Shared access/driveway.

daisygrabber

Shared access really depends on the circumstances. This one sounds like ours. Both us & our neighbour have our own parking spaces at the back. There is just one driveway to drive down to access it and it would be stooopid to park on it!

Kaeuqs

Thanks for all the responses.

I batted it back to the vendor via the solicitor, and he's refused to change anything. I've enquired of my solicitor the cost of pulling out, in the hope that this perculates through to the vendor on the grapevine, and it he gets it sorted.

I agree with all that I would prefer not to purchase a house with a shared driveway........but after 18 month of searching, some compromises have to be made.

I think it is the emotional energy of searching for 18 months which is making me reticent to pull out..........but I think I am now more in favour of pulling out rather than progressing........ah well, it could have been wonderful!

hazyjo

If you've been searching for that long and the only one you've found has a huge compromise, the chances are your budget's too small for what you're actually looking for. Any chance of saving like crazy to up the budget, then start looking again in several months' time?

Have a look at the higher priced houses and see if you can get what you want. Not trying to make you spend more(!), but is it worth compromising and moving now to something that's not perfect for you? Would you be likely to want to move again in a few years? If you could get something perfect after one more year (or so) of saving, would it be worth waiting?

Jx

puddy

dont do it. its all very well the deeds saying that any disputes are to be sorted by the institute of surveyors, but that will all cost money each time there is a dispute

you say theres no need for anyone to park on the drive, but thats not why people park on drives or prevent access, they do it because they are stupid and inconsiderate. you dont know if any of those houses are to be rented out some time in the futre and some awful person moves in and doesnt care about their neighbours, then you cant get hold of the landlord to get money from them or settle disputes

with regard to the cost of maintaining the drive, you will be liable for damage to cars if there are unfilled potholes etc and frost and snow does a lot of damage to even good roads

i think if you have been searching for 18 months and this is the only thing you like then you probably are being unrealistic about your budget and needs, you're one of those people that you see on location location location who are incredibly fussy about stuff, leading you to think that this impossible property is the one you have to settle on! its not.

Thefunkygibbons

We faced a similar situation, but we were the ones with the easement over the road.

However, in our case the access was unmade and the weather tended to create potholes. However, we worked together to fill these in once in a while and it all worked well. However, goodness knows what would have happened if the owner had decided that she wanted to tarmac the full length.

In your circumstances, I would take some photographs of its current condition and agree with the other users about what quality they want it maintained in, so that any spend you make can be fairly shared and no-one thinks that you are over spending or underspending

As for water, the risks are greater. Our neighbour decided that the sharing arrangment (which had started because it was previously a family member in residence) could not continue so she had her own supply installed. However, the old line failed a couple of years later and the cost of a replacement run of 250 meters was significant and we were fortunate in that we could cut and cover. If you had to do a long run using moling, the costs would run to thousands.

Therefore maintenance of that line is a bigger issue than sharing the bills.Something that you need the survey to cover.

You may want to look at Home Service as I believe one of their policies covers the pipe from your house to the mains.