A Neighbor Blocked the Access Road. How an Idaho Property Owner Restored Access

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — A judge has ruled that an Idaho landowner has a right to use a gravel road across a neighbor's land, ordering the neighbor to remove a locked gate that had cut off the only route to her cabin.

The road had been used by the cabin's owners for more than 40 years. The new neighbor said no written easement existed.

Without the road, the property could not be reached by car and was effectively unsellable.

Brenmora Law traced the chain of deeds back to a 1970s land split and gathered statements from former owners, a snowplow operator and a utility crew about decades of open use.

The court found a prescriptive easement and ordered the gate removed. The ruling was recorded with the county.

No damages were awarded. The ruling turned on this road's specific history of use.

Access rights without a written easement depend heavily on the history of the property, so evidence of long, open use can matter.