CA - Prescriptive Easement ??

[DesertCAT]

What is the name of your state? California

We put a contract on a piece of raw land and after the title search it was determined there was a lack of legal right of access to and from a public street. As a result the title company will not insure the property.

The property is in a rural area that is starting to build up. There is a county road 660 feet from our property and a road off that county road that runs from the county road in front of "our" property and beyond for approximately 1 mile. This is a nice dirt road that appears to be maintained; just no record of it nor are there any utilities running down it.

Our property has provided a 30' easement for the purpose of a road and/or public utility and I'm thinking that the road that runs from the county road may actually be a legal road but just never reserved by previous property owners of the property we are interested in.

My first question is does this qualify as a prescriptive easement? At this point I need advice on where we go from here to insure we will continue to have access or if we should withdraw our offer. Any and all suggestions welcome.

Thank you

 

[BelizeBreeze]

You need to be speaking with your county assessor to determine if the road is private or public then have a look at the plat maps to determine when the road was added and by whom.

If it's a private road that starts off your property but does not intersect your property, the you'll have to either contact the current owner for an ingress/egress easement or file for prescriptive easement.

But until you know who owns the road you can't do much of anything.

 

[Greg 2]

After you find out the status, don't forget to also find out who is responsible for the maintenance of the road, both paying for and the actual work itself.