Q: Can my neighbor who bought the private road on which I live, and which is the only access to my house, limit my access?
I live on a triple dead end and own 4 contiguous homes in the neighborhood while my neighbor's extended family owns 7 contiguous homes, 2 of which have been built in the twenty years since we bought our home from his cousin and the other 3 from his uncle. He bought the private road that goes only to my houses(and ends in front of my house) from the same uncle and now wants to trade it for a large piece of our original multi-acre parcel so he can build another house. From what little I remember of real estate law from law school, I have told my husband the neighbor cannot impair the only access to our property and therefore we do not need to own the road, especially as we neither want to give up any land nor encourage another house in our small neighborhood. I feel this is borderline blackmail. Thank you in advance.
A: Your memory is correct. Being the law, there are always complexities, but the dominant (original) estate and its successors cannot restrict or prevent access to a prior authorized servient estate if the only means of access is via the dominant estate. Moving out of English common law, you very likely have a "right of way" easement. If the easement is recorded you have an easy case (in your favor). If the easement is not recorded, you will have to prove the necessity and existence of the easement (from your facts this should not be terribly difficult).
Ben F Meek III agrees with this answer
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