Keeping access to property

[Sportscourtpro]

In california-

My grandmother has owned a 40 acre piece of property in Healdsburg since the 1930s. While there is no house on the property she has maintained it, built a building pad on it and, most importantly, maintained the road going into the property. When the winery at the base of her hill sold last year, the couple that bought it refused her access to her property. Apparently, she never set up rights to the easement. She always was granted access and never needed to establish rights. Would it still be pre-existing/nonconforming as she was here first?

What can she do to get her road access back?

Keep in mind, this land is above a winery with views to the ocean. Worth a lot of money, but if it is landlocked, it is a very cheap piece of property to everybody except...the couple that just bought t b email property with the road access. My theory is they are not granting access to my 87 y.o. grandma to later buy the property at a cheap process.

Also, the party that denied access is a lawyer and has his own firm in the city, so he has unlimited attorney resources. What would be our best approach?

 

[tranquility]

The term "landlocked" tends to have a specific meaning that may or may not be correct here. Past ownership would have to be researched and considered to use that as an argument for a remedy.

However, here there could be a prescriptive easement that developed if the use of the road was at least 5 years, was open and notorious and hostile. There, the main problem for grandmother would be hostile.

You wrote:

She always was granted access and never needed to establish rights.

What do you mean she was "granted access"?

If the easier path of a prescriptive easement is blocked by some issue, you can still go for the easement by necessity (landlocked), but it will be much harder.

In both cases you will need a property law attorney to guide negotiations and eventual litigation.

(There could also be an equitable easement claim as well. That usually requires some sort of payment for rights.)

 

[Sportscourtpro]

The prevision owners always let her use the road and she maintained it. She never even thought about rights to the easement because it was never am issue.

There is no building or structure blocking the road, but the new owners installed a gate so she couldn't access her property. Aren't there any preexisting nonconforming ordinances that could apply in this case?

 

[Sportscourtpro]

Sorry, meant to say "previous" , not "prevision"

 

[tranquility]

The prevision owners always let her use the road and she maintained it. She never even thought about rights to the easement because it was never am issue.

There is no building or structure blocking the road, but the new owners installed a gate so she couldn't access her property. Aren't there any preexisting nonconforming ordinances that could apply in this case?

Looks like you'll have to go the harder route since the use was permissive. You will either go for an easement by necessity [ http://www.californiasmallbusinesslaw.com/law-for-businesses/easement-by-necessity/ ] with the potential problem of:

The California rule is settled that a right-of-way of necessity arises by operation of law when it is established that (1) there is a strict necessity for the right-of-way as when the [156 Cal.App.4th 1439] claimants' property is landlocked [citations] and (2) the dominant and servient tenements were under the same ownership at the time of the conveyance giving rise to the necessity

Or an equitable easement where the value of the easement is usually compensated for.

You certainly have some facts to indicate you might have some right to use the other property. But, it is going to cost money to get them. Either to lawyers or to the other property owner or to both. I might try to buy the right up front. It will make everyone happier.

 

[Cedrus]

Guess you are going to have to hire a R.E. lawyer at some point.....Have them do a "chain of title" search that goes back 50 to 100 years or more. Maybe there is something in writing to benefit grandma.