Littoral rights, otherwise known as water rights, are the rights regarding real estate nearing or touching bodies of water. This includes properties located nearby to a sea, ocean, lake, and other water sources. Littoral rights typically involve the enjoyment and use of water near a shoreline. Littoral rights spell out the water rights of both private landowner’s and public use.
Water rights are of great concern to beach, lake, and river houses. Littoral rights serve as the guiding principle to determine what rights both the public and private have concerning real estate. Riparian rights are granted to property owners where the rights do not affect the use of water for downstream or upstream land users or neighbors. If the water does not travel, the property owner typically will hold ownership rights of the land below where the waterway begins. Property-owners whose property hold littoral rights have unlimited and unrestricted use of the water to the midpoint of the waterway.
Anything after the midpoint of the waterway is the property of the government which typically gets converted into the rights of the public. Water rights are attached to property and not to a person. Should a party sell their property, the water rights transfer to the new owner subsequently removing the previous owners claim to the littoral rights of the property.
