driveway who is responsible for repair

richkaren

hi all,
we live in a council house and our driveway is in a right mess all uneven and loose with bits of broken tarmac and loose hardcore we cant even use it its that bad without damaging our car through grounding the exhaust and skirts there are also no steps or path from the drive to the house and there is a 2 - 3 foot drop from the lawned area to the drive area.
we have requested the council repair our drive and do something with the drop from the lawn to the drive and they have said it isnt their responsibility and it is my responsibility to keep in a good state of repair can anybody tell me if this is true surely if its there property they have a responsibility to make it safe and usable

there even saying they dont need to do it because its not a main access to our house (if your drive isnt the main access to your house then what is)this means we have to park 75metres from our house over a busy road and with 4 children including a toddler and a 4 month old baby i dont think this is acceptable any advice or ideas please.........

muckybutt

Have a read of your council tenancy agreement as to what you are responsible for maintaining.

richkaren

hi,
there is no mention of the driveway in the agreement

mazza111

You might find this is a drive that a former tenant put in. Was probably originally a side garden. Garden is T's responsibility. Maybe that's where their coming from?

richkaren

re tenancy agreement
they are responsible for the following

The responsibility of looking after your home
is a joint one. We will repair and maintain
the following:
■ the structure and outside of your home
including the roof, drains gutters,
chimneys and external pipes;
■ electrical wiring, sockets and
light fittings;
■ mains services such as water, gas,
electricity and sanitation, including
kitchen and bathroom fixtures such
as sinks, showers baths and toilets;
■ inside walls, skirting boards, doors,
door frames and floors, ceiling and
major replastering work;
■ heating equipment such as fires and
radiators and water heating equipment
such as boilers and immersion heaters;
■ pathways and steps which are the
main means of access to your home;
■ boundary fences, shared areas of flats
and shared TV aerials

richkaren

hi

from what we can tell the drive was put in when the houses were built otherwise over 100 houses on our street have also put a drive in which i doubt !!!
we are trying to get more info but finding it hard

muckybutt

richkaren wrote: »

re tenancy agreement
they are responsible for the following

The responsibility of looking after your home
is a joint one. We will repair and maintain
the following:
■ the structure and outside of your home
including the roof, drains gutters,
chimneys and external pipes;
■ electrical wiring, sockets and
light fittings;
■ mains services such as water, gas,
electricity and sanitation, including
kitchen and bathroom fixtures such
as sinks, showers baths and toilets;
■ inside walls, skirting boards, doors,
door frames and floors, ceiling and
major replastering work;
■ heating equipment such as fires and
radiators and water heating equipment
such as boilers and immersion heaters;
■ pathways and steps which are the
main means of access to your home;
■ boundary fences, shared areas of flats
and shared TV aerials

If the drive is your main means of access then the council sohould cover it, however if the drive is additional to say a path that comes from the street to your front door then the council will deem that path to be your main access and wont be responsible for the drive.

iamcornholio

If the drive is at the front of the house and this is intended or used as the main access, then it would be deemed a landlord responsibility to maintain

If the actual front path is part of the driveway, then it would be deemed as effectively one wide path, so helps your case

If the path is separate, then the council would argue that the path is the main access. But your counter argument is that you don't use the path but use the drive as the main access due to [insert your reason here]. But more fundamentally, it must be the main access as you must access the drive first with your car whenever you return home.

If you have spoken to a call centre droid, then ask to speak to a manager - and not someone who will quote the tenancy agreement, but someone who actually knows about Landlord & Tenant law.

If you get no joy, then use their formal complaints procedure to exhaustion. And/or see a Solicitor as this would come under the L&T Act 1985, and if you qualify may get legal aid

richkaren

thanks for the answer
the drive is at the rear as we live on a corner house our drive isnt on our road even
we have a path to front door
will this make a difference
thanks

iamcornholio

It all comes down to which is the "main" access to the property - which can be either side, and open to interpretation. It need not be the front.

It's arguable that the side of the property with the drive is the main access, as you come and go in the car. Also if visitors use this route for whatever reason then that helps to identify it as the main access.

If for instance you have a disability (or kids - though they can sometimes be a disability) then your main access route may have to be a particular one for a particular reason.

The basic thing is, you define your main access and not the council. And then the responsibility to maintain the main access falls to the council

booter

iamcornholio wrote: »

If you have spoken to a call centre droid, then ask to speak to a manager - and not someone who will quote the tenancy agreement, but someone who actually knows about Landlord & Tenant law.

If you get no joy, then use their formal complaints procedure to exhaustion. And/or see a Solicitor as this would come under the L&T Act 1985, and if you qualify may get legal aid

Agreed. I would add that if the property is still owned by the Local Authority (but check on this, most "council" homes are actually now run by "housing groups") it maybe wouldn't hurt to speak to your local councillor. If they're any good, they may be able to assist. (If you don't know who they are, ask at your local library) HTH