Road Reserve Encroachment: When Neighbours Build Into Government Land and Buyers Inherit the Problem

• Road reserves are Crown/government land — no private structure can legally be built on them.
• Encroaching fences, walls, and structures are common across residential and commercial properties.
• Buyers who inherit encroachments may face government removal orders at their own cost.
• A survey conducted before purchase identifies whether registered boundaries cross into the road reserve.
• Parish councils and the NWA can confirm road reserve widths for specific roads.

Jamaica’s road network is built on a system of road reserves: strips of government-owned land of defined width on either side of a public road, within which no private structures may be erected. The width of the road reserve varies by road classification: national primary roads carry wider reserves than local access roads. Within the reserve, the government retains the right to construct, maintain, and expand the road without paying compensation to private landowners for structures within the reserve.

In practice, road reserve encroachment is extremely common across Jamaica. Walls, fences, gateposts, sheds, and even permanent structures are routinely erected within road reserves, sometimes because the property owner is unaware of where the reserve boundary is, and sometimes as a deliberate attempt to claim additional land. When those properties are sold, the encroachments pass to the buyer along with the title — and with them, the risk of enforcement action if the government decides to exercise its rights in the reserve.

Identifying Encroachments Before Purchase

A licensed surveyor can identify whether any structure on a property encroaches into the road reserve by comparing the registered title boundary with the known road reserve width. This is a step that buyers of built properties, particularly those on busy roads or arterial routes, should include in their pre-purchase due diligence. The National Works Agency (NWA) maintains road reserve records and can confirm the designated reserve width for a specific road section; parish councils hold equivalent records for locally maintained roads.

Where encroachments are identified, the buyer should negotiate with the seller before completing the purchase — either to have the encroaching structure removed, or to adjust the price to reflect the risk of future enforcement. Purchasing a property with an unacknowledged road reserve encroachment transfers that risk entirely to the buyer. The NLA can assist in confirming the registered boundary of any parcel, and licensed surveyors can compare that boundary with road reserve records to identify any encroachment.

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