SELLING LANDLOCKED LAND IN NORTH CAROLINA

INTERESTED IN SELLING LANDLOCKED LAND IN NORTH CAROLINA?

This is a question that comes up very often and concerns a subject that is as misunderstood as any subject in rural real estate. As always, I warn buyers that I am not a lawyer, you MUST get representation when buying land to determine legal access.

The Basics

OK, here is the truth, in North Carolina, at least. There is ALOT of rural land that is A) not road front and B) does not have legal access. This leads me to misinformed statement #1 – “You cannot sell landlocked land in North Carolina”. WRONG- It happens every single day. Here is where the confusion lies. Land that was previously divided and landlocked can be sold. You cannot legally make a new division of land that results in a NEW landlocked parcel. So, yes, many old landlocked tracts exist and are sold daily. Can you sell them? YES

Misinformed statement #2 “You cannot be blocked from gaining access to your land in North Carolina”. WRONG. If you do not have legal access, then anybody adjoining you can(and they do frequently) block you from getting to your land. Folks it happens every single day, trust me. Whether you have a historical road or path into your property or not, if you do not have a deeded right of way, you DO NOT have clear, legal, perfect access. This can be a recipe for disaster.

In a nutshell, if you do not have legal, recorded access into your property, you will have a hard time selling your property and the value will usually be much less than a comparable tract with access. Why?

The Details

Why is landlocked land so hard to sell to the average buyer?

1) Nobody wants to buy land that they cannot get to. What is the point?

2) Most buyers are not equipped to sue for access, especially considering that even then access is not guaranteed.

3) Banks will NOT lend money on landlocked land. they do not need collateral that they cannot sell if needed.

Let me clear up some confusion about landlocked land in North Carolina. Again, there is as much misinformation about this topic as I know of regarding buying land.

Basically there is a North Carolina general statute that says that you can sue for “cart path” access if you are landlocked. This is the thing that many people take as “guaranteed access”. Unfortunately, when people say that “You cannot be landlocked” they are referring to this general statue but here is the rub. If you are landlocked or blocked from your land, the burden is on YOU to file suit. Once there, a court generally does have to give you access but by general statute it only has to be 1) 14″ wide, and here is the important part, 2) For use for timber management, farming, minerals or private cemeteries only. And even worse, there may be time limitations on how long the cart path access is good for. In a nutshell, there is simply NO provision in the law granting you carte blanche access to your land, PERIOD.

There are several other instances where a court may grant you limited access. https://cowardhicksandsiler.com/obtaining-right-of-way-to-landlocked-property-in-north-carolina/Historical easements, prescriptive easements, easements of necessity, etc. Unfortunately, these are all up to discretion of the judge and there is no clear, defined precedent for how these cases will turn out. I won’t go into a lengthy description of how these work but they are expensive and lengthy to pursue and you still may not get access. My recommendation? If you are interested in selling, find a buyer such as nclandbuyers.com who is adept and capable of POSSIBLY gaining access. We do buy landlocked land but the percentage of these tract we buy is less than non landlocked tracts.

The Take Away

NCLANDBUYERS does buy and own landlocked land. We don’t buy every tract we look at but if you are interested in selling landlocked land in North Carolina, we will analyze it and will consider purchasing it for long term timber management or farming. Feel free to reach out anytime to discuss your land, we are more than happy to talk to you about landocked land in North Carolina.

NCLANDBUYERS greatly appreciates the opportunity to discuss your land with you. If you are interested in selling your land and would like a serious, fast offer, please fill out the form below. If you have any other land needs we are more than happy to help. Even if we do not buy your land, we are always happy to help in any way we can. Just reach out to let us know how we can help or if you just want to chat about North Carolina land!