20/07/2026
WHAT IS A RIGHT OF WAY?
A right of way is the legal passage through another person’s property so an interior or landlocked lot can reach a public road.
It does not transfer ownership of the passage. The neighboring owner remains the owner of the land.
Buyer’s Tip: Before purchasing, verify the deed, title annotation, survey plan, exact width, and permitted use of the access road.
Know the access before you invest.
Legal basis
Article 649 of the Civil Code provides in full:
“The owner, or any person who by virtue of a real right may cultivate or use any immovable, which is surrounded by other immovables pertaining to other persons and without adequate outlet to a public highway, is entitled to demand a right of way through the neighboring estates, after payment of the proper indemnity.
Should this easement be established in such a manner that its use may be continuous for all the needs of the dominant estate, establishing a permanent passage, the indemnity shall consist of the value of the land occupied and the amount of the damage caused to the servient estate.
In case the right of way is limited to the necessary passage for the cultivation of the estate surrounded by others and for the gathering of its crops through the servient estate without a permanent way, the indemnity shall consist in the payment of the damage caused by such encumbrance.
This easement is not compulsory if the isolation of the immovable is due to the proprietor’s own acts.”
Articles 650 and 651 further require that the passage be located at the point least prejudicial to the servient estate, and that its width be only what is sufficient for the needs of the property being benefited.
