Rights of way change may affect payments
For land to be eligible in the Single Payment Scheme (SPS), one of the conditions is that there must be independent access for animals and/or machinery via a public or private roadway, or a defined right of way. Access over adjoining landowners land is not acceptable.
However, the new Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act of 2009 requires farmers depending on unregistered rights of way to register them before November 30, 2012. Otherwise, they will be extinguished.
The Act requires that rights of way (or other “easements” such as way leaves, rights to light, to cut turf, drainage and other utilities) which have been in continuous use for 12 years previous to December 1, 2009, must be registered.
The registration involves a court order confirming the existence of the easement, followed by its registration with the Property Registration Authority (formerly the Land Registry), or the Registry of Deeds.
If the landowner denies the claim to the right of way, the matter will have to be contested, and the right of way proven in court, before an order is made.
In cases with only one access point landowners are not allowed to challenge what are called rights of way of necessity. They still have to be registered — which is especially important when selling on a property, or claiming the single farm payment.
Under the new rules an easement can automatically be extinguished if it has not been used for a continuous period of 12 years — which means that previously unassailable rights of way that were allowed to lapse are in danger too, if not registered by the deadline.
* The closing date for receipt of 2011 single payment applications is May 16.
