Re: Is my tax sale property landlocked?

First look on the deed and see if it says anything about a right-of-way. If
you don't see anything on the deed then you have get a title search on the
property. If the title company finds no record of an easement or
right-of-way then you are land-locked. Here in Pennsylvania you cannot be
land-locked from your property. There are procedures to obtain a
right-of-way by the courts over your neighbor's property. But the courts
will determine how much you have to pay for that right-of-way. For example,
i worked on a case where the right-of way over a neighbors property for a
25' feet in
width by 633.00' feet in depth costs the land-locked person $6,000.00 for
the right-of-way. So it can be done, but you would have to see what the
costs would be. Maybe, thats why you purchased the parcel so cheap.
"Steve Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Brent Geery <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > I purchased a parcel at a recent San Bernardino County, CA tax sale.
> > It was a great price (about 1/5 assessed value) so I took a chance.
> > Now, I need to find out if the parcel is land-locked or not.  How do I
> > go about discovering if I have some sort of easement (public perhaps?)
> > to surrounding property that grants me access.  Currently, there are
> > no roads that run to the property, but both the north and south
> > property lines would be where street run in surrounding sections of
> > land.  I just looks like they have not yet plowed a dirt road through
> > the particular set or parcels (it all dirt roads around here.  I'm one
> > or two parcels away from the west road, and three parcels from the
> > east road.  How do I find out if I have legal access?!  Thanks.
>
>     Around here road allowances run the length of the township, even if
the
> road is not constructed.  There are sometimes minor alignment corrections
> here and there and special allowances where natural features such as
> waterways interfere.  Yours might be the same.  The county and/or township
> should have a land/zoning/planning office that will have an official map
of
> all the road allowances in your jurisdiction.  There may be rules about
> whether or not you personally may be able to open it up and build a road
on
> an allowance though.  Around here they range from "Sure, but you're going
to
> plow and maintain it" to "No, unless you pay us to do it".  Completing a
> road will change your assessment and taxes on the properties.  Around here
> you can drive whatever you like on an un-opened road allowance--provided
you
> can get through it. :)
>
>     Sometimes it is possible to stop up an allowance, but there are rules
> (ie: prove it will never be used, own the land on both sides, prove it
won't
> prevent access to other properties, get approval from other adjacent land
> owners, post an ad in the newspaper, wait the appeals period, pay a ton in
> legal fees, etc).  Chances are this hasn't been done, the land office is
the
> only way to know for sure.
>
>     -- Steve
>
>