What is a right-of-way and can I block access to it on my property?

A right-of-way (ROW) is a type of easement that gives another party the right to travel across or through a defined portion of your land. Rights-of-way are common in Ontario: a neighbour's property may benefit from a registered right-of-way across your land to reach a road, a municipality may have a right-of-way for a footpath or a utility corridor, or the province may have a road allowance running through a rural property.

When a right-of-way is registered on title, it is a real property right that you take the property subject to when you buy it. You cannot simply block or fence off a registered right-of-way. Doing so could expose you to a court order requiring you to remove the obstruction and potentially an award of damages to the party whose right you blocked.

The terms of a right-of-way are defined by the registered document creating it. The document sets out who benefits from the right, what the right covers (vehicle access, foot traffic, utilities), and what area of your land is affected. If you are buying a property with a right-of-way, your lawyer will identify it in the title search and explain its scope. If the person benefiting from a right-of-way has not used it in many years, there may be legal avenues to argue it has been abandoned or extinguished, but this generally requires a court process.