Price of and compensation for a right of way (price per m²)

An owner discovers that his land no longer has direct access to the public road following a division of plots, or that a neighbour is claiming a right of way across his courtyard. The question of money arises immediately: must one pay to pass, and how much? What is the price of having to bear someone else's passage over one's land? These apparently simple questions rest on a precise legal logic that has nothing to do with a price per square metre applied mechanically. This guide explains how the price of a right of way (servitude de passage) is determined, how the compensation due to the owner who bears the passage is calculated (known as compensation for the depreciation of the servient land), and why the use of an expert is often decisive.

Two legal realities behind the words "right of way"

Before talking about money, two situations that the general public systematically confuses must be distinguished, as they are not subject to the same pricing rules.

The first is the statutory right of way for landlocked land (enclave). It concerns the owner whose land has no access to the public road, or access that is insufficient for the normal use of his property. Article 682 of the French Civil Code gives him the right to claim a passage over the neighbouring land:

The owner whose land is landlocked and who has no outlet onto the public road, or only an insufficient outlet, either for the agricultural, industrial or commercial use of his property or for carrying out construction or subdivision operations, is entitled to claim over his neighbours' land a passage sufficient to ensure full access to his land, subject to compensation proportionate to the damage it may cause.

This right is imposed by law. The neighbour cannot refuse it if the landlocking is genuine. In return, the person who benefits from the passage must pay compensation.

The second is the contractual right of way, created by a contract between two owners (Article 686 of the French Civil Code). Here, no landlocking is required: two neighbours agree freely, for example so that a piece of land benefits from more convenient access or a second outlet. The price then results from negotiation, most often formalised before a notary.

This distinction governs everything else. In the first case, the price is compensation regulated by law and, in the event of a dispute, set by the court. In the second, the price is a negotiated price, which may be a lump sum, periodic, or even symbolic.

Free or paid easement: what tips the balance

Many owners think that a right of way is necessarily paid for. This is wrong. Whether it is free or paid depends on its origin.

The landlocking easement is in principle compensated

For landlocked land, Article 682 is clear: the passage is exercised "subject to compensation proportionate to the damage it may cause". The principle is therefore compensation. The dominant land (the one that benefits from the passage) must compensate the loss suffered by the servient land (the one that bears it).

There is, however, an often overlooked point: the action for compensation is subject to a limitation period. Article 685 of the French Civil Code states that "the action for compensation, in the case provided for by Article 682, is subject to prescription, and the passage may be continued even though the action for compensation is no longer admissible". In practice, if the owner of the servient land lets the limitation period expire without claiming his compensation, he loses the right to claim it, but the passage itself remains. The passage and the compensation therefore follow separate paths.

The contractual easement may be free or paid

When the easement arises from a contract, the parties set the price freely. Three configurations are found in practice.

• The free easement, common between members of the same family or on a gift, where the grantor agrees not to claim anything.
• The paid easement at a lump-sum price, settled in one payment when it is created, generally recorded in the notarial deed.
• The paid easement with a periodic fee, rarer, where the dominant land pays an annual sum.

One major practical consequence must be borne in mind: a contractual easement created by title and registered with the land registry (service de la publicité foncière) follows the land, not the persons. A subsequent buyer of the servient land buys land that is already burdened, and the buyer of the dominant land benefits from the passage. The price paid once therefore applies to all successive owners, which explains the importance of drafting the deed rigorously.

Beware of thirty-year prescription

Article 685 adds that "the route and the manner of the right of way for landlocked land are determined by thirty years of continuous use". A passage used continuously for thirty years has its route and terms fixed by use. This mechanism may consolidate a de facto situation, but it does not make the passage free: it stabilises the route, not the financial question. Acquiring or challenging a passage through thirty years' use is examined in our article on how to rely on the thirty-year rule for a right of way.

How compensation is calculated: the depreciation of the servient land

This is the heart of the matter. Compensation for a right of way is neither a rent nor a land purchase price. It makes good a loss: the loss of value and the inconvenience that the passage causes to the owner of the servient land. The statutory wording "proportionate to the damage" requires reasoning in terms of compensable loss, not in terms of a tariff.

The principle: compensating the loss of value, not the area crossed

The most widespread error is to multiply the area of the route of the passage by a price per square metre of land, as if it were a sale. This reasoning is legally wrong, because the owner of the servient land does not sell his strip of land: he keeps ownership of it and, most often, can continue to use it (a driveway can serve both for passage and for occasional parking or gardening).

Compensation therefore measures the depreciation of the servient land, that is to say the difference between the value of the land free of any easement and its value once burdened by the passage. This depreciation includes several components.

• The loss of use of the strip of land concerned, total or partial depending on whether or not the passage prevents any other use of the ground.
• The loss of quiet and privacy, in particular where the passage runs alongside a dwelling or crosses a courtyard.
• The inconvenience linked to the frequency and nature of the passage: occasional pedestrian passage cannot be compared with lorries passing for a commercial operation.
• The general reduction in the value of the property on resale, since a buyer pays less for land burdened by a right of way.

The price per square metre: a tool, not a rule

The "price per m² of a right of way" that many owners look for does not exist as an official scale. No legislation sets a national tariff. In practice, experts and courts nevertheless often take the market value of the land per square metre as a starting point, then apply a percentage of depreciation to the area of the route.

The logic is as follows: the value of the unencumbered land is estimated, the extent to which the passage reduces its usefulness is determined, and that coefficient is applied. A passage that deprives the owner entirely of any use of the strip will justify a high percentage, close to the full value. A discreet passage, leaving other uses in place, will justify a lower percentage. This depreciation coefficient depends entirely on the specific circumstances and cannot be guessed from a distance.

Take an anonymous illustration for explanatory purposes. Imagine an individual who owns a house with a garden, whose neighbour, landlocked after the division of an estate, obtains a right of way over a driveway a few metres wide running alongside the terrace. The loss is not limited to the area of the driveway: it includes the loss of privacy on the terrace, the noise of people passing, and the reduction in value that any future buyer will apply on seeing that a third party crosses the garden. The compensation will take all of these elements into account, and not just the square metres of driveway.

The factors that increase or reduce compensation

Several parameters weigh on the final amount.

• The nature of the servient land: urban building land has a value per square metre far higher than an agricultural plot, which mechanically changes the basis of calculation.
• The intensity of use: pedestrian passage, passage of light vehicles, passage of agricultural machinery or heavy goods vehicles, each generating increasing inconvenience.
• The width and length of the route: the larger the footprint, the more extensive the loss of use.
• The existence of arrangements imposed on the servient land, such as the obligation to leave a gate open or to maintain a path.
• The layout of the site: a passage crossing the heart of a residential property is more damaging than a passage along the boundary, beside a fence.

The time of valuation

Compensation is in principle assessed as at the date on which the passage is recognised and exercised. It is at that date that the court or the expert measures the depreciation. This point matters: the value of the land and the intensity of use may change, and fixing the valuation date anchors the calculation on an objective situation.

The role of the expert in setting the price

As soon as a disagreement arises over the amount, the expert assessment becomes the central tool. The price of a right of way cannot be read from any scale: it must be demonstrated, with figures in support.

The amicable expert assessment, before the dispute

Before any litigation, the parties may use a property valuer or a chartered surveyor (géomètre-expert) to establish an estimate on an adversarial basis. The chartered surveyor precisely delimits the route of the passage and calculates its area. The property valuer assesses the market value of the servient land and proposes a reasoned depreciation rate. This amicable approach often serves as the basis for a reasoned negotiation and avoids litigation.

An amicable expert assessment has a twofold benefit: it makes the discussion objective and it documents each party's position. An owner of servient land who claims a sum without justifying it is in a weak position; the same owner, armed with an expert report quantifying the depreciation, negotiates on solid ground.

The court-ordered expert assessment, in the event of litigation

If the parties do not agree, the matter may be brought before the judicial court (tribunal judiciaire). The court then appoints a court expert, bound by impartiality and the adversarial principle, to assess the loss. The expert visits the site, hears the parties, analyses the documents and submits a report with figures. The court is not bound by the expert's conclusions, but very frequently follows them in the absence of convincing evidence to the contrary.

This use of a court-ordered expert assessment illustrates why compensation for an easement is a matter of concrete assessment and not of a tariff. Two passages of identical dimensions, in two different municipalities, on two distinct types of land, will give rise to completely different amounts of compensation. The expert's skill consists precisely in translating these differences into a reasoned amount.

Preparing the expert assessment properly

Whether the expert assessment is amicable or court-ordered, the quality of the documents provided determines the outcome. It is useful to gather the title deed, the cadastral plan, a surveyor's survey delimiting the route, information on the value of the local market (comparable sales), and any document showing the actual intensity of the passage. An owner of servient land has an interest in documenting the inconvenience suffered precisely; the beneficiary of the passage has an interest in showing that it is limited.

The subsoil easement (servitude de tréfonds): passing underground

Passage is not always horizontal. The subsoil easement concerns the occupation of the subsoil of a piece of land, for example to run pipes, cables, a sewerage network or a tunnel. The question of compensation for a subsoil easement follows the same logic as surface passage: compensation proportionate to the damage caused to the owner of the servient land.

The particularity lies in the nature of the loss. Underground passage does not generally hinder use of the surface, which may reduce the apparent depreciation. But it creates lasting constraints: impossibility of building above the structure, obligation to leave access for maintenance, risk in the event of later works, and a de facto non aedificandi easement over the area concerned. These constraints justify compensation, the amount of which is again determined by expert assessment, according to the depth, the footprint and the restrictions imposed on the surface. The question of building above an underground structure is developed separately in our article on building over a subsoil easement.

An SME that needs to run an industrial pipe under a neighbour's land, or an individual connecting his house to the public network by crossing the adjoining land, faces the same mechanism: what the owner above loses in rights of use and building possibilities must be quantified.

Payment terms and securing the agreement

Once the amount has been determined, its payment and scope still need to be secured.

For a contractual easement, a notarial deed is strongly recommended, and indeed necessary for land registration. Registering the easement with the land registry makes it enforceable against successive buyers and avoids future challenges. Without registration, the easement may not be enforceable against a good-faith buyer of the servient land.

Payment may be a single lump sum, which is the most frequent and clearest formula, or made in instalments. In the case of a periodic fee, the deed must provide for the terms of review. It is also prudent to specify who bears the cost of maintaining the passage, a classic source of later disputes. In principle, the beneficiary of the passage bears the works needed to exercise it, but a clause to the contrary is valid.

Finally, the agreement should define precisely the route (width, layout, physical marking), the nature of the passage authorised (pedestrians, vehicles, machinery) and any time restrictions. A poorly defined easement is an easement that ends up before the court. Determining the width of the passage according to the use of the land served is dealt with in our article on the minimum width of a right of way.

Conclusion: a price that must be demonstrated, never a tariff per square metre

The central message of this guide can be summed up in one sentence: there is no price per square metre that can be applied mechanically to a right of way. Compensation makes good a loss, the depreciation of the servient land, and that loss is assessed case by case according to the nature of the land, the intensity of the passage and the inconvenience actually suffered. For landlocked land, the law requires compensation proportionate to the damage (Article 682 of the French Civil Code), with the subtlety that the action for compensation becomes time-barred while the passage remains (Article 685). For the contractual easement, the price is freely negotiated, from free of charge to a lump sum.

The position is clear: neither the owner who bears the passage nor the one who benefits from it has any interest in improvising a figure. The former often overestimates his loss, the latter minimises it, and neither is in a position to prove it before a court. Before any negotiation or litigation, have a valuation carried out by a property valuer or a chartered surveyor, and have the agreement formalised by a notarial deed registered with the land registry. This is the only way to turn a source of lasting neighbour conflict into a legally stable situation.

Frequently asked questions

Is a right of way always paid for? No. The easement for landlocked land gives rise to compensation under Article 682 of the French Civil Code, because the passage causes a loss to the servient land. However, a contractual easement created by contract may be free, in particular between relatives or in the context of a gift. Everything depends on the origin of the easement and on the parties' agreement.

How is compensation for a right of way calculated? Compensation corresponds to the depreciation of the servient land, that is to say the loss of value caused by the passage. The starting point is generally the market value of the land, to which a depreciation coefficient is applied taking into account the loss of use, the inconvenience, the loss of privacy and the reduction in value on resale. It is not simply a price per square metre multiplied by the area of the driveway.

Is there an official price per m² for a right of way? No, no national scale sets a price per square metre. Experts sometimes use the value of the land per square metre as a basis of calculation, then apply a percentage of depreciation specific to each situation. Two passages identical in area may give rise to very different amounts of compensation depending on the land and the use.

Can compensation still be claimed for an old passage? Not always. Article 685 of the French Civil Code provides that the action for compensation is subject to prescription. Once the period has expired, the owner of the servient land can no longer claim his compensation, but the passage continues to be exercised. The passage and the right to compensation are therefore governed by separate rules.

What is a subsoil easement and does it give a right to compensation? The subsoil easement (servitude de tréfonds) concerns the occupation of the subsoil, for example for pipes, cables or tunnels. It gives a right to compensation proportionate to the damage, like surface passage. The loss lies mainly in the lasting constraints imposed on the surface, in particular the impossibility of building above the structure and the obligation to allow its maintenance.

Is it compulsory to use an expert to set the price? It is not a legal obligation, but it is strongly recommended as soon as there is a disagreement. A property valuer or a chartered surveyor makes the calculation objective and documents the loss, which secures the negotiation. In the event of litigation, the court appoints a court expert whose conclusions very often guide the court's decision.

Must a right of way be registered to be valid? For a contractual easement, a notarial deed registered with the land registry is strongly recommended. Registration makes the easement enforceable against successive buyers of the servient land and the dominant land. Without registration, the easement may not be enforceable against a good-faith buyer, which weakens the right of way.