Question

Aaron owns two lots of real property, Lot 1 and Lot 2. Lot 1 is located next to a public right-of-way, but Lot 2 is landlocked from the public lot right-of-way by Lot 1. Aaron conveys Lot 2 to Bob with a deed, making no reference to any rights-of-way or any other kinds of easement benefiting Lot 2. Bob then sells Lot 2 to Carol. Carol claims against Aaron that she has a right-of- way easement over Lot 1 for the purposes of providing access from the public street to Lot 2. Does Carol have a valid claim?

Answer 1

Yes, Carol has a valid claim based on implied easement and easement by necessity. According to implied easement, when a real property is conveyed, the conveyance contains whatever is necessary for the beneficial use and enjoyment of the real property or retains whatever is necessary for the beneficial use and enjoyment of the real property retained by the grantor. In the given scenario, Aaron conveys the Lot 2 to Bob with a deed without mentioning about easement to access public road which caused the Lot 2 sold to become landlocked. In such situations, an implied easement is created over the remaining lot to benefit the land sold and the law will imply that the land owner had intended to grant an easement over Lot 1 to access the public street. Easement by necessity also arises as Lot 2 has no access to public road and the owner Carol has the right to apply for grant of easement over Lot 1 to gain access under easement by necessity.