Easement Attorney — Glendale & Los Angeles
An easement is the right to use land you do not own, such as a shared driveway, footpath, or utility line, and California recognizes express, implied, and prescriptive easements, with shared upkeep governed by Civil Code section 845. DiJulio Law Group handles access and easement disputes for owners in Glendale and Los Angeles.
What is an easement, and how do you enforce one in California?
An easement is a recorded or court-recognized right to use another owner's land for a defined purpose, such as a driveway, footpath, drainage line, or utility run. California recognizes express, implied, prescriptive, and equitable easements. Enforcement is typically by an action to quiet title to the easement and for injunctive relief compelling the servient owner to remove the obstruction.
Access and Use Rights Across Southern California Parcels
Easement disputes concentrate in exactly the places Los Angeles County builds: hillside lots reached by a shared drive, flag lots behind a street-facing parcel, older Glendale blocks where garages open onto a common paved strip, and commercial parcels sharing loading access or parking. The right existed, everyone used it, and then a new owner gates it, paves it, parks on it, or builds across it.
California distinguishes between express easements created by a recorded grant, implied easements arising when a parcel is split in a way that presumes continued use, prescriptive easements earned by open and continuous use over the statutory period, and equitable easements a court may impose to avoid disproportionate hardship. Which theory applies changes both the proof required and the remedy available — the California Court of Appeal's analysis in Romero v. Shih is a useful illustration of how narrowly implied easements can be construed.
Just as often, the fight is not about whether the easement exists but about its scope: how wide, for what vehicles, at what hours, who maintains and repairs it, and whether it can serve a newly subdivided or intensified use. Those questions are answered by the language of the grant, the circumstances at creation, and the pattern of historical use — the same records that support a boundary dispute claim.
How a Prescriptive Easement Is Established in California
A prescriptive easement is a right to keep using another owner's land, earned by use that is open and notorious, continuous and uninterrupted, and hostile to the owner under a claim of right for five years. The five-year period comes from Civil Code section 1007 and Code of Civil Procedure section 321.
Because a prescriptive easement grants use rather than ownership, the claimant generally does not need to have paid the property taxes that defeat most adverse possession claims. The limit runs the other way: courts have generally refused to award a prescriptive easement that would exclude the owner from its own land, since that would amount to ownership without meeting the tax requirement (see Mehdizadeh v. Mincer (1996) 46 Cal.App.4th 1296). Under Civil Code section 1007 (opens in a new tab), no prescriptive right can be acquired against land owned by the state or a public entity.
Implied easements follow different rules. In Romero v. Shih, the California Supreme Court held that an implied easement can be enforced even where it is effectively exclusive, if the evidence shows the original parties intended the use to continue.
Who Maintains a Shared Driveway in California?
Under Civil Code section 845, the owners of a private right-of-way easement, such as a shared driveway, must keep it in repair. The cost is shared under any maintenance agreement the owners signed; without one, it is shared in proportion to each owner's use. An owner who refuses to pay after written demand can be sued for contribution.
Under Civil Code section 845 (opens in a new tab), a claim within the small claims limit may be filed in small claims court; larger claims are filed in Superior Court and are subject to judicial arbitration. A recorded maintenance agreement is the most reliable way to prevent the dispute, particularly before a sale, and the same records often resolve related boundary disputes.
330 North Brand Boulevard, Suite 1280
Glendale, California 91203
Los Angeles County Superior Court, including the Glendale and Stanley Mosk courthouses.
Property disputes, purchase and sale litigation, leases, disclosure claims, and land use across Los Angeles County.
Easement Matters We Handle
From blocked driveways to utility corridors and scope disputes between commercial neighbors in Los Angeles.
Blocked or Gated Access
Injunctive relief where a servient owner gates, fences, parks across, or builds over an established access easement, cutting off the only practical route to a parcel.
Prescriptive Easements
Claims based on open, notorious, continuous, and hostile use for the statutory period — and the defenses that defeat them, including permissive use and recorded notices.
Implied & Necessity Easements
Rights arising when a single parcel was divided and continued use of a drive, path, or utility line was apparent and reasonably necessary at the time of severance.
Scope & Overburden Disputes
Whether an easement granted for one residence can serve a subdivision, whether commercial trucks may use a residential drive, and what "reasonable use" means in practice.
Maintenance & Cost Sharing
Allocating repair and resurfacing costs among users of a shared private road or driveway, and enforcing or drafting maintenance agreements that survive a sale.
Termination & Extinguishment
Abandonment, merger, expiration by its own terms, and quiet title actions to clear obsolete easements that appear as exceptions on a title policy.
Access Disputes That Reach Our Office
Composite examples drawn from the kinds of matters this practice handles. They illustrate common fact patterns and are not descriptions of specific client cases or predictions of any result.
The New Owner Installs a Gate
A hillside parcel has been reached by a neighbor's driveway for thirty years. A new owner buys the front parcel, installs an electric gate, and refuses a remote. Whether the access survives depends on whether an express, implied, or prescriptive easement can be established — and how fast an injunction can be obtained.
The Shared Drive and the Delivery Trucks
Two Glendale commercial parcels share a recorded access easement written when both were small retail. One is re-tenanted as a distribution use and box trucks begin running at 5 a.m. The dispute is not existence but scope — and whether the intensified use overburdens the servient estate.
The Easement Nobody Read
A buyer discovers at closing that a recorded utility easement runs directly under the footprint of the addition they intend to build. The plans, the financing, and the timeline all depend on whether the easement can be relocated, quitclaimed, or extinguished.
When an Easement Problem Needs a Lawyer
- Access you have relied on has been gated, blocked, fenced, or paved over.
- A neighbor claims a right to cross your property that you never granted.
- A title report shows an easement that interferes with your intended use or development.
- Use of a shared drive has intensified and the original grant is silent on limits.
- Nobody has maintained a shared private road and the cost is now in dispute.
- You are subdividing or intensifying a use served by an existing easement.
What to Do First
Pull the recorded chain
Obtain the full title report with linked documents — the grant deed, any easement deeds, the tract map, and CC&Rs. The scope of an easement usually turns on words written at creation, not on current practice.
Document current use
Photograph and date the access as used, and identify witnesses who can testify to how long and how openly it has been used. Prescriptive and implied claims are proved with this evidence.
Move quickly on obstruction
Where access is physically blocked, preliminary injunctive relief may be available — but courts weigh delay heavily. Do not wait out a blocked driveway for months before seeking advice.
Related Case Studies
Court decisions and legal developments DiJulio Law Group has analyzed that bear on easements matters. Each summary explains the law; none describes a firm client or result.
Easements — Questions California Clients Ask
What property owners in Glendale and Los Angeles ask when access rights are unclear or under threat.
What is an easement in California real estate law?
An easement is a legal right to use another person's property for a specific, limited purpose — such as accessing a driveway, running utility lines, or passing over a strip of land. The property burdened by the easement is called the servient estate; the property benefiting from it is the dominant estate.
What is a prescriptive easement?
A prescriptive easement is acquired by using another person's property openly, continuously, and without permission for at least five years under California law. It is similar to adverse possession but applies to the right to use land rather than ownership of it.
Can an easement be terminated?
Yes. Easements can be terminated by express written release, merger of the dominant and servient estates, abandonment, misuse, or by court order. The method of termination depends on how the easement was originally created and its current use.
What is an easement by necessity?
An easement by necessity arises when a property is landlocked and the only reasonable access to a public road passes through a neighboring parcel. California courts can impose such easements to ensure property owners have basic access to their land.
Who is responsible for maintaining a shared driveway in California?
The owners who share it. Civil Code section 845 requires the owners of a private right-of-way easement to keep it in repair. The cost is divided under any maintenance agreement; without one, it is shared in proportion to each owner's use. If an owner refuses to pay after written demand, the others can sue for contribution, in small claims court if the amount is within its limit or otherwise in Superior Court.
What happens if someone blocks or interferes with my easement?
You may have a claim for interference with easement rights. Remedies include a court injunction requiring the obstructing party to restore access, damages for any loss caused by the interference, and potentially attorney's fees if the conduct was willful.
Do easements transfer when a property is sold?
Most easements run with the land, meaning they remain attached to the property regardless of ownership changes. A buyer of the servient estate takes the property subject to any recorded easements. Buyers should review title reports carefully before purchasing.
How do I find out if my property has recorded easements?
Recorded easements are typically disclosed in a preliminary title report obtained during escrow. You can also search county recorder records. An attorney can help you interpret easement language and identify any access rights or burdens affecting your property.
Can a property owner in Los Angeles block a driveway their neighbor has always used?
Not necessarily. If the access is supported by a recorded easement, an implied easement created when the parcels were divided, or a prescriptive easement earned through long open use, blocking it can be enjoined and damages may be recoverable. Because courts weigh delay when deciding whether to grant injunctive relief, an owner whose access has been cut off should seek advice quickly rather than waiting months.
Local Representation
Access disputes are decided against local records — the tract map, the recorded grants, and the municipal standards for private drives.
Talk to a Real Estate Attorney
If access to your property is threatened, or someone is asserting a right you never granted, bring the recorded documents and let us read them against the use on the ground.