Easements

Easement Attorney in San Francisco

Representing Property Owners & Developers in San Francisco Easement Disputes

San Francisco’s densely built neighborhoods create easement conflicts that don’t resolve themselves. Shared driveways, hillside parcels, zero-lot-line construction, and decades of historic redevelopment mean that access rights, use restrictions, and boundary questions surface constantly for homeowners, commercial property owners, and developers alike. Wood Litigation, APC handles these disputes across the full range of client types, backed by over twenty years of real estate litigation experience.

Greg Wood built our real estate practice around disputes that require both command of California property law and the willingness to see a case through to trial. Easement matters sit squarely within that practice, alongside boundary disputes, neighbor conflicts, and land use challenges.

If an easement conflict is affecting your property or development plans, contact Wood Litigation, APC today at (415) 936-0300 to schedule a free consultation.

Easement Disputes We Handle

We represent both sides in easement conflicts: the property owner asserting a right of access or use, and the owner contesting or limiting a claimed easement. That dual perspective shapes how we evaluate each position from the outset.

Common dispute scenarios include:

Shared driveways and private roads: Access conflicts between neighbors over use, maintenance obligations, and exclusivity
Prescriptive easement claims: Disputes over whether long-standing use has ripened into a legal right under California’s five-year adverse use standard
Easements by necessity: Access claims for landlocked or partially landlocked parcels with no viable route to a public road
Scope and maintenance disagreements: Conflicts over what an existing written easement permits and who bears upkeep costs
Utility and infrastructure easements: Disputes over the location, scope, or interference caused by utility line easements across neighboring parcels
Title report surprises: Recorded easements that surface during a sale or refinance and threaten to delay or disrupt the transaction

We handle these matters through negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and litigation in San Francisco Superior Court. When settlement isn’t in the client’s interest, we go to trial.

A Documented Easement Result Against the City of San Francisco

In Birmingham v. City and County of San Francisco, we represented a multi-story condominium developer in an easement dispute against the City and County of San Francisco and achieved a favorable resolution. That case required both an understanding of San Francisco’s regulatory environment and the ability to litigate effectively against a well-resourced public entity.

Our trial capability in San Francisco real estate matters is also on record. In ENA North Beach v. 524 Union Street, we secured a seven-figure jury verdict in a commercial real estate dispute, demonstrating what thorough case preparation can look like in a San Francisco courtroom.

Greg Wood holds Super Lawyer recognition earned over his career, and other prominent San Francisco attorneys regularly refer their clients to us when they need a litigator who prepares cases thoroughly, not just to settle.

Free Consultation for Easement Matters

Easement disputes can stall a sale, block a development, or lock neighbors into years of conflict. The sooner you understand your legal position, the more options you have. We offer a free initial consultation to evaluate your matter and give you a clear picture of what’s at stake.

We’re a litigation-focused firm, not a transactional practice that handles disputes on the side. When you work with us, Greg Wood leads your case strategy and stays in direct communication with you throughout. Call (415) 936-0300 or reach out through our online form to get started.

California Easement Law: The Key Concepts

Understanding which type of easement is at issue shapes every legal argument in a dispute. California law recognizes several distinct categories, each arising differently and carrying different legal consequences.

Express Easements

An express easement is created by a written agreement or deed recorded with the county. Because it runs with the land, it binds future owners regardless of whether they knew about it at purchase. Title reports typically surface these, though the language describing scope and permitted use is often vague enough to generate its own disputes.

Implied Easements

An implied easement arises from the circumstances of a property transfer when no written easement exists but the intended use is clear from context. Courts look at how the property was used before the transfer and whether that use is reasonably necessary for enjoyment of the parcel.

Prescriptive Easements

A prescriptive easement under California law is similar in concept to adverse possession. It requires open, notorious, continuous, and adverse use of another’s property for at least five years. The use must be without the owner’s permission. Permission, even informal permission, defeats the claim.

Easements by Necessity

When a parcel has no access to a public road except by crossing a neighbor’s property, a court may recognize an easement by necessity. These claims require showing that the dominant and servient parcels were once under common ownership and that the necessity arose from how that original ownership was divided.

Easement Appurtenant vs. Easement in Gross

An easement appurtenant benefits a specific adjoining parcel, called the dominant tenement, and burdens another, called the servient tenement. It transfers automatically when either property changes hands. An easement in gross, by contrast, benefits a specific person or entity rather than adjacent land. Utility company easements are the most familiar example.

How Easements End

Easements can be terminated by written agreement, by abandonment (which requires more than non-use), by merger when one owner acquires both parcels, by expiration of a stated term, or by court order. A quiet title action is the formal legal mechanism for resolving disputed claims about whether an easement exists, what it covers, or whether it has been extinguished.

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How Wood Litigation, APC Approaches an Easement Case

Every easement matter starts with a thorough review of the recorded documents: the deed, any written easement agreements, the title report, surveys, and correspondence between the parties. That review tells us whether the dispute turns on the interpretation of a recorded instrument, a factual question about historic use, or a regulatory issue tied to the property’s development history.

From there, Greg Wood builds a strategy tailored to the client’s goals. Some clients need the dispute resolved quickly to close a sale or move forward on a development. Others need to establish or defend a right that can affect the property for decades. The path forward, whether negotiation, mediation, arbitration, or litigation, follows from what the situation actually requires.

When a matter reaches San Francisco Superior Court, we arrive prepared. We don’t treat trial as a last resort or a threat we don’t intend to carry out. That readiness often supports better negotiated outcomes, because the other side knows we won’t blink.

San Francisco Property Disputes Require Local Knowledge

Easement disputes in San Francisco don’t exist in isolation from the city’s regulatory environment. The San Francisco Planning Code includes provisions bearing on light, air, privacy, and property access that can intersect directly with easement claims. Historic district designations and seismic safety requirements affect what construction or alterations are permissible within or adjacent to an easement area. A firm that occasionally takes a San Francisco case doesn’t carry that local regulatory fluency.

We do. In Birmingham v. City and County of San Francisco, we litigated an easement dispute against the City itself, which required understanding how the Planning Department’s permitting processes and the City’s position as a property stakeholder interact with private development rights. In Pacific Polk Properties v. City and County of San Francisco, we obtained a conditional use permit for a developer after the city initially refused it, demonstrating our ability to navigate San Francisco’s planning and land use processes when they turn adversarial. Real estate agents and brokers across the city regularly refer clients to us when property disputes escalate beyond what a transactional attorney can resolve.

What to Bring to Your Easement Consultation

The more relevant documents you can share at the outset, the faster we can assess the dispute and identify your options. You don’t need everything organized in advance, but gathering these materials before your consultation helps us give you useful guidance right away.

Helpful documents and information include:

Property deed: The recorded deed for your parcel, and if available, the deed for the neighboring property involved in the dispute
Recorded easement agreements: Any written easement documents listed in your chain of title
Title report: A current or preliminary title report surfaces recorded encumbrances and confirms what’s actually in the record
Property surveys: Any surveys showing parcel boundaries, structures, and the location of any claimed easement area
Photographs: Images of the disputed area, any structures or obstructions, and physical evidence of use or access patterns
Written correspondence: Letters, emails, or notices exchanged with the other party or their attorney
Parcel number and neighbor information: The assessor’s parcel number for your property and the names of adjacent owners help us confirm the relevant recorded documents before we meet

If your dispute involves a prescriptive easement claim, records of when and how the use began, including neighbor accounts or dated photographs, can be relevant to whether the five-year period has run.

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