Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

The installation of gates, particularly locked gates (even if the users are furnished keys or the combination), across an easement has been examined critically by the courts, and with mixed results. The courts have generally held that a landowner cannot install a gate across a roadway used by others under a written or implied easement agreement unless the landowner has a valid and rather strong need for the gate, such as keeping in his cattle, or where trespassers or vandals present a genuine problem, since installing a gate without some justification is an unfair burden upon the easement holders and their guests. I think if your situation were to go to court, the judge would weigh the justification for having a gate against the burden it would place on the easement holders, and the ultimate outcome would depend upon a great many facts present in your particular situation. However, as a general rule, if the driveway here is lawfully used by a dozen neighbors with valid easement rights, I think the installation of a gate, especially a locked gate, would go too far in impairing the easement holders' rights and a court would not allow it.