Posted by David Krulac on January 16, 2005 at 07:16:14:
you need to check your state law. in most states you can sue for acess on the theory that at one point in history the property was acessable and some subdivision locked the land.
a driveway is usally not enough to acess 40 lots, most municpalities require a full fledged road of maybe 50 feet to acess multiple lots. after looking at your state laws the next step is to contact the zoning officer for the municipality on what can be done.
the 3rd thing to do would be to contact the other owner ans see if some deal can be worked out for acess. it will cost you money to secure that acess as most land owners won’t give it away for free, but their price still may be a lot lower than the alternative litigation.
4th thing you should find out if utilites are to the land and the cost of bring those into the 40 lots. water sewer, electric, natural gas, telephone and cable will all need rights of way to get to the property and many will require either all or part of the actual physical construction costs to be paid by you.
btw: you probably should have done the above 4 things BEFORE you bought the land.
I own about 40 lots in Simi Valley, CA. I walked the lots this weekend and they are pretty nice lots. The assesors maps shows private roads passing through the area where my lots are which would allow access to them if the roads were there. However, It is impossible to put the roads in because people have built their homes around the property and blocked ares where the roads could be put in. The only way to my lots is by going through someone eles’s lots. This guy owns all the lots around mine and I would need to make a driveway through this lots to get access to mine. Is this legal or even a possibility or are my lots worthless without access?
Re: Access to my property - Posted by TaMo-Atlanta
Posted by TaMo-Atlanta on January 17, 2005 at 13:07:55:
In some jurisdictions owners of landlocked parcels can get an access easement whether the blocking owner wants to grant one or not. Might be worth looking into for your area. Of course, the terms by which you treat your neighbor may or may not be important to you depending on your plans and your personality :).