Buying a house in an unadopted road

Sammy85_2

My friends bought a house on a new build estate with an unadopted road. It was a nightmare, potholes, raised man holes and a generally poor uneven surface causing huge puddles (lakes) when it rained.

About a year or so after moving in they were hit with an £8k bill per house for the road to be brought up to standard so the council would adopt it. They paid it, as they were sick of the road and decided it would be better than risking future bills for maintenance.

jebervic

Thanks everyone, difficult one to call,'ve phoned up the local council and im waiting for someone to call me back, not sure what to ask as ive think I know I would be liable.

BornAtTheRightTime

Are you really going to let anonymous posters, typically with no personal experience of this issue other than hearsay and scaremongering, put you off the house you want? Seriously, in Hampshire a house on an unadopted private road is seen as far more desirable than one on a public road.

jebervic

BornAtTheRightTime wrote: »

Are you really going to let anonymous posters, typically with no personal experience of this issue other than hearsay and scaremongering, put you off the house you want? Seriously, in Hampshire a house on an unadopted private road is seen as far more desirable than one on a public road.

two things cocern me very much, unlimited liability and problems trying to sell in the future. is there an insurance policy to payout if major works need doing? public liablity insurance would surely cover injuries etc

BornAtTheRightTime

Suggest in that case you ask your solicitor for advice on those aspects. Personally I think you have no worries regarding public liability or in selling in future. Major works - can you think of any major works that would be applicable?

mpet

I think I would be very cautious - does the road look in reasonable condition?

My BIL lived on an unadopted road for a couple of years and had nothing but problems. We hated visiting him, there as there were so many pot holes. When it rained heavily, the pot holes became small ponds - we even saw a duck swimming on one once! (and that is no exageration). Also as there was a smallish gradient going out onto th emain road, when it snowed, it was virtually impossible to get out as the road was never gritted.

It is OK saying everyone is responsible for maintaining their own bit, but not everyone does - and who is going to make them without resorting to legal action.In my BIL's case it got very heated. The majority of the residents wanted to club together to get the road surfaced (professionally), a couple of the residents disgareed as they liked it unmade as it made it more 'rural' - so nothing got done.

I'm sure that there are many unadopted roads that are fine and there are no problems, but it is something to seriously consider before buying a property on such a road.