Council Tax - Unadopted Road

RaveDog

Hi Folks

I live in Wales, and my house is about 7 years old. The road outside my house still hasn't been adopted by the council because of some dispute with the builders and some resident. I have phoned the council for various things (the street lights don't work and road sweeping), but they tell me as the road isn't adopted it's not their issue.

Based on this, are residents entitled to a discount in their council tax seeing as I am not getting the full benefit of services.....?

Any advice?

Cheers,
Rave

tom188

I presume when you bought the house you were moving into an unadopted road and the houses had been banded accordingly.

To me the question is a bit like asking "i dont have any children, so am i entitled to a discount because im not getting any benefit from the local schools?". You are paying tax for the area you live in, not just whats outside your front door.

Ian_W

I would have thought you should but the man from Google - he says No!!

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=unadopted+road+%2B+council+tax&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a
OR
https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/council/council_tax/council_tax/FAQ/faq_items/unadopted_road.asp

RaveDog

Pah!

That's a shame. Seven years without proper services is a bit excessive - especially the amount councils charge here....thieving gits...!! :mad:

Thanks for the advice,

Rave

:xmastree:

RaveDog

Exactly.

Roads are always unadopted (I think), when you buy a new house, but these are then adopted shortly afterwards. Unfortunately, in this case my road has not been adopted due to some dispute at the other end of the development (nowhere near my property BTW). In response to Tom188, Council Tax has not been reduced because of this - the price bandings for the houses cover thousands of properties - and I pay the same as those houses whose roads HAVE been adopted.

I know the council tax goes to other things not directly 'outside my doorstep', but seeing as I'm not getting the full range of services from my council, I don't think it's unreasonable for a discount on my council tax until the point that the road is adopted.

Cheers
Rave

lisyloo

There was a road in my area where ALL the residents refused to pay council tax for similar issues.
They were let off.

Obviously there are risks with strategy that you should consider.

jimbob_3

On a similar but slightly different theme,

a pedestrian tripped outside my 82 year old nans house, who lives on an unadopted road.

The pedestrian is now suing my nan as they are claiming it was her responsibility to maintain the road outside her house.

any advice on that or where i could go to find who has responsibility for what?

thanks

going2die_rich

Posts on here are saying to reduce it by a reasonable amount and then justify it in court, but what happens if the council is 100% right and the reason the roads can't be adopted is actually due to the builders not building it correctly (i.e. didn't use the right materials, didn't have it inspected before it was laid down to ensure the tar/whatever was laid deep enough) so in essense the despute is with the builders so naturally the person underpaying would receive the fine since the council was in the right as they can't adopt
an unfit road. Since the home was a new build it would have been the buyers responsibility to ensure that they had an agreement from the builders that the road would be ready for approval by a set date.

going2die_rich

jimbob wrote:

On a similar but slightly different theme,

a pedestrian tripped outside my 82 year old nans house, who lives on an unadopted road.

The pedestrian is now suing my nan as they are claiming it was her responsibility to maintain the road outside her house.

any advice on that or where i could go to find who has responsibility for what?

thanks

Tell the person you'd like to discuss the matter for an out of court settlement saying that your nan doesn't want it dragged through the court. Then when you meet this person, have a quiet "word" with them. I am sure after a quiet "word" they will see that it's better to be able to walk than sue.

I can't stand people that just sue anyone, especially for something as clumsy as tripping on road. They should be sued by society for being so clumsy.

God help anyone that would try something like that on me, they'd be straight in hospital and they'd be paying me compensation for my time in dealing with it and I'd make sure they'd pay up even if it meant throwing their entire family into the streets to do so. It's them damn no win no fee lawyers that are to blame, they really do need to be put down for getting everyone to sue over nothing.

Have you thought about sueing them for tresspassing on the road? Since it's a unadopted road, doesn't that mean it's not a council public road yet? So technically they shouldn't be on it on the first place. But saying that if burglars can sue you if they hurt themselves in your home, I doubt you'd not get sued for someone walking on the road.

lisyloo

a pedestrian tripped outside my 82 year old nans house, who lives on an unadopted road.

The pedestrian is now suing my nan as they are claiming it was her responsibility to maintain the road outside her house.

Who does the road belong to?
Does it belong to your nan i.e. private driveway or is it a "public" road that currently belongs to the builders.

If it is a private driveway then they can sue your nan IF she was negligent.

Presumably your nan has house insurance for liabilities to 3rd parties so she should be informing and discussing it with them.

If it is not her property then of course it has nothing to do with her.

I can't stand people that just sue anyone, especially for something as clumsy as tripping on road. They should be sued by society for being so clumsy.

What a ridiculous thing to say when we know so little facts.
We don't currently know who owns the land or what the situation of the trip was.

Have you thought about sueing them for tresspassing on the road? Since it's a unadopted road, doesn't that mean it's not a council public road yet? So technically they shouldn't be on it on the first place.

Firstly you would need signs up.
Secondly some people are reasonably entitled to be there e.g. police, firemen, people doing postal deliveries etc.
Thirdly trepass is a civil offence and not a criminal one.

I would personally like to see more facts before commenting further.
Firstly who owns the property that they were on when they fell?


BTW - I just want to add in an anecdotal story about my husbands elderly aunt.
She fell in an area where the council were negligent (I'm sorry I don't know the exact details). Being elderly her injuries were quite severe. She had a broken hip and many broken fingers.
She had operations and her hand has not gone back quite right meaning certain things are difficult (she has special spoons and forks etc.).
Now I have no idea whether she was being clumsy. Perhpas she was. She was certainly being elderly and fragile (is that a crime these days?)
I am as much against gratuitous litigation as the next man/woman but someone (like the aunt) who has genuine suffered badly because someone else has been neglignet has every right to have their costs covered.

BTW - some people are clumsy because of medical conditions. My Dad has lost some use in one of his arms because of Polio as a child. He doesn't expect every one else to make allowances and doesn't go round suing everyone, but in no way does clumsiness justify negligence.

Rant over.

wurley

I thought all roads had an owner of sorts.... My mothers road is an unadopted road but they have a roads association. Before that it was an old lady who originally had some houses built (yonks ago) she owned it because she had the land orginally. Sorry its a tad vague but maybe it'll give you some lines of enquiry to follow. Incidentally if she has buildings insurance that could cover third party liability...have a look.