A peculiar situation with a friend of mine living in an HOA subdivision. The HOA failed to pay property taxes on the property on which the pool and tennis court exist. So the one neighbor adjacent to that property paid the taxes for several years ( I do not know exactly how many ) then filed a claim to that property and got it. So, now he has more land, a pool, and tennis court of his own and a bunch of angry neighbors.

Had a buddy that bought a 10 acre landlocked chunk of land. He went to every neighbor offering $3-5K for them to sell him a 20ft wide section of their land along their property line in order to make a driveway. He said all but one of them said yes, and even had a little bidding war with the lowest price winning. The lesson I took from it was asking for an easement is like saying " I can legally use your land to where it really is only your land in name only" , but asking to buy a small section of their land sounds more straightforward and consensual.

I believe approaching the neighbors and asking for an easement, even if it requires buying a legal access is the only way to go. Pursuing legal action and forcing an easement is just a recipe for disaster. Great topic and channel

There's a reason a parcel of land is landlocked and don't expect a miracle in sorting it out. Don't be the neighbor from hell by threatening your neighbor -- who might already be or might become a neighbor from hell. I've seen everything in 55 years as a professional land surveyor (CA & TN). Get a good surveyor, a good lawyer, and a good title company and find out if the county has regulations that affect access & development -- be.informed before you enter a potential minefield. Another place to learn about the neighborhood is in a local church. Three old sayings -- you attract more flies with honey than vinegar, no such thing as a free lunch, and good fences make good neighbors -- are useful here. Final notes -- get the property surveyed and build a fence -- always 6" inside your property line and maintain your property corners.

Yes I would like to see a video on easements.

Get a helicopter and a night shift job. After a while, I'm sure one of the neighbors will let you put in a driveway.

Moral of the story..... DON'T BUY LANDLOCKED PROPERTY!

In ky you can no longer land lock anything by law. Court decides best easement route. Also required by ky state board for surveyors requires easements to everything

I heard a story, one of those the old timers tell from when they were a young adult, of a land locked property where the owner was turned down for an easement on a property he inherited and wanted to put a house on. He then heard through the grape vine that the 3 surrounding families all used the property for camping on and knew that if they gave him access to that property, they would loose access to their free, river front camping ground. He flew a helicopter over the land and caught video of them trespassing and basically offered to not take action against them if they agreed to an easement. Apparently the guy would have been fine to let them continue camping on the land and would have even thrown parties on the land, had they asked instead of being jackasses about it.

I bought 26 land locked acres about 35 years ago. There was I~94 along the west boundary railroad tracks along the north side and a huge gully to both the south and east. I had to submit my plans for the property and expected number of track crossings per day and approximate times to the railroad company before they would consider easement across the tracks. It took the better part of a year to get approval but I got it.

Ingress and Egress are the magic words you are looking for in any "Metes an Bounds " legal description!

Oh yes, exactly as you described. Granddaddy had a hundred acres and divided it among his three boys, my father and his brothers, correctly with an access easement across another man's land. A descendant decided he was no longer going to allow the easement, and built an outbuilding in the middle of a dirt road. My cousin needed to go to court to order that building knocked down. It was a sneaky move, had she not defended her travel easement right, the land would've gone back to the original property owner at some point, like 5 yrs. Since she now lives out of state, it could have very well been too much hassle, devaluing her land and letting the adjacent property owner snap it up for a song.

I was in that very situation. I found out it was landlocked. I walked away. Very happy I did.

Great topic. A while back my neighbor owned 40 acres of farm land with some rentals that had an easement road. A developer from the other side of our ravine, which had a salmon creek requiring major setbacks, also owned land on our side. It did connect to his land but because of the ravine, was essentially landlocked. Dozens of acres sat there unused because my farmer neighbor refused access. Do your homework. For my part, I got to enjoy peace and quiet on only 2.5 acres backed up against a beautiful wildlife refuge because a farmer stood his ground.

Yes, please do a video on the hidden aspects of access (and other pratfalls, whether it's zoning, soil assessment, etc.). Thanks!

My version is: I found a home in another state, in a scenic location, but on a dirt road with no easement. There were many other occupied homes on the same road (don't ask me how they managed to get their homes built). I made it a point to meet the landowner who owned the road, and noted that he had never blocked any of the other homeowners from accessing their property. I planned to live in the home for the rest of my life and leave it to my children, and wouldn't need to sell. Later, one of the other homeowners wanted to sell, couldn't due to the lack of easement, and sued successfully for an easement, which was applied to everyone else.

Tax wise its great no road frontage. Big savings. Farmers sell off road frontage property to save on taxes and lease part of the land back from the buyer. I've seen that before.

I was actually looking at acreage in wv that was landlocked when this came across. Lucky me.

Yes, I'd like to see a video discussing ways to identify landlocked property that might be easy to get an easement and things that might make it deceptively difficult. Also, tips on locating landlocked property without wasting tons of time. Thanks! STORY: I have a friend that a long time ago had land (wasn't landlocked but the road was very inconvenient) and wanted an easement to the fire-tower road nearby. The property owner didn't let him, siting "wetlands" regulations. Little did he know that historically at some point there were trenches and valleys around that had filled in and dammed the wetlands (keeping them wet). So my friend dug out the "channels" on his property and in less than 4 years drained the wetlands and through the courts, won an easement suit.

My parents are in the middle of easement nonsense. Wow. It really depends on how much money/time you’re willing to fork over to get what you want.

The worst state for these kinds of problems is Tennessee!! I owned 113 acres and used the “access” road for 20 years. Then built a home. Then lost the access to an evil neighbor who bought the property i crossed after the former owner died and the wife looked only at what she could get. Shutting off access was the best profit for her. A lawsuit later and the neighbors lawyer said “we will simply make this cost you more than your land is worth “ and he meant it. I lost my home, which i still had to pay for and my retirement. I’m very bitter but Tennessee law is set up to the disadvantage of property owners with permissive easement or handshake deals. Avoid TN

My neighbor’s piece is landlocked. The only possible driveway was up my drive, which was rough. He owned an excavation business, still has some older equipment. So he did up the driveway and even keeps it plowed, easement granted! In NC, neighbor and I went through a property dispute. I put up a fence 5’ off the line, to be sure. They insisted I was on them. They dug a phone line in, tore out my fence. I drove fence posts back in, hitting the phone line. I hired a surveyor, proved where the line was, moved the fence to ON the line and their chicken coop was on me. 30 days later, I took my new chicken coop off the line (they failed to move it). They also put the phone line on them.

Sometimes talking to a neighbor and being nice about things can help a lot. But always get things in writing(in case someone dies etc). Friends of ours were looking at a large section of property that nobody would touch because the city required a road/utilities etc to be installed. He talked to a neighbor in the back that already had a road roughed in. Made a deal so they could access their property without paying for the city road.

If you have to sue to get the easement, might as well sell the property as soon as you get the easement. Your neighbor will never like you after that and its going to be a disaster. Besides, with the easement finished , the property might be worth more.

Landlock land is most valuable when a neighbor wants it.

Troy, just recently a good friend of mine was murdered due to a property dispute (no kidding), although he was in the right. Folks become passionate about property so, as you mentioned, get a lawyers advice.

A friend bought land near Branson, Mo as an investment back when Branson was booming. He could only afford land-locked land near Branson. He sat on it for about 3 years until the traffic on the limited through roads in Branson was horrendous and the Chamber of Commerce persuaded the County to construct more roads for access. When he was approached by the County, he volunteered to donate land through his property for a new road if they constructed one exit on his property. He ended up with four corner lots for service stations, etc. which he sold for more than he paid for the land, and he still had a lot of property to parcel out for residential sites, all with access.

We bought our place knowing it was landlocked. One thing you didn't mention is that no one will want to work with the land. We were not able to get a loan for the property and ended up paying cash because the bank wouldn't touch it. We also had to shop around to quite a few title companies until one was willing to work with us to close the deal.

Me - living on a bayou thinking "don't most of you live on landlocked land?"

good points to consider Troy

I'm learning so much watching your videos. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us!

We bought a property with a pet food store next door. The neighbor keeps mowing 15 feet onto our property. We planted some grapes armors on it and it was funny, they came out and gave us permission to plant there. We finally had it surveyed which proved our original understanding of the layout. The problem we have is their costumers. They walk their dogs in our yard and leave little tokens of their existence. They’ve even mangled our ducks and acted aggressively toward our dogs. We’re considering seeking a a variance to allow us to put up a fence right on the line to keep uninvited, unleashed visits from messing up our border and endangering our critters.

I recently found your videos and really like the depth and discussion of different viewpoints you give, really great job on your videos man - I greatly appreciate it, thank you!

I wont consider landlocked property myself . I dont want the hassel of dealing with easement it creates a lot of negative feeling with neighbors which would be nothing but a problem the whole time you own it. Therefore if they wanna sell it they ought to have easements prenegotiated.

In Alabama, the landlocked property has a right to an easement over the last portion of property that made the property landlocked. Even though you have a right to access, you do not have a right to access wherever you want, so it is best to try to work out an agreement before lawyers get involved. Our county requires a subdivision approved by the county commission before land can be divided. The commission will not allow property to be subdivided that creates landlocked property. They require a minimum 50 foot easement. I have an 80 acre tract of land that has a recorded 50 foot access on one corner. The property owner with the road frontage tried to scare off all buyers claiming the land was landlocked. We checked the title, found the easement and made a pretty low offer for the property from the estate that was selling the land. We bought the land for a really nice price. The neighbor went to the heirs after they knew we made an offer. The neighbor offered to pay more, but the heirs were so mad at him that they sold to us at a lower price. While we have access to our property, all of the property lines are messed up. We gain land on two sides and lose land on two sides because fences have been in place for many many years and accepted as the boundary line. We were able to straighten on side out by offering to remove the old fence and replace it with a new fence on the "correct" property line. We gained about 25 feet x 1/4 mile. Well worth a five strand barb wire fence that we were going to put up anyway. Good video.

First time viewer. You did an excellent job covering a fairly complex subject here. Maybe you could try explaining prescriptive easements from the perspective of both the claimant and the encumbered property owner.

Thanks for this! I'm just now thinking about buying property for the first time and these videos have been hugely useful in guiding my research and showing me questions I wouldn't even have known to ask. Great stuff!

Great video, very informative. I ran into this situation once before. It looked like it was going to go to court so I pulled out of the sale. Thanks for taking the time to make this video.

One thing you may have forgotten is fire dept. Easements for fire control.

In many states there is no such thing as land locked property. There has to be a right-of-way in the deed before in can be financed by a bank or recorded by the county recorder.

I enjoy watching your KZfaq videos. You offer good common sense advice for new or established property owners.

As a real estate agent you definitely taught me things and went more in depth from the clients perspective thank you

Thanks for the video! In Arkansas you might add difficulties with local politics and being an outsider keeping you from getting an access / easement in a reasonable amount of time. Keep in mind the mad neighbor you pissed off is only going to wait until your dream home is finished and fully furnished before the fire happens.

Land locked interesting topic, my fathers house was at the head of a valley and public road ran through the property. We own both sides of the road. Behind us were a bunch of old farms long since abandoned no public road ran up valley that we could find. Until we went to county and checked all the maps for the area and found the road had washed out close to 50 years earlier. It use to run on the far edge of our property up along side the creek. The county had not bothered replacing it because well nobody was living there anymore.. Well the creek is long gone, or since moved as creeks do, and I have always wondered what would happen if some relative decided to move back. So ya I am interested.

Have the seller acquire the easements before you buy.

My attorney purchased a landlocked parcel at a tax sale. He sold it to an adjacent landowner for a great profit by gently threatening a lawsuit for an easement of necessity.

What an excellent video, I have owned landlocked property in Virginia for 20 years, and now want to access it. This video has helped me breathe a sigh of relief 😮‍💨 knowing that there is more than 1 way to gain access to it. Thanks 🙏

Always good information. I sincerely appreciate the work you put into all these videos

This was an extremely informative video. You did a great job explaining the benefits and pitfalls......well done.

depending on the situation i have seen great results just offering an equal amount of land in return. innless fences are in place a tenth of an acer is a tenth of an acer, just make sure you offer to pay for the survey in that case.

Grew up in logan WV, and had a neighbor that claimed our driveway. I remember it being one of my parents biggest headaches growing up. Neighbor tried to plant trees in the middle of the driveway- that both families used. They had a driveway/right of way on the other end of their lot specifically for their lot, but once my dad bought this piece of land and put in a driveway that was about 10 feet away from their property line, (it was the old right of way the land company established when it parceled the land out into lots here in the 60s when they were logging and the old logging road that followed the counties right of way to other plots of land that were land locked behind the two lots beside the county road (my parents lot and my neighbors) it began years of dispute. The neighbor always tried to claim that driveway, when they didn't even own the part of the land they had their house sitting on, it was the land companies land. Finally when I was a kid, dad got tired of fighting with them all the time about it, he stopped taking care of the driveway and put a paved driveway in his front yard and abandoned the other driveway, which is still there, just rutted out now, since the neighbors died off. Dad did try to buy that old driveway but the county said since 2 families used it, it became a county road. So remember that- if you let another family use a right of way across your property, the state can be dirty and take that land from you and call it a county road. My advice to anyone about right of ways is to check the courthouse, normally they have them plotted. From my understanding if you inherit or buy a piece of property, you are supposed to get a right of way to that lot regardless if it's landlocked or not, and the person who owns the land with the shortest distance to the county road or the "easiest" access to the county road is required to allow you access. My house sits in front of a couple of "land locked" lots that the land company owns and the old right of way to them would need a road put in, my land has a section of land marked on it for right of way to those lots that I don't claim. Land is the one thing in WV that will get you murdered. A lot of hot headed old timers out there that can be the nicest people you ever met, but when it comes to land, and them being wrong, you may as well be talking to a wall. Be careful.

Your videos have helped me so much trying to find land!! Thanks for the great videos!

The trouble with any sort of an easement is in a sense what economists call a "tragedy of the commons," where two or more people feel as though they have some sort of ownership claim to something. It leads to a rat's nest of rules, government involvement, and often hard feelings. It's best to avoid land that requires an easement to access it.

Great explanation. I will definitely check records as I look to purchase. Thank you for sharing and be safe.

This was eye opening. Thank you for the video.

Loved listening to you. Very good speaker. Interesting and full of wisdom.

Note that some states (like Florida) give the owner of landlocked land the right of access. You may still have to go to court to decide the exact placement of the easement(s) if the surrounding owners don't play nice, but there's no question on whether you'll get your road, utility services, etc.

I’m about to grant an easement, not a big one. But I want the goodwill with a new neighbor. He is right between to bad neighbors.

Thank you for your input on this type of property; these are daimonds-in-the-rough! Love to hear something on easements!!

One more option, especially if it is a large land locked property, your city or county can expropiate an access to the property. I have seen one where the county expropiated 33' of the border of 2 adjacent properties into the legal 66' wide road pid property unit! All you may need to do is to subdivide off a number of lots making the access for 4 or 5 lots. Locally the smallest a lot can be is 1.5 acres where onsite water and wastewater is required. One bonus the local authority maintains the road!

I second Jorge Ripoll request for your deeper Easement video! Thanks in advance!

Excellent video. Even though am not currently able to buy land, the information here may come in handy down the road.

My wife and I are looking for 2 to 4 acres in W Va and you helped us out as to look for. thx and be safe

Yes, anything regarding purchasing of land or land management is always a plus.

Very helpful! We had a crazy neighbor(s). The easement to his property went through mine and this guy swore that meant it was his. Was labeled as a "Driveway Easement" and recorded. The land on the other side of the easement is still mine and he was a knucklehead about it.

Love your videos!...looking for land in Georgia...please do as many scenarios as you can to help us that watch get a better understanding of what to do in that situation!👍🏾👍🏾

Very good information. Thank you.

You didn't mention it, but also be careful what an easement allows you to do, and this will vary by location. In some cases, it only allows you to put in a road big enough to drive through, usually an area barely wider than a car. You might have problems with rain/drainage Just a funny aside, this happened in a different country, but I had an acquaintance who bought 3 acres of land on a tropical island that was landlocked by almost half a mile. All the paperwork, all the lawyers assured her that there was an easement included that would provide access to the property through the back of a bunch of neighbors yards... After she bought the property, turns out the definition of easement was to create a walking path no more than 2 meters wide. As it was a poorer country, there was no expectation that people would have cars so when the wrote the easement laws, they didn't consider cars. She ended up buying the back 20' of a bunch of people's properties.

really enjoyed this video, we are looking at land and this was helpful

Going by the map you were showing, even though it is hypothetical, would be to talk with 2 of your neighbours to get a survey done along the fence line and determine the width of the roadway you will need to access the landlocked property With the survey done you can determine how much land will be taken over for access such as 1 or 2 acres and the surveyor can mark that out from the property you want to buy and if the neighbour wants to be difficult, you can use the swap method. You swap the 1 or 2 acres of your property for the access road. This way if 1 neighbour wants to act like a mule, but the other is willing to negotiate, by having the survey done to determine how much land will be lost due to the road being put in can be offset either by buying that strip outright or trading for it.

Thanks. Your advice cinched my purchase of two wooded lots, a single family home, another two car garage & two chicken coops for $3,000.

I have made a small fortune on landlocked land. Best ever was bought for $1000 an acre land 20 acres for 20000. Sold 7 years later for 12500 an acre. That’s like 125% annual return.

Thanks! This is really important.

I love the tips! Great video!!!

Great video. I bought landlocked land in VA, got a great deal on it. I then subdivided and created two landlocked parcels. I did this knowing Virginia Code requires "ingress and egress" access through neighboring land to the landlocked land. However, after a title search, I discovered a 70 year-old perpetual easement (for farm access) that went through a neighboring landowners front porch. He gladly allowed me to put in an easement through his ajoining10 acre parcel (Far from his house) if I promised to abandon the existing perpetual easement through his front porch. I eventually sold one parcel for the price I paid for the entire property. Now I own 15 acres in Loudoun County VA mortgage free. Research state code, talk to neighboring land owners, and buy that landlocked property! Also research state code on how many homes an easement can support before it needs to be an engineered road. An engineered road could add tens of thousands of dollars to your cost if you share it with too many homes.

Great video! Would love to see more of the pitfalls that you mentioned

In Tennessee there is a special statute for a private person to condemn a roadway. Very old statute from early 1800s. Has a bizarre jury of view who says where it goes and what they pay for it.

Thank you for this great information about Landlocked. You are a very wise man full of great advise. I never knew about this until I came across your KZfaq video. I am taken aback, because I was about to purchase a land that it's landlocked. 😅😲Thank you for saving me time, money and legal issues. God bless you and your love ones. Thank you for sharing your experience.

Great information, thank you 🙏

Thank you - I would like to learn more on easements.

In the mountain resort areas of California, everything is platted out to have a street touching it. There are also a lot of "Flag Lots" that have a 10 or 15 foot wide "pole" running along a property line to the street. They often have a mirror lot making a double wide or fancy drive possible for amicable rear neighbors.

Yes I would like a video on the issues.

Yes Troy I’d love to see another video and that landlocked

Okay this was a worthwhile watch.

super cool just make sure to grow trees after cut. Like the Teal Colors

Great video with lots of knowledge

Great information to know. I have RV access next to my home in Los Angeles allowing me to drive a truck into my backyard, the property line was thick with shrubs. Years later that same neighbor wanted to build a block wall BUT the true property line would then remove 3 feet wide of my access. In order to fight this I would then need to take my neighbor to court. But I loved my neighbor and didn't want to go that route. I didnt want to kill my great relationship with the neighbor. So I just made it work. The access is tight but I can still get a truck and trailer through by just going slow.

I would love to see a video on that. Also maybe tie in buying property with power lines on it. Also would love to see some about buying a property with no cell phone coverage and getting a cell tower put on for just the property or maybe a little bigger n getting paid for the use of it buy the phone company. Thanks Troy for all you do. Love your videos, I've learned a lot.

English/US Common Law allows you to cross neighboring property to access your property if there is no public access... Check state statutes to see if they have rescinded Common Law.

I bought land locked 40 acres and 30ft wide acccess to it at the same time and it’s still been a nightmare fighting with one neighbor on property lines... my survey company assured me he was correct on my survey and now my neighbor has switched from it’s his land to trying to claim it under adverse possession... so court is our only options. hopefully people don’t have the luck I do and end up with one bad neighbor!

You also have to search county and township records, one township near me stopped maintaining the right of way, but there were other lots that became land locked because of it. The owner of the land on both sides of the right of way filed to regain the right to the road and got it, then a realtor sold the now land locked homes that were abandoned for years. They started to use the road until the owner of the right of way gated it. It took several years ands a lot of money changing hands to re-establish it as a right of way. Most of the money came from the township, and they then had to pave and maintain the road the road.

We had a farm in Virginia that had an old state road as the right of way. It was no longer state maintained but was used by three people to access there property. The road went through another person property the owner became senile and had the road blocked with her son as an armed guard. We removed the road block and was arrested by the Sheriff for trespassing and destruction of property. We went to court without a lawyer and the judge threw the case out in two minutes. We had no further issues.

Neighbor sold 100 acres to GFP for average citizens to hunt on his parcel of 640 acres. It was his poorest piece and he needed cash in 1980s. It was put in the center of the 640 acres. Fast forward 2015 his son now runs a very profitable pheasant and deer hunting lodge. No easement other than half mile of walking to undefinable acres that is marked by signs but off the road a ways and even few locals know about it “It is what it is .” He is my neighbor and told us the story after we chopped his corn. None of us had any idea until we saw old signs half mile onto his property surrounded by fields we were harvesting. That 100 acres shows up on hunting maps but nobody can find it from road. Ha

Yes, I'd like more on this topic

Something else to consider, I would never allow neighbors to connect to my power or cable poles because it gives them a 30 easement you don't want others to necessarily have. It becomes a permanent easement. Also if you have a old alley, cut road years ago put through and maybe connects close to property rights you by law cannot close it back off. In my state it's just a 3 year to make it where you can't close it up. I wasn't a ugly neighbor but I did not allow them to connect to my poles. I had one neighbor who wanted me to take a fence down and let people from his rental house come in and out by my house. Lol, not. He said he just doesn't like hearing or dealing with his renters going in and out. They were not right up to his house he just wanted to close off his property and open mine. I didn't own or profit from the property or his renters. It cost me a pretty penny putting power poles 3.5 acres off the road why am I going to give you access to a 30ft easement I 210% know will be taken for granted, abused? Just wanted people to know if you do give a easement it gives the Utility, cable and others that same 30ft. of your property from start to end of it.

Depends on state law, too. Some states will force adjacent owners to provide access to landlocked property. When I was last paying attention, in CA landlocked property was just tough, you could not get an easement. Here in MT, the court will give you an easement -- probably due to so much ranch land being checkerboarded.

You have to be given right of way to your land wether the people who own the land you cross like it or not but it’s always nice to be a good neighbor and keep your road clean and level

Good video Troy. Taking a new neighbor to court would be a terrible way to start out. A video on easements would be good.

Smart planning👍❤️.

To that last point you made, I looked at a property that on paper looked like exactly what I wanted and was in a great location. We drive a couple hours to see it only to find that there was a 30' wide 10-12' deep ditch/creek running parallel to the county road, leaving only about a 10' strip of easily accessible land. The kicker is that it was priced like a prime piece of property. With none of the visible pines being more than 15 years old, I just assumed that it was an old logging property being sold by someone who most likely never put eyes on it.