Right of way across another person’s land: agreement, court decision and access when a parcel is divided

A garden behind a house that the owner separates and sells, a parcel bought at a lower price because “access will be sorted out with the neighbour”, or a cottage reached for decades across someone else’s field. All these situations have one thing in common: access to the land rests on the neighbour’s goodwill. As long as the neighbour does not change and relations do not sour, nobody minds. Access is legally secured only once it is supported by an easement recorded in the cadastre or by a co-ownership share in the access road.

An easement as the basis

An easement restricts the owner of immovable property in favour of someone else, in that the owner must tolerate something, refrain from something or do something. A right of way may be attached to the ownership of particular immovable property or belong to a particular person (Section 151n(1)). For access to land, the first option is almost always chosen, because an easement attached to the land passes with its ownership to every subsequent acquirer (Section 151n(2)); the difference between the two forms is explained in the question on an easement attached to a person or to land. The costs of maintaining the road are borne by the beneficiary to a reasonable extent and, where the owner of the land uses it too, according to the extent of that shared use, unless the parties have agreed otherwise (Section 151n(3)).

An easement arises by written agreement, by a decision of the competent authority, by operation of law or by acquisitive prescription, that is, by long-standing exercise of the right in good faith (Section 151o(1)). Under an agreement, the right arises only on registration in the cadastre; an easement acquired by prescription or created by a decision is entered in the cadastre by way of a declaratory record. A neighbour’s oral consent, or years of tolerating passage, therefore secures nothing in itself.

When a court may create a right of way

If you cannot agree with the neighbour, the statute offers a route through the courts, but only a narrow one:

Where the owner of a building is not at the same time the owner of the adjoining land and the building owner’s access to the building cannot be secured otherwise, the court may, on the application of the building owner, create an easement in favour of the building owner consisting in a right of way across the adjoining land.

— Section 151o(3) of Act No. 40/1964 Coll. (unofficial English translation)

The conditions were set out in detail by the Supreme Court in its order in case 5Cdo/1/2025 of 18 December 2025. Access must lead to a public road, whether a local road or a special-purpose road. A right of way cannot be created where the owner of the building can secure it otherwise, in particular by agreement; the condition is not met either where the owner of the adjoining land has offered to sell part of the land or to grant a contractual easement at the usual price. Conversely, alternative access does not count if building it would cost a disproportionate amount or if legislation would not permit it. The court chooses the route that restricts the owner of the land as little as possible, not the route that is most convenient for the applicant. Finally, it creates the easement only against compensation proportionate to the detriment suffered by the owner of the land, and decides on the amount even without an application.

Judicial creation of a right of way therefore concerns only access to a building. The owner of an undeveloped parcel, for example a garden or a building plot on which nothing stands yet, cannot obtain it by this route. What remains is agreement, the purchase of a strip of land, or a solution within land consolidation proceedings if any are under way in the area. Anyone buying a house to which access is not registered should resolve the matter before the purchase; the procedure is described in the question on access to a house across another person’s land.

What to remember when dividing land

A parcel without access typically arises on division. The owner separates the rear part of the land, sells it or gives it to a child, and only later is it discovered that the only route runs across the remainder of the original land, which in the meantime belongs to someone else. On division, therefore, is the right moment to create the easement in the very contract by which the new parcel is transferred, and to mark the route on a geometric plan; how this is done is discussed in the question on surveying an easement. An alternative is to set aside the shared access road as a separate parcel co-owned by everyone who needs it. Where the land being divided is in co-ownership, the easement agreement must be signed by all co-owners; see the question on an easement over land with several co-owners.

The agreement should determine precisely who may pass and how: on foot, by car, by lorry, over what width, whether the road also serves for laying utilities, who maintains it and whether the easement is granted for consideration. An unclear scope is a later source of disputes and, if a change of circumstances gives rise to a gross disproportion between the burden and the benefit to the beneficiary, the court may restrict or cancel the easement against reasonable compensation (Section 151p(3)).

How this will work under the new Civil Code

On 1 October 2026, the National Council of the Slovak Republic approved the new Slovak Civil Code, which will take effect on 1 July 2027. An easement consisting of a right of way will become a servitude, and the court-created right of way to a building will be replaced by a necessary right of way. The court will be able to create it, against reasonable compensation, in favour of the owner of any immovable property that cannot be properly used because it is not sufficiently connected to a public road. The owner of a garden or of a building plot without a building will therefore also be able to obtain it. The court will not create it in particular where it would provide merely a more convenient connection, where the applicant caused the lack of access intentionally or through gross negligence, or where the damage to the burdened land would clearly exceed the benefit of the right of way.

A special rule will apply to the division of land. If a parcel loses its connection to a public road as a result of division, a necessary right of way may be sought only against the owner of the part with access, and the court will create it free of charge. Whether it can also be obtained by someone who created the parcel without access themselves, or bought it without securing access, only practice will show. An owner will be able, even before a sale, to burden one of their own parcels with a servitude in favour of another. Co-owners will decide on creating a servitude over jointly owned land by a two-thirds majority.

Unless the agreement provides otherwise, a right of way will include passage on foot as well as by vehicles, including motor vehicles, so it is worth defining its scope precisely.

Existing easements will remain, but from 1 July 2027 their content will be governed by the new Act. An easement not registered in the cadastre, for example a right of way to a cottage acquired by prescription, would pass to the new owner on a transfer of the burdened land only if the new owner could and ought to have identified it from the circumstances, if this was agreed or if the law so provides; otherwise it would cease to exist. The Act has no transitional rule for old unregistered easements, so it is worth having them registered before 1 July 2027.

Status as of 22 October 2026: the act has been approved and was signed by the President on 20 October 2026, but has not yet been promulgated in the Collection of Laws. Until 30 June 2027, the rules described above in this article apply.

How we can help

We prepare the easement agreement for a right of way on foot and by vehicle, including the geometric plan and registration in the cadastre, as part of our easement service. If you are dividing or merging land, we address access and utilities before the new parcels are transferred, as part of our division and merging of land service. In a dispute about the judicial creation of a right of way we first assess whether the conditions laid down by the statute and the case law are met, and say openly whether the proceedings make sense.