MOUNTAIN LAND & ACREAGE – ACCESS 6/28/11

When you buy land – especially mountain land & acreage in North Carolina – be sure you have access to the land.  There are really only three possibilities: 1) state maintained road frontage, 2) a deeded, legal right-of-way from the nearest state maintained road into the land, and 3) no deeded access at all – also known as being “land-locked”.

Most NC mountain land & acreage will have either state road frontage or a deeded right-of-way.  Deeded right-of-way means that adjoining landowners, over whose land you must pass to reach the property you are buying, have entered into a binding agreement with the present owner of the property to allow passage over their land.  This Agreement is normally recorded at the county courthouse, and contains a surveyed legal description of the distance and direction, as well as the width, of the right-of-way.

Beware – if there is no evidence of a recorded right-of-way, do not buy the property without first obtaining the advice of an attorney.  Some properties have a “prescriptive right-of-way” which can be explained by an attorney.  Without a deeded, recorded, right-of-way, it may not be possible to obtain title insurance or borrow money on the property. It may also indicate that there is NO public access – a true “red flag” item.  There are still many parcels of mountain land & acreage that have NO right-of-way, so don’t take any shortcuts on access.

When  you buy land, read the fine print in the contract.  There should be a paragraph that says the property must have legal access to a public road. Mountain land & acreage without such access should be avoided.