Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Road access rights

The answer is maybe.

First, you should consider whether you are better off dealing with the OWNER rather than the lessor of the adjoining property. The owner might take a more reasonable attitude and probably has more ultimate legal control over your access and use of the roadway.

Okay, to start off, an owner of property has an almost unqualified right to exclude others from the property. The exceptions cover emergencies and the right of surveyors, government inspectors, etc. to carry out their duties.

However, owners often surrender those exclusive rights in part by creating (or allowing the creation of) EASEMENTS over their property. A frequently-encountered type of easement is for roadway access purposes to a parcel of land that would otherwise not have access to a public road.

Easements can be created in six or more different ways. The most common, perhaps, is by express dedication or reservation -- where language creating the easement appears in a deed between the owners of the parcels. Such easements usually "run with the land" so that when either parcel is sold, the easement continues in effect to the benefit or burden of the new owner(s).

Easements can also be created in other, less formal ways. Sometimes a court can declare an easement to exist 'by necessity' when a landowner would otherwise have no access.

Unless you have a map or deed that shows that you have an easement, or unless the owner of the other parcel agrees that you have an easement, you should consult a real-estate lawyer who practices in your county. She/he can examine the documentary history of the parcels and related transactions and decide whether you have rights or whether a court could grant you some relief.

Unless there is an easement or some contract creating an irrevocable license, or unless perhaps you have some kind of co-ownership in the roadway, the neighbor can probably put up a gate and exclude you. On the other hand, the probability that you can assert (with legal help) some kind of easement rights is pretty good.