Landlocked Property in Virginia: How to Establish Access and Assert Your Rights

The information in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws change and individual circumstances vary. Consult a licensed Virginia attorney about your specific situation. Reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship nor does merely contacting our office through this website or any other means.

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A landlocked parcel is one that has no direct frontage on a public road and no recorded access easement to reach one. Without legal access, a property cannot realistically be developed, farmed, or used — and in many cases, it cannot be sold at meaningful value or financed. Despite this, landlocked parcels are surprisingly common in Virginia, particularly in rural areas where large farms were subdivided informally over generations, plats were recorded without accounting for access to interior lots, or old roads that once provided access have since been abandoned or built over.

If you own or are considering purchasing a landlocked property in Virginia, the central question is whether legal access exists or can be established. Virginia law recognizes several pathways to access, each with different requirements, different legal foundations, and different processes for asserting them.

How Properties Become Landlocked

Understanding how a property became landlocked is the first step in identifying how to resolve it, because most legal access theories depend on the history of the parcel’s ownership.

Common causes of landlocked conditions in Virginia include:

Subdivision without access provisions. A landowner divides a larger tract and sells off lots without ensuring that each lot has access to a public road. Interior lots end up surrounded by the other lots with no legal route to the highway.

Sale that severs access. An owner sells a portion of their property that contains the road frontage, retaining the back portion. The retained parcel suddenly has no access to a public road because the fronting land has been conveyed away.

Historical road abandonment. A road that once provided access to interior land is abandoned, vacated, or physically obliterated, and no replacement access was created.

Boundary changes over time. Surveys conducted at different times with different baselines, combined with informal sales and conveyances over generations, can result in a parcel that appears accessible on old maps but is effectively surrounded by privately held land.

Timber or mineral tract severances. In parts of Virginia where surface and mineral rights were historically severed, or where timber companies purchased interior land for harvesting, landlocked parcels were sometimes created deliberately with the expectation that they would only be accessed seasonally.

Method 1: Negotiated Express Easement

The most straightforward resolution — and the one that should always be attempted first — is to negotiate a written, recorded easement with the neighboring landowner whose property must be crossed to reach the public road.

A negotiated easement has significant advantages over judicially imposed access:

• The parties control the terms, including the easement route, width, permitted uses, and maintenance obligations
• The cost and time of litigation is avoided
• The relationship with the neighbor is preserved
• The easement can be customized to the practical needs of both parcels

An attorney assists by drafting the easement in legally sufficient form, ensuring the legal description is accurate (typically requiring a survey), and recording the executed instrument in the land records so that it binds all future owners.

Even if the neighbor is willing to grant an easement, having an attorney involved in drafting and recording protects against a future dispute about the easement’s scope and ensures the document will be found in title searches.

Method 2: Easement by Necessity

An easement by necessity is a legal right to access a landlocked property that arises as a matter of law when certain historical conditions are met. It does not require any prior use of a specific route — it arises from the necessity of access itself.

The elements required to establish an easement by necessity under Virginia common law are:

1. Prior common ownership: The landlocked parcel and the neighboring parcel (the one that must be crossed to reach the public road) were at some point under common ownership — owned by the same person or entity.

2. Severance that created the landlocked condition: A conveyance divided the commonly owned land in a way that left the retained parcel (or the conveyed parcel) without access to a public road.

3. Continuing necessity: The parcel currently has no reasonable legal access to a public road.

Why Common Ownership Matters

The common ownership requirement reflects the underlying principle of easement by necessity: when a grantor conveys land that has no access except across the grantor’s remaining land, the law implies that the grantor intended to grant (or reserve) the access necessary to make the conveyed (or retained) parcel usable. The law will not permit a grantor to create a useless parcel by severing it from access.

If no common ownership can be established — if the landlocked parcel and all surrounding parcels have been separately owned by different parties since the earliest traceable records — an easement by necessity may not be available, because the implied-grant theory has no predecessor ownership to operate against.

The Route of the Easement by Necessity

When a court establishes an easement by necessity, it must determine the route. Unlike a prescriptive easement, which follows the path of prior use, an easement by necessity is not tied to any historically used route. The court identifies the route that:

• Provides practical access to the public road
• Causes the least damage to the servient estate
• Is reasonable given the physical characteristics of the land

This determination often requires survey evidence and may involve competing expert opinions.

Duration of the Easement by Necessity

An easement by necessity ends if the necessity that gave rise to it is eliminated. If the landlocked owner later acquires an adjacent parcel that provides independent access to a public road, the easement by necessity over the original route typically terminates. Courts have discretion in this analysis, particularly when the landlocked owner has invested in improvements along the original route.

Method 3: Implied Easement from Prior Use

An implied easement differs from an easement by necessity in that it requires evidence of actual prior use — not merely a showing of necessity. When a parcel was separated from a larger tract, and at the time of separation there was an existing road or path serving the parcel that was in apparent and continuous use, Virginia courts may imply an easement along that historical route even without an express written grant.

The elements for an implied easement generally require:

1. Prior common ownership of the dominant and servient parcels
2. An existing road, path, or route in use at the time of the severance
3. That the use was apparent (visible on inspection) and continuous
4. That the easement is reasonably necessary for the beneficial enjoyment of the dominant parcel

The Investigative Work

Establishing an implied easement often requires significant historical research:

• Old survey plats showing roads and paths at the time of prior conveyances
• Aerial photographs from government archives that document historical roads no longer visible on the ground
• Tax records and maps from the locality, which may show road locations at various points in time
• Deed research tracing ownership back to the common owner and documenting the chain of conveyances
• Testimony from longtime residents about the historical use of roads, paths, and access routes

This research is not merely helpful — it is often legally necessary. The strength of an implied easement claim depends on the quality of the evidence supporting it.

Method 4: Prescriptive Easement

A prescriptive easement can establish a right of access over a neighbor’s land if the claimant’s use of that land has been:

• Open and visible — not concealed or secretive
• Continuous — without significant interruption
• Adverse — without the permission of the landowner
• Under a claim of right — not merely a permissive accommodation

…for a period of 20 years under Virginia common law.

Prescriptive easements are commonly claimed for roads and driveways that have been used for many years by one party over another’s land. Unlike easements by necessity and implied easements, prescriptive easements do not require any showing of prior common ownership. The claim is based entirely on the nature and duration of the use itself.

The Adverse Use Requirement

The most contested element in prescriptive easement cases is typically whether the use was adverse or permissive. If the neighboring landowner gave permission — even informally, even long ago — the use is permissive, not adverse, and cannot ripen into a prescriptive easement. Courts look at the totality of the circumstances, including:

• Whether the parties ever discussed the use
• Whether the landowner ever objected or took steps to restrict the use
• Whether the user ever asked permission (which suggests they did not believe they had a right)
• Whether gates, locks, or other physical controls were present

A landowner who knows of adverse use can prevent a prescriptive easement from forming by taking legal action — filing a trespass suit, obtaining a court order, or taking other steps that legally interrupt the prescriptive period.

Confirming a Prescriptive Easement Through Court Action

A prescriptive easement, once the 20-year period has run, can be asserted defensively (when a neighbor seeks to enjoin the use) or confirmed proactively through a declaratory judgment action in circuit court. A judicial confirmation of a prescriptive easement can then be recorded in the land records, providing notice to future owners.

The Role of Title Research and Survey

Regardless of which theory applies, establishing legal access to a landlocked property almost always requires:

Title research: A thorough search of the chain of title, going back to the original grant or earliest traceable common ownership, to identify:

• The prior common owner who created the landlocked condition
• Any historical easements or access rights that may have been created and recorded (or that may have lapsed)
• Any instruments that purported to grant access but were improperly described or recorded

Survey: An accurate survey of the parcel, showing its boundaries, the adjacent parcels, and the location of any proposed or historical access route. A survey is typically required to describe a proposed easement route with the specificity needed to record it in the land records.

Aerial photograph and map research: Old aerial photographs available from USGS archives and county records can document the existence and location of historical roads — critical evidence for implied easement and prescriptive easement claims.

Buying a Landlocked Property: Risks and Considerations

Purchasing a landlocked property without confirmed legal access is a significant risk. Before closing on any parcel that lacks road frontage, you should:

1. Verify the absence of a recorded easement. A thorough title search may reveal a recorded easement that is not obvious from the property description. Do not assume the property is legally landlocked without checking.

2. Identify the basis for any claimed access. If the seller claims access through a historical arrangement, prescriptive use, or implied easement, that claim should be evaluated by an attorney and, if necessary, confirmed by a declaratory judgment action before you purchase.

3. Do not rely on a neighbor’s informal permission. An informal license from an adjacent landowner is revocable and does not bind their successors. If the neighbor sells their land, the new owner has no obligation to continue allowing access.

4. Consider the cost of establishing formal access. Litigation to establish an easement by necessity or prescriptive easement can be expensive and uncertain. Factor those costs and risks into your assessment of the property’s value.

5. Consult with a Virginia real estate attorney before closing. The access question is often not binary — it may be that good evidence supports one access theory even if another is unavailable. An attorney can help you assess the realistic options.

For additional context on how easements generally work in Virginia, see our article on Easements and Rights of Way in Virginia.

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This article is general information only and is not legal advice. Do not rely on this article to make decisions about your specific situation. Contact Valley Legal or another licensed Virginia attorney to discuss your case. Attorney advertising.

Valley Legal, PLLC is located at 107 Pepper St SE, Christiansburg, Virginia 24073, and serves clients throughout the New River Valley of Virginia, including Montgomery County, Blacksburg, Radford, Pulaski, and surrounding communities.