Legal Q&A: would selling our access rights affect the value of our house?

Question: We own our mid-terrace house and we have right of access down the side of the property along land belonging to our neighbour, whose house is semi-detached.

He has approached us to see if we would be willing to sell our right of access to him, which we would — for the right price.

What sort of figure could we expect to ask? And could selling the right of access affect the value of the house? We are planning to sell it this year.

Answer: Presumably the right of access over your neighbour’s property is to enable you to reach your back garden. To be able to access the back garden of a mid-terrace house in this way, without having to go through the house itself, is a benefit, so the loss of this useful right of access may adversely affect the value of your property when you come to sell.

Consider instructing a surveyor to advise you regarding the value of the right of access and the price you could realistically expect to achieve for it. Or, as you plan to sell the property, ask an estate agent to advise on its value and marketability both with and without the right of access.

Once you have the necessary information you can decide if you want to do a deal with your neighbour or sell your house as it stands with the right of access.

Your neighbour may be willing to pay a premium depending on how desperate he is for the right of access to cease — for example, he may be planning to build an extension and therefore needs the extra land where the access runs.

If you have a mortgage you will need your lender’s consent to sell the right of access.

WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM?

If you have a question for Fiona McNulty, please email legalsolutions@standard.co.uk or write to Legal Solutions, Homes & Property, London Evening Standard, 2 Derry Street, W8 5EE. We regret that questions cannot be answered individually, but we will try to feature them here. Fiona McNulty is a legal director in the private wealth group of