USING COMMON PASSAGE OPENED BY NEIGHBOR, MUST FEE BE PAID?

Passage is one of the basic and important amenities in using and exploiting real estate. However, in areas with high population density with many adjacent properties, how to open the passage is also a “headache” for the owner. In many cases, land and house owners are forced to ask permission to use common passage opened by neighbors and are required to pay usage fees. Is this request lawful?

1. The land surrounded by immovable properties without passage, what should the owner do?

According to current law, owners whose real estate is surrounded by other owners’ real estate with no or insufficient access to public roads, have the right to request the property owner to surround themselves with a reasonable passage on their land.

There are currently no specific regulations for open passage standards on adjacent properties. Accordingly, opening a common passage in this case is prioritized by agreement and negotiation between the parties to ensure convenience and common rights and interests.

Specifically, the location, length, width, and height limits of the passage are agreed upon by the parties, ensuring convenience for travel and causing little inconvenience to the parties. Only in cases where a common agreement cannot be reached, leading to a dispute over the passage, then the parties have the right to request the Court or other competent state agency to determine.

2. Using the common passage opened by the neighbor, must fee be paid?

Unlike public passage that belong to public land managed by the State, passage are opened from adjacent real estate, or “neighbor’s land”, which is defined as land under the private management and use rights of individual/family. Therefore, the use of this common passage must ensure the following issues:

– Opening the passage must be calculated properly and minimize damages. The passage shall be opened on the adjacent property which is considered most convenient and reasonable, taking into account the specific characteristics of the site, the interests of the enclosed property and the least amount of damage caused for real estate with the opened passage.

– Compensation for the portion of real estate cut into a common passage. Unless the parties agree otherwise, the owner of the property enjoying the right of the passage must compensate the owner of the property subject to the right of passage.

3. What other issues should be noted when using adjacent properties and common passage?

The law respects the agreement rights of the parties during the use of adjacent real estate. However, if the parties cannot reach an agreement, or the agreement is incomplete, the following principles should be paid attention to:

– Ensure the appropriate exploitation of the entitled immovable property in conformity with the use purposes of both entitled and obliged immovable property;

– Not abuse the right to the obliged immovable property;

– Not obstruct or hassle the exercising of right to the entitled immovable property.