What Are Common Rights?
With 28% of the Lake District National Park consisting of ‘common land’, many rural and agricultural properties have common rights. If you are involved in a property transaction near to or within common land, there are several important questions to ask:
- Does your land benefit from rights of common over other land (e.g. grazing sheep on neighbouring land)?
- Is your land subject to rights of common in favour of other landowners – and do you know what those rights are and who can exercise them?
- Are you buying or selling land that is only part of a title with rights of common affecting it? If so, your solicitor will need to apportion the rights using a complex transfer formula in conjunction with the Commons Rights Authority to be recorded in the centuries’ old Commons Register which is still hand-written!
Peter Dodd, Head of Rural Land and Property, regularly advises on transactions involving common land.