidumbre, you WILL have a fight at sometime. The 20 year rule can work but they'll always be looking for someway to make your life miserable.

Within a month of moving into our property, I was "marking" some boundaries as I suspected that the neighbour, whose land we crossed to enter our property had been using some of our land.
Then he arrives, all irate, etc. "what are u doing?", etc. "U are using my entrance so I want that strip of land as "usodisfruto". He told us he was going to block our entrance, etc. Well shiver me timbers, he was told by me in very clear terms to go f**k himself. He was shocked and left with his tail between his legs. He was an old man, so I think he might have had a heart attack otherwise.

He being a rather powerful person within the area and in politics, we thought best to take action and opened our own entrance to the public road. Permission declined initially, but with persistence we won.

No more probs!!

We were lucky as we have 100m of public road, so if the worst came to the worst we would have knocked through an illegal entrance.

So be very careful. All smiles today; allout war tomorrow.

User avatar
Wicksey
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 5879
Joined: Mon Sep 20, 2004 1:21 pm
Location: Axarquia coast

Re: Right of Access

Postby Wicksey » Fri Feb 09, 2018 10:53 am

Agree entirely. Our current house didn't own its access, again just a short stretch but without it we couldn't get into the property. We met with the neighbour before we signed anything and he agreed to sell it to us. In fact due to more complicated reasons we ended up moving the boundaries of the land and so got that access anyway, but we wouldn't have gone ahead without it.

Gasman
Resident
Posts: 827
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:53 am
Location: Huelva province

Re: Right of Access

Postby Gasman » Fri Feb 09, 2018 10:56 am

Definitely get your reps, if you cannot come over yourselves, to check with the Town Hall, Cadastral office as to your official right of way. Even if it is in the escritura, I am not 100% convinced it will be upheld in case of dispute etc., though certainly better than not being in writing. If the cadastral office does not have note of it, you should probably take further action, perhaps it can be marked on the cadastral plan ....
If it looks dodgy, it probably is ... You may have to walk away. Certainly an option as Wiksey says, would be to purchase the actual access land so you can make it your own driveway, but perhaps that would cut the other property up and deny access for them to their other part of land? A lot may depend on the configuration. And then the seller has you in a cleft stick and charge you the earth for those few meters of land !!

wollie
Resident
Posts: 1031
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2014 8:53 pm

Re: Right of Access

Postby wollie » Fri Feb 09, 2018 11:06 am

I would not be happy to buy a property where there is an easement in place for another person.
You say the easement is on the edge of the piece of land?
If you really want to buy the property would you consider approaching the land owner and buy say a 4 metre strip for an entrance, i am assuming you really not want the land as this is always an option.
In my suggestion the land owner gets a few "dinero" you get your legal entrance so everybody wins.
If was going to go the route i suggest i would do it personally as getting a lawyer involved to early not likely best option.

User avatar
costakid
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 5754
Joined: Sun Feb 13, 2005 11:55 am
Location: malaga este

Re: Right of Access

Postby costakid » Fri Feb 09, 2018 11:58 am

Just remember the old saying: Trust is good but control is better.

Timski
Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2017 8:28 am
Location: Abu Dhabi

Re: Right of Access

Postby Timski » Tue Feb 13, 2018 10:32 am

Many thanks for all the advice, it seems as though everyone has the same opinion, which is also the way I am leaning.


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests