private road question

ragjoy

hi all,
a friend has just bought a new via an administrator of a bankrupt builder.
when they signed there contracts they were asked to sign an agreement to pay £10 per month and to form a company on this small estate to safe gaurd any deterioration or maintenance to the road,they had no knowledge of this prior to when they signed the contracts,they did sign but what is this all about,anyone know of this situation.

Millburn_farm

not sure if this helps

my Hubby is a farmer; we have a private road linking our house to his brothers, (private road meaning not one adopted by the local council) which is shared by 4 other properties; which means we have to cover the cost of maintaining the road with our neighbours

I would say that any decent solicitor involved with the buying of any property (be it cash or mortgage and more if it's mortgaged) should have advised your friend that there will be a maintenence charge on the shared private road; erm who does he think pays for it

Doozergirl

Millburn_farm wrote: »

erm who does he think pays for it

If you're one of my neighbours? the people either side :wall:

If you live on a private road/drive it really has to be taken into consideration. I have two houses with a similar situation at the moment and it's written into the deeds of both that we share the cost and how it should be divided. Paying £10 a month into a fund is quite prudent really because they're not cheap!

Someone has set up a managing commitee by the sound of it.

westv

I thought all private roads were pot holed car crunchers.

ragjoy

thanks for the ERM replies.
let me try to explain a bit more.
they bought the house at a fairly reduced price from a bankrupt builder at NO time were they told this NEW road which runs along the side of a stream was PRIVATE.
they went to the solicitors to sign there contracts (im assuming) this was 5 working days before the move,at this point they were told by there solicitor that they need to sign this agreement where they £10 per month for the maintenance of the road and one has to agree to stand as chairman or director and the other as secretary.
my wifes friend was quite ill that day and singed the form and left before any of this was explained her husband stayed and he has given her the details which are a bit vacant.
we know another person who has also just purchased a house on this small development and she told my wife they refused to sign (this maybe untrue).
there is also a pump station that has to be maintained this is included in the £10 per month.
what my wifes friend does not understand is what exactly is this contract and why was it dump on them right at the end.
the road has yet to be laid (block paving) by the builder although this has started to happen now the last house has been sold.
i just wanted some comments from anyone who new of this type of situation.
thanks........

00ec25

it is perfectly normal on a new build development for the developer/builder to have to pay the costs of installing basic infrastructure such as roads and drains etc up front and then at a later date to apply to the council for the road to be "adopted"
presumably bankruptcy occured before this took place and the road has now not been adopted, who knows why not? The fact you refer to pumps (for drains) suggests you are a long way from the public sewers and roads so maybe it was obvious from the start that adoption would never happen.

IMHO it is a standard question which a solicitor should have asked especially for a new build. It is unclear from your post what was the timescale over which you had dealings with the solicitor. Surely he sent you paperwork including such questions with the answers in advance of you signing the contract 5 days before exchange?

some missing links in this story so far me thinks

ragjoy

00ec25 wrote: »

it is perfectly normal on a new build development for the developer/builder to have to pay the costs of installing basic infrastructure such as roads and drains etc up front and then at a later date to apply to the council for the road to be "adopted"
presumably bankruptcy occured before this took place and the road has now not been adopted, who knows why not? The fact you refer to pumps (for drains) suggests you are a long way from the public sewers and roads so maybe it was obvious from the start that adoption would never happen.

IMHO it is a standard question which a solicitor should have asked especially for a new build. It is unclear from your post what was the timescale over which you had dealings with the solicitor. Surely he sent you paperwork including such questions with the answers in advance of you signing the contract 5 days before exchange?

some missing links in this story so far me thinks

thanks for the reply.
it did seem and was assumed that the road would be adopted once all the houses were sold and the road was finished,there was never any mention of it being a private road from either the estate agent nor the solicitor,and for some strange reason our friend had to pay for the hip which very odd and for me started to ring alarm bells,i assumed any new build had to have a hip before going on the market but they have been on the market for about 2 years.
with regard to the pump it looks to me that it pumps around 100 mts at most
the council are to place a pen of some sort at the bottom of the road for the bins to be placed in on collection day as they wont go down this private road,they were told this fairly early on ie 5 weeks ago but they assumed that this was because the manholes were high up and the road was not finished.
what i dont understand is why this was not pointed out by the estate agent and more importantly by the solicitor untill 5 days before the move,ther are now some other issues with another property around 40 mts away that has not been sold as it has japanese knot grass or weed :eek:.
i dont get all the info as it it goes to my wife then to me and only comes from the lady who is buying the house.
is this right that a solicitor and estate agent not making a buyer aware of any of this untill the exchange of contracts.
to be honest our friend dont seem that bothered about it,its more me believing that between the EA, administrator and solicitor they have took the pee with these people in the knowledge that they were dead keen on the house.

carefullycautious

Id be more worried about the Japanese knotweed. It is a nightmare to get rid of if not dealt with promptly and will infect the whole development.

Lorian

I didnt read every word (blame torchwood) but this needs to be sorted with the solicitor. If the road is unadopted, and not even had its final metalling then its going to deteriorate rapidly. Presumably someone has come up with the £10 a month "comapny" deal, but I guess that's going to "save up" to finish the road (how longs that going to take) before it can even start accumulating any funds for future upkeep.

ragjoy

Lorian wrote: »

I didnt read every word (blame torchwood) but this needs to be sorted with the solicitor. If the road is unadopted, and not even had its final metalling then its going to deteriorate rapidly. Presumably someone has come up with the £10 a month "comapny" deal, but I guess that's going to "save up" to finish the road (how longs that going to take) before it can even start accumulating any funds for future upkeep.

they are doing the road in block paving started this week,the administrator wouldn't allow it to be done untill all the houses were sold apart from the one with knot weed which apparently is going to have to be pulled down,seems a bit extreme to me but thats what im told,i am getting all this 3rd hand as i stated earlier,so theres bits missing and no doubt bits added lol.
all of the mortgages companies have held back £4000 until the road is completed.

Doozergirl

It doesn't sound like the road will be adopted as it is block paved?

Honestly, £10 a month isn't much and the fact that it is private can add money to a house's value.

I don't see it as a down side. I'd rather the road outside my house be quiet and prettily blockpaved and pay £10 towards it, honestly han have it look like every other new build cul-de-sac