Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

They have to be separately owned. The doctrine of merger of title extinguishes easements when both parcels are owned by the same person or entity, so a granted easement while in common ownership would immediately be extinguished by law.

I agree with Mr. McCormick. The LLC, like any other owner, doesn't need an easement from itself. Obviously, the concern has to be what happens if and when the LLC sells or develops the lot needing an easement. In order to assure future access, an easement may become necessary upon some future date, and lenders, etc. will need assurances that such an easement will be provided when it can. Loan agreements and the like must provide for the granting of an easement (or other mutually agreeable access provisions) upon the first cognizable separation of record ownership. Indeed, if agreements between the LLC and a prospective buyer of one lot reference an intention to grant an easement, a court is very likely to hold that such easement comes into existence upon the buyer taking ownership, without an further documents being executed. Finally, I'd be cautious about owning multiple lots in a single entity without first getting good local legal advice regarding the possibility of county authorities deciding to merge the parcels to conform to local lot-size and zoning objectives.