Why It Matters
Here's what a right of way means for your investment: someone else holds a recorded legal right to pass through a defined corridor on the property. That right runs with the land — a municipal road ROW, a utility corridor, and a neighbor's access path all transfer to every future buyer automatically. Check the plat and title before you build near any property edge.
At a Glance
- Legal right to cross or use a defined strip of land owned by another party
- Recorded in county land records — binds every future owner automatically
- Can be public (roads, sidewalks, utilities) or private (neighbor access, pipeline company)
- A specific type of easement focused on passage through land, not stationary use
- Appears on the plat map and as a Schedule B exception on the title commitment
- Any structure built inside a ROW corridor can be ordered removed at your expense
- Recorded ROW strips are often wider than the physical road or pipe — verify registered dimensions
- Private ROWs require a formal written release, merger, or abandonment to extinguish
- Affects buildable area, setback calculations, and effective lot depth
How It Works
What a right of way creates. A ROW splits use rights from ownership. You hold fee simple title to the land beneath the corridor, but the holder has a recorded right to use that strip for transit. You can't fence it off, build on it, or block access. The land is yours; the use right belongs to them.
Public vs. private. A municipality holds ROW over the road corridor fronting your property — road surface, sidewalk, and a 5–10 foot buffer beyond the sidewalk edge, all inside your lot line but under city control. Private rights of way benefit a specific party: a landlocked neighbor with recorded access, or a pipeline company crossing farm land. Both are a type of easement focused on passage rather than stationary use.
How they're recorded. Most ROWs appear as a dedicated strip on the subdivision plat. A survey maps physical edges; the title search surfaces them as Schedule B exceptions. Both show the actual corridor width.
What they restrict. The ROW holder can require removal of anything blocking their transit right — a fence across an access ROW, a deck over a utility corridor. Confirm the recorded width before any construction near a boundary.
Eminent domain. Governments acquire ROWs through eminent domain when owners and agencies can't agree. If road widening is planned nearby, confirm whether any acquisition affects your front setback.
Real-World Example
Greg found a corner lot in suburban Columbus at $189,000 — 75 × 140 feet, enough for a duplex and a detached garage in the rear.
Before making an offer, he pulled the plat. The county road had a 50-foot ROW. The road itself was 30 feet curb to curb. The remaining 20 feet — sidewalk plus utility buffer — were recorded public ROW inside his lot line.
His setback started 25 feet from the ROW edge per code, not the curb. Lot depth dropped from 140 to 105 feet. The garage fit. The duplex footprint he'd planned needed 110 feet.
He went back to the seller with the plat, negotiated $11,000 off, built a smaller duplex, hit his cash-on-cash target, and closed at $178,000. Half an hour on a plat saved him from a permit rejection four months into the build.
Pros & Cons
- Public ROWs guarantee road access and utility connections that sustain property value
- You retain the underlying land and benefit if a private ROW is ever extinguished
- Documented ROW constraints give you factual grounds to negotiate a price reduction
- ROW infrastructure — roads, power, water — makes most investment properties operable
- A ROW through buildable land permanently eliminates that area for construction
- Recorded width exceeds visible infrastructure — lost buildable area is usually larger than expected
- Road-widening can expand a municipal ROW after closing, taking frontage you counted on
- Extinguishing a private ROW requires formal written release from the holder — not a quick process
Watch Out
Recorded width is not visible width. A municipal ROW labeled 50 feet may have a 28-foot road and a 22-foot buffer beyond the curb — inside your lot line on paper but fully controlled by the municipality.
Setbacks measure from the ROW line, not the curb. Your usable building envelope starts further back than the street appears. Confirm the registered ROW edge on the plat before sizing any footprint.
Encroachment into the ROW carries removal risk. Structures that creep into a public ROW can be ordered removed at your expense with no compensation — most common on corner lots where garages push toward the side-street ROW.
Ask an Investor
The Takeaway
A right of way runs with the land through every sale. For most buy-and-hold deals, the municipal ROW fronting the road is just a planning input. The risk shows up when your development plan — an ADU, addition, or duplex footprint — depends on land already inside a recorded ROW corridor.
Read the plat. Review Schedule B before due diligence closes. If the corridor clips buildable area, price it into the offer or walk.