Does an irrevocable license need to be in place?

The cases cited by appellants in which courts found the existence of an irrevocable license are not controlling here. For example, in Richardson v. Franc (2015) 233 Cal.App.4th 744 (Richardson), a dispute arose concerning a 150-foot long, 30-foot wide roadway on the defendants' property. (Id. at pp. 747-748.) The plaintiffs' access to the road "was authorized by an easement for 'access and public utility purposes.' " (Id. at p. 748.) After the plaintiffs and their predecessors had over the course of 20 years installed and maintained landscaping, irrigation, and lighting for the roadway easement, the defendants demanded that the plaintiffs remove all improvements, asserting that their installation and maintenance exceeded the scope of the easement. (Ibid.) The demand occurred approximately six years after the defendants had purchased the property; during that six-year period, the defendants, who were aware of the improvements to the roadway easement and the fact that the plaintiffs had regularly employed landscapers to tend to

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