Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Permissive use of someone else's driveway, etc. usually implies the grant of a license. A license makes a use that would otherwise be a trespass not unlawful or trespassory, but not much more. A license can be oral, and requires no consideration be given. In addition, a license is personal and not an interest or estate in real property. Usually, a license is revoked by the death of the licensor or the licensee, or when one or the other no longer owns his/her property. Therefore, the new neighbor probably had the right to deny you further access.

Conditions amounting to use under a license must be distinguished from conditions amounting to prescrptive use, which can result in the user acquiring a prescriptive easement. Prescription results from non-permissive use. If the previous owner had not given you permission to use his driveway, you would probably have acquired a prescriptive easement for your useage after five years, e.g. in 2009. The change in ownership would not have affected the accumulation of the five years. The change in ownership did, however, work to revoke the license, so you had accumulated 1.5 years of the five needed as of the blocking of the access two weeks ago. That's 3.5 short of enough to have obtained an easement.

At this point, I'd suggest negotiating with the new neighbor for a license, or even an easement agreement, but unless I'm missing something you currently have no right to use the driveway.

Mr. Whipple's explaination of the law is pretty much correct, but he is assuming you do not have an easement. He may be right, but without reviewing your title documents and your site, I don't see how he can jump to that conclusion.