Landlocked land requires an easement of necessity for access to public roads. This can be granted or reserved when selling or dividing the property. A license is needed for specific uses beyond necessity. The easement remains with the property and not the owner. The necessity servitude ends if the need ceases.
A parcel of land that does not have direct access to a public road or public land is considered landlocked. When the only way to reach a public street is through adjacent property, that entrance and exit are defined in an easement of necessity. This type of deal typically occurs when a piece of property is divided up and sold. It can appear as a granted or reserved easement.
Typically, a landowner can sell a portion of his landlocked land. In this transaction, the buyer is granted an easement of necessity. The landowner grants an easement to the new owner to use the property to access the landlocked land. A granted easement allows for a specific use, but the original landowner still retains ownership of the land.
If the landowner divides the land and maintains a landlocked parcel of land, he creates a reserved easement out of necessity. This easement allows the landowner access to the public road along the land he has sold. He or she no longer owns the land, but has reserved the use of a portion of the land.
Both easements remain with the property and not with the original owner. It is vitally important that you document the easement as part of the original transaction. The dominant apartment is the landlocked lot which benefits from easement.
If the parcel is sold, the easement of necessity is continued to the new owner. The property that physically provides the easement is the Servient tenement. If this property is sold, the easement remains in place and the new owner is obligated to honor it.
Typically, if you want more than the normal entry and exit of landlocked property, you’ll need a license. This allows for specific use beyond necessity and must be agreed upon by the landowner. For example, the owner of the landlocked lot cannot assume that he could start a business that would generate additional traffic through the easement. A license is between individuals for an identified purpose and a specific time; it is not earthbound. A license is as simple as a verbal agreement to allow parking on the easement on Sundays or as complex as company vehicles to use the street during weekdays.
Necessity servitude ends if the need ceases. This could be due to building a new road or buying a piece of property that no longer leaves the landlocked parcel. Once the necessity has passed, so has the servitude.
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