Legal vs. Physical Access on Land: How to Tell if a Parcel Is Landlocked

"Is there access?" is the first question I ask about a parcel. The seller almost always says yes. What they often mean is "you can drive to it," which is a different thing from "you have the right to." Here is the difference and how to check it.

What Is the Difference Between Legal and Physical Access?

Legal access is the right to reach your land. Physical access is a way you can actually get there.

Legal access comes from frontage on a public road or a recorded easement that lets you cross someone else's land. Physical access is a driveway, a farm road, or a path you can actually use. A parcel can have legal access through an easement that is nothing but woods, or physical access down a neighbor's track with no recorded right to use it.

Legal access is the one that matters most. You can build a road; you cannot build a right.

How Do You Check Legal Access Before You Buy?

Confirm the parcel touches a public road, or find the recorded easement, then have the title company confirm it.

1. Look at the parcel map. On the county GIS, see whether the parcel line touches a road. Then confirm with the county road department that the road is public, not private.
2. Find the easement. If the parcel does not touch a public road, ask the seller for the recorded easement. It should show up in the deed or in the title commitment.
3. Read what the easement allows. Check its width, where it runs, and whether it is for access to this parcel and for all future owners.
4. Ask the title company. Ask whether the title policy will insure access. If the title company will not, that tells you something.
5. Drive or walk the route. Confirm that physical access matches the legal access, and see what it would cost to build a driveway.

What Does Landlocked Mean, and Can You Fix It?

Landlocked land has no legal access. You fix it by buying access from a neighbor, and sometimes through a court.

A landlocked parcel does not touch a public road and has no recorded easement. The cleanest fix is to buy a recorded easement from a neighbor, or buy a strip of land that reaches the road. Some states let a court grant an easement in certain situations, but that takes time, money, and a lawyer, and the outcome is not certain.

In my experience, landlocked land is cheap for a reason. Price it as if access is not coming, and treat any access you get as upside.

What Access Do You Need for a Land Loan?

Legal access: frontage on a public road or a recorded easement. A built road or driveway is not required.

We need the legal right to reach the land, because that is what lets the next buyer use it. Physical access affects value, since a buyer pays more for land they can drive onto, but we do not require a driveway. We do not lend on landlocked parcels. Our terms:

• $30,000 to $1,000,000, interest only, 14% on loans of $100,000 and up and 16% under $100,000, for 24 months
• Up to 65% of value (our own valuation, not an appraisal; closer to 50% of value in slower markets), never more than 80% of the price
• $600 closing fee, 2% exit fee at payoff, no points, no appraisal
• Business purpose loans to LLCs and corporations, on land of 2 acres or more

See land loan requirements for the full list, and deed restrictions for the other thing to read in the title commitment.