Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Louisiana

Re: Personal Right-of-way

A person whose property is landlocked from access to a public road, has the right of passage over adjoining property to reach the public road. Apparently that is the case here.

You mentioned he had acquired other land adjacent to his. If the new property is on a public road, then he is no longer landlocked. However, the length of time he has used the right of way over your property may have given the landlocked property a permanent right over your property. However, if he has obtained permanent rights over your property by time of use, and he is no longer landlocked, then any need to increase the width of the right of way would have to be accommodated by his own property since he was not landlocked when the need for a larger right of way became necessary.

But remember, in either case, even when you initially allowed your neighbor to use your property to get to his, it is not a use he gets free. He would have to pay something for the right to cross your property. A 30 foot wide right of way seems wider than needed for a car or truck, but it is what the right of way is needed for which would dictate the width, which also means the cost of the right of way would increase.

The right of passage which one piece of property owes another is predial.