Landlocked Definition and Parking Access

[oucivileng]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MD

I live in an old row home in an old city in Maryland. My property borders the street only on one side where the house is built. There is a 4 foot wide breezeway tunnel along the side of the house and underneath part of the upstairs bedrooms, but aside from that, the entire front of the property and adjacent properties are brick structures. I currently have a parking area on my property way in the back that I access by pulling through the driveway of a building around the corner on a side street, and passing through their rear parking lot. I currently pay the owner a monthly fee to basically rent a parking space from that lot so that I can pass through it to get to my property. I don't have an actual easement and the company that manages the property through which I've obtained parking access is unwilling to work with me on a contract (not even for 1 or 2 years). They won't even let the other property owner know that I would be interested in negotiating some sort of permanent access.

This is the only possible way that a vehicle could access my property because of other existing structures and terrain. Is my property technically landlocked since the only bordering roadway is entirely blocked by the houses that have been there for 150+years? Is the owner of the other property required to allow me to pull my car through? I'm not looking to screw over the other property owner or anything by forcing some sort of easement, I just don't trust their property manager. They could easily decide to triple the amount I have to pay them for access and there would be nothing I could do about it because they could just rent out my "driveway" as a parking space for somebody else. All I want is some leverage to start negotiating a contract of some sort to protect myself and keep everybody on good terms.

Anybody have any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MD

I live in an old row home in an old city in Maryland. My property borders the street only on one side where the house is built. There is a 4 foot wide breezeway tunnel along the side of the house and underneath part of the upstairs bedrooms, but aside from that, the entire front of the property and adjacent properties are brick structures. I currently have a parking area on my property way in the back that I access by pulling through the driveway of a building around the corner on a side street, and passing through their rear parking lot. I currently pay the owner a monthly fee to basically rent a parking space from that lot so that I can pass through it to get to my property. I don't have an actual easement and the company that manages the property through which I've obtained parking access is unwilling to work with me on a contract (not even for 1 or 2 years). They won't even let the other property owner know that I would be interested in negotiating some sort of permanent access.

This is the only possible way that a vehicle could access my property because of other existing structures and terrain. Is my property technically landlocked since the only bordering roadway is entirely blocked by the houses that have been there for 150+years? Is the owner of the other property required to allow me to pull my car through? I'm not looking to screw over the other property owner or anything by forcing some sort of easement, I just don't trust their property manager. They could easily decide to triple the amount I have to pay them for access and there would be nothing I could do about it because they could just rent out my "driveway" as a parking space for somebody else. All I want is some leverage to start negotiating a contract of some sort to protect myself and keep everybody on good terms.

Anybody have any suggestions?

Thanks!

It's not landlocked - you can access your property from the street.

 

[xylene]

You need to hire an attorney who can more effectively negotiate your interest with the property owner.

 

[LdiJ]

It's not landlocked - you can access your property from the street.

I wonder if there is street parking?

 

[xylene]

I wonder if there is street parking?

An absence of street parking doesn't make the property landlocked, nor does a rear area of the property that can only be accessed for vehicle parking across someone's land. The op really should have sought the help of an attorney in negotiating the current agreement before inadvertently telegraphing their desperation to the management company.

 

[oucivileng]

I wonder if there is street parking?

There is street parking but it's metered and parking overnight is not allowed because of street sweeping.

An absence of street parking doesn't make the property landlocked, nor does a rear area of the property that can only be accessed for vehicle parking across someone's land. The op really should have sought the help of an attorney in negotiating the current agreement before inadvertently telegraphing their desperation to the management company.

The current agreement was negotiated by the previous owner of my house with the previous property manager of the other property and was done so somewhat informally. I did not know that it was sort of informal when I bought the house since I knew that there were other neighbors that had formal contracts (their circumstances were actually a bit different - long story that had to do with property line disputes and fences). I'm just now working on getting this figured out and want to get a sense of what my options might be. I'll probably have an attorney get involved at some point.

Not sure why you think I'm telegraphing any kind of "desperation". The property manager is just a cranky old man that went out of his way to tell me that he doesn't want any kind of contract. Honestly, one option I'm considering is just waiting a few years until he's too old to work and they change management. No disrespect to the elderly, he's just got a reputation for being kind of a jerk and odds are the next manager will be more reasonable and communicative.

So the consensus seems to be that even though I can't get any kind of vehicle or equipment to the back of the property directly from the road, it still does not count as landlocked? That's what I figured but was hoping I was wrong. Does anybody have any other suggestions for ensuring access or at least having some kind of legal leverage?

It probably doesn't matter but my property used to be 3 separate parcels, two of which were definitely landlocked. My parking is on one of those previously landlocked parcels. They were combined into one back in the late 1800's.

Thanks for the responses!

 

[Zigner]

There is street parking but it's metered and parking overnight is not allowed because of street sweeping.



The current agreement was negotiated by the previous owner of my house with the previous property manager of the other property and was done so somewhat informally. I did not know that it was sort of informal when I bought the house since I knew that there were other neighbors that had formal contracts (their circumstances were actually a bit different - long story that had to do with property line disputes and fences). I'm just now working on getting this figured out and want to get a sense of what my options might be. I'll probably have an attorney get involved at some point.

Not sure why you think I'm telegraphing any kind of "desperation". The property manager is just a cranky old man that went out of his way to tell me that he doesn't want any kind of contract. Honestly, one option I'm considering is just waiting a few years until he's too old to work and they change management. No disrespect to the elderly, he's just got a reputation for being kind of a jerk and odds are the next manager will be more reasonable and communicative.

So the consensus seems to be that even though I can't get any kind of vehicle or equipment to the back of the property directly from the road, it still does not count as landlocked? That's what I figured but was hoping I was wrong. Does anybody have any other suggestions for ensuring access or at least having some kind of legal leverage?

It probably doesn't matter but my property used to be 3 separate parcels, two of which were definitely landlocked. My parking is on one of those previously landlocked parcels. They were combined into one back in the late 1800's.

Thanks for the responses!

My city (~100,000 people) is made of of neighborhoods built (generally) in the middle of the 20th. century. Tract homes...only a very small percentage have access to the back yard for vehicles.

ETA: Of course, by "vehicles", I'm talking about cars, trucks, etc.

 

[oucivileng]

My city (~100,000 people) is made of of neighborhoods built (generally) in the middle of the 20th. century. Tract homes...only a very small percentage have access to the back yard for vehicles.

ETA: Of course, by "vehicles", I'm talking about cars, trucks, etc.

Thanks Zigner!

 

[not2cleverRed]

There is street parking but it's metered and parking overnight is not allowed because of street sweeping.



The current agreement was negotiated by the previous owner of my house with the previous property manager of the other property and was done so somewhat informally. I did not know that it was sort of informal when I bought the house since I knew that there were other neighbors that had formal contracts (their circumstances were actually a bit different - long story that had to do with property line disputes and fences). I'm just now working on getting this figured out and want to get a sense of what my options might be. I'll probably have an attorney get involved at some point.

Not sure why you think I'm telegraphing any kind of "desperation". The property manager is just a cranky old man that went out of his way to tell me that he doesn't want any kind of contract. Honestly, one option I'm considering is just waiting a few years until he's too old to work and they change management. No disrespect to the elderly, he's just got a reputation for being kind of a jerk and odds are the next manager will be more reasonable and communicative.

So the consensus seems to be that even though I can't get any kind of vehicle or equipment to the back of the property directly from the road, it still does not count as landlocked? That's what I figured but was hoping I was wrong. Does anybody have any other suggestions for ensuring access or at least having some kind of legal leverage?

It probably doesn't matter but my property used to be 3 separate parcels, two of which were definitely landlocked. My parking is on one of those previously landlocked parcels. They were combined into one back in the late 1800's.

Thanks for the responses!

My advice would be to consult city records to see if there is any historical record of an easement.

4' wide doesn't sound like much space in case of an emergency. One would think that there should be some emergency easement allowed for that.

 

[154NH773]

“I did not know that it was sort of informal when I bought the house...”

And therein lies the problem.

As others have rightly said; you are not landlocked, as you have full access to your property from the street. The fact that you choose to allow your house to block your rear yard is no fault of your “elderly” neighbor.

You have no right to his property, and his reluctance to grant you more than permission to rent an access is his business. You are lucky he even allows that.

Any permanent access or easement he grants you would forever limit his use or future development of his property. Perhaps you should offer to buy his property from him.