Paper roads open to problems

Some land owners with paper roads block them off with fences and gates to deter people from using them.

Rural home buyers face issues that urban homeowners can't imagine. One of those is paper roads.

These are roads marked on the map but have never been built. If there's one on your land, it's unlikely to ever be a problem. But when it is, it's a big problem. One rural dweller in Rodney was horrified when he heard rumours that a neighbouring company might want to use the hitherto unused road across his property.

Auckland Transport says that a paper road is a "legally recognised road that provides public access to a particular area or feature and whose ownership lies with either a territorial authority or the Crown".

There are an estimated 56,000km of unformed roads across the country that are technically owned by the Crown, but managed by local councils.

Most of these roads were established between 1854 and 1876, according to Auckland Transport. They were meant to provide for future access to land, but in many cases have never been used.

Paper roads abound in some parts of greater Auckland. The Mahurangi East peninsula, for example is littered with them.

"Apparently, Felton Mathew was sent by Hobson to survey Auckland and stopped short," says Jonathan Flaws, solicitor at Sanderson Weir. "He surveyed the wrong harbour."

When the roads were formed in the 1800s there was often no intention to use the paper roads as roads. They were simply recorded on early maps to provide a means of access across land.

The public has the right to use paper roads whether they're physically formed or are simply a line on the map. Landowners, however, who don't want their peace and privacy disturbed sometimes try to put locked gates, obstructions and encroachments in to stop access.

Flaws says these roads can sometimes prove a problem to home owners. He cites the case of one client whose property was landlocked except for an unused road. To access the property the owner had built a ramp on the "road", and had paid for a licence to do so.

The trouble was the lease could be cancelled with six months' notice at any time. "Without the ramp the land had no practical access and would become landlocked," says Flaws.

The problem may never arise. But to be safe Flaws organised conveyancing insurance on the property with Mainprice King. The policy covers the owner for the potential of this happening.

Should the cover ever be needed it will pay for the legal costs of sorting the problem out, which might involve buying land from neighbours. The one-off up front premium is 0.5 per cent of the diminished value of the land should the worst happen, says Jeff Williamson, chief executive of Mainprice King.

Some land owners have managed to convince councils to close paper roads. However, they often come up against local groups who want them kept open as Janet and Noel Higham did with a paper road ran across their property to a local beach.