Selling landlocked land
Land with no legal road access to public roads, requiring crossing neighbor's land. Buyers typically must negotiate easements or pursue court-ordered access proceedings (a cartway in Pennsylvania, for example). Property usually sells at a significant discount to comparable land with legal access, and most traditional lenders will not finance purchases.
What to expect
- Typical timeline
- Varies widely; a contested court proceeding for access can add many months before and during the sale
- Typical costs
- Attorney fees for a court access petition or a private easement negotiation vary by county and whether the neighbor contests; 6-10% commission on reduced sale price; 1-3% closing costs; a valuation discount from accessible comparables
Key risks
- No conventional financing available
- Neighbor disputes over easement
- Legal costs for court-ordered access can be substantial
- Reduced buyer pool
- Property may not sell at all if access cannot be established
- Surveying and legal due diligence delays
How each state handles landlocked property
43 states shown. Sources: state statutes and court self-help pages, checked October 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm current rules with your county, an attorney, or a CPA before you act.
| State | Redemption period | Probate | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | N/A | Not applicable | A landowner whose tract touches no public road may apply to the county probate court for a right-of-way up to 30 feet wide to the nearest convenient public road, paying for land taken and damage. |
| Arizona | N/A | Not applicable | An Arizona landowner whose land is landlocked can condemn a private way of necessity across a neighbor's land if the way is reasonably necessary for the property's proper use. Courts look at whether another adequate legal route exists. |
| Arkansas | N/A | Not applicable | A landlocked owner can petition the county court for a private road to a public road across a neighbor's land. The owner must give 20 days written notice with a payment offer, show refusal, and pay damages set by viewers. |
| California | N/A | Not applicable | In California, access usually requires a deeded easement or a court-implied easement by necessity, which needs prior common ownership and no other access, even a costly one. |
| Colorado | N/A | Not applicable | A landlocked owner who cannot agree with a neighbor can petition the district court to condemn a private way of necessity and pay just compensation. The owner must prove the access corridor is actually necessary, not just convenient. |
| Connecticut | N/A | Not applicable | In Connecticut, courts can imply an easement by necessity when land is cut off at severance, weighing reasonable necessity, the parties' intent, and the burden on each parcel. |
| Florida | N/A | Not applicable | If land used for a dwelling, agriculture, timber or stockraising has no practicable route to a public or private road, the owner may use and maintain an easement along the nearest practical route for people, vehicles, livestock and utilities. |
| Georgia | N/A | Not applicable | A landowner with no means of access can petition superior court to condemn a private way up to 20 feet wide across a neighbor's land, with compensation. The court can stop it if reasonable access already exists. |
| Idaho | N/A | Not applicable | Idaho lists 'byroads leading from highways to residences and farms' as a use allowed by eminent domain, so a landlocked owner can seek one through district court on proving necessity and paying damages. Courts also grant easements by necessity. |
| Indiana | N/A | Not applicable | In Indiana, courts imply an easement of necessity only if one owner split the land and left a parcel legally landlocked with no road access, and cost or inconvenience is not enough. |
| Iowa | N/A | Not applicable | An Iowa owner or lessee of land with no public or private way can condemn a public way to an existing road. It follows a forty line or the nearest feasible route, up to 40 feet wide for farmland. |
| Kansas | N/A | Not applicable | A Kansas owner whose land is completely surrounded and has no public highway access can petition the county commissioners for one road across neighboring land. It is 40 to 100 feet wide, and the petitioner pays. |
| Kentucky | N/A | Not applicable | In Kentucky, only an owner whose residence sits on a tract with no road access can condemn a right-of-way up to 30 feet wide. The right is lost if the owner or a predecessor bought or created the landlocked parcel. |
| Louisiana | N/A | Not applicable | A Louisiana owner of an estate with no access to a public road can claim a servitude of passage over neighboring property to the nearest public road. The owner must compensate the neighbor, and compensation claims can prescribe. |
| Maine | N/A | Not applicable | In Maine, municipal officers may lay out a public easement on petition for an occupant or cultivating owner whose land will connect to a town way or highway. Maine also recognizes easements by necessity over the grantor's retained land. |
| Massachusetts | N/A | Not applicable | Massachusetts has no landlocked-owner petition right. Selectmen or a city council may lay out a private way for inhabitants, and damages are paid under chapter 79. Courts are strict about implied easements by necessity. |
| Michigan | N/A | Not applicable | Michigan's private roads act, which let a jury open a road for a landlocked owner, was struck down by the Michigan Supreme Court. Access now rests on negotiated easements or an easement by necessity over land once held in common. |
| Minnesota | N/A | Not applicable | A Minnesota owner of five or more acres with no access except over water or others' land, or access under two rods wide, can petition the town board. The board must set a cartway, and the petitioner pays. |
| Mississippi | N/A | Not applicable | A landowner needing access can petition the county special court of eminent domain for a private road across a neighbor's land. A judge decides if the request is reasonable, and the petitioner pays jury-set damages plus costs. |
| Missouri | N/A | Not applicable | A Missouri owner with no access, or too narrow access, to a public road can petition the circuit court for a private road. It must be a way of strict necessity, and neighbors are named defendants. |
| Montana | N/A | Not applicable | A landowner can condemn a private road from a highway to a residence or farm. A jury decides necessity and damages, and the benefited owner pays. Courts also imply a necessity easement across formerly shared land. |
| Nebraska | N/A | Not applicable | An owner of land with no public access can ask the county board for an access road. The owner must show a right-of-way cannot be bought at a fair price, did not cause the isolation, and pays damages. |
| New Hampshire | N/A | Not applicable | A landowner can petition selectmen to lay out a highway, and the superior court if they refuse. State law also protects access when a town discontinues a highway, and courts recognize reasonably necessary access to landlocked parcels. |
| New Mexico | N/A | Not applicable | In New Mexico, courts imply an easement by necessity when a split of one tract leaves a parcel without access to a public road and the access was reasonably necessary then. |
| New York | N/A | Not applicable | A landowner applies in writing to the town highway superintendent for a private road. A jury decides if the road is necessary and sets damages. Courts also imply a necessity easement, but only on strict proof. |
| North Carolina | N/A | Not applicable | A landowner with no adequate access to a public road can petition the clerk of superior court for a cartway across a neighbor's land if the way is necessary, reasonable and just. The petitioner pays the neighbor's damages. |
| North Dakota | N/A | Not applicable | If a split-off tract does not touch a public road, the owner can petition the county or township board to open a public road to it. The board must find the road necessary and of enough public benefit. |
| Ohio | N/A | Not applicable | An owner can petition county commissioners for a road across a neighbor's land to a public highway. The board must find it serves public convenience or welfare, and the petitioner pays the landowners' compensation. |
| Oklahoma | N/A | Not applicable | A landowner can condemn a private way of necessity across a neighbor's land by paying just compensation and showing present necessity. Oklahoma courts also imply a common law easement by necessity where parcels once shared an owner. |
| Oregon | N/A | Not applicable | A landlocked owner can petition the county governing body for a way of necessity, up to 30 feet wide, placed to cause the least damage. The owner pays compensation and costs. No way is allowed if other legal access exists. |
| Pennsylvania | N/A | Not applicable | A landlocked owner can petition the county court for a private road under the Private Road Act, but since 2010 the taking must mainly benefit the public. An easement by necessity over a former common owner's land remains available. |
| Rhode Island | N/A | Not applicable | In Rhode Island, courts allow an easement by necessity only when the parcel and the neighbor's land were once under one owner and access was needed when they were split. |
| South Carolina | N/A | Not applicable | In South Carolina, access generally depends on an easement by necessity, which requires that both tracts once had the same owner. |
| South Dakota | N/A | Not applicable | Owners of an isolated tract of 10 acres or more, or 5 acres or more used for a home, can apply to the county commissioners for a 25 to 65 foot right-of-way to a public highway. The owner pays damages. |
| Tennessee | N/A | Not applicable | A landowner cut off from a public road by neighboring land can petition a court to condemn a private easement up to 25 feet wide (15 in metro counties). It is not available if adequate access already exists. |
| Texas | N/A | Not applicable | Texas has no right to condemn a neighbor's land for access. A landlocked owner usually needs a negotiated easement or must prove an easement by necessity in court. A county may, at its discretion, open a public road. |
| Utah | N/A | Not applicable | In Utah, access usually comes from an agreement or from a court-recognized easement by necessity or implication, which depends on the parcel's ownership history. |
| Vermont | N/A | Not applicable | In Vermont, an easement by necessity can arise when a common owner divided the land and left a parcel with no reasonable access. |
| Virginia | N/A | Not applicable | In Virginia, an easement by necessity arises only if the parcel was split from commonly owned land and access was necessary at that time. |
| Washington | N/A | Not applicable | A landowner whose property has no reasonable access can condemn a private way of necessity across a neighbor's land in superior court. The owner must prove reasonable necessity and pay compensation first. The court may award the neighbor attorney fees. |
| West Virginia | N/A | Not applicable | In West Virginia, a way of necessity needs prior common ownership, a split, strict necessity at the split, and continuing necessity, proven clearly. |
| Wisconsin | N/A | Not applicable | A landowner in a town can apply to the town board to lay out a highway to land that is surrounded by others' land. The board decides at its discretion, and the applicant pays damages and costs. |
| Wyoming | N/A | Not applicable | An owner whose land has no outlet to a public road can sue in district court for a private road to a convenient public road. Appraisers set damages, the road is at most 30 feet wide, and the owner pays. |
Would a cash offer be simpler?
Send your county, state and parcel number. We research the parcel and send a written offer. You pay nothing, and every closing runs through a title company.
Disclosure: this site is published by Liberty Acres, a family-owned land company. We may make an offer on your land.