Access without easement?

[alligatorob]

Florida – I am looking at purchasing a piece of property that has questionable access. The road that leads to the house has a name and a street sign but I can find no evidence that it is a public street or that the property has an easement to use it. This is the only way into the property and has been the sole access to the house on the property since it was built in 1959. The current owner claims it is a public street, but I am skeptical. I doubt the current owner knows or has thought about it, he just uses it.

A couple of questions:

1 Does the use for almost 50 years provide some kind of prescriptive easement?
2 Will title insurance cover an issue like this?

There is no realtor involved and I have not yet engaged a lawyer. I will probably use a lawyer to close, but no realtor. This is a low end property, house + 1.6 acres for $50k, so I don’t want to spend a bunch to figure this out; on the other hand I don’t want to buy a big problem either.

 

[HomeGuru]

Florida – I am looking at purchasing a piece of property that has questionable access. The road that leads to the house has a name and a street sign but I can find no evidence that it is a public street or that the property has an easement to use it. This is the only way into the property and has been the sole access to the house on the property since it was built in 1959. The current owner claims it is a public street, but I am skeptical. I doubt the current owner knows or has thought about it, he just uses it.

A couple of questions:

1 Does the use for almost 50 years provide some kind of prescriptive easement?


**A: quite possibly.



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2 Will title insurance cover an issue like this?


**A: quite possibly but it could be no.


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There is no realtor involved and I have not yet engaged a lawyer.



**A: why not. You need to use both or at least the attorney.,



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I will probably use a lawyer to close, but no realtor. This is a low end property, house + 1.6 acres for $50k, so I don’t want to spend a bunch to figure this out; on the other hand I don’t want to buy a big problem either.

**A: then spend a little bunch to figure it out. $50K is nothing to sneeze at. Just ask any former employee of Lehman Brothers.