Road not adopted by Council - problems selling house

Catalf

Hi

I hope someone can help us?

We bought a new build house in 2007 which we are in the process of selling. It has only come to light now that the road has not been adopted by the Council even though it has been completed for some time. I am getting nowhere with the Council or the Developer and my purchaser's solicitor wants us to agree to a retention to satisfy the purchaser's lender!!! I have spoken to the Solicitor who acted for us in purchasing the property and the developer would not permit retentions, however now that we are trying to sell the property why should we pay for a retention? If it runs into thousands we do not have the funds anyway and the sale will fall through; through no fault of our own.

Any advice/experiences would be most welcome as we feel the situation is completely out of our control and so unjust.

Thank you

evansmummy

We live on an unadopted road. I don't understand why it's such a huge problem. It just means that you are responsible for maintainance of the road rather than the council.
What are they wanting the retention to protect them against?

DVardysShadow

evansmummy wrote: »

What are they wanting the retention to protect them against?

Adoption costs.

Richard_Webster

Unfortunately builders got lazy and didn't bother to complete road making agreements with the Councils and in boom times lenders didn't bother to impose retentions from mortgages to pressure them to deal with the point. Result was they didn't bother to complete the agreements. There is probably some long running argument (that has largely gone to sleep) over whether the builder should pay for an extra street light somewhere or whether or not a strip of grass should be taken over as highway.

If retentions had been imposed by the lenders then the builders would have been keener to complete the agreements and there wouldn't have been the problem.

OP's solicitors should have explained the point when he first bought - that there was a risk of a retention being sought when he sold. usually the amount is no more than £1,000 and gets handed over by the buyer if the road is adopted or an agreement to dos so is concluded.

martinsurrey

There are thousands of properties on developments with private roads, these roads are managed much like the communal areas in lease hold flats, With a service charge per property.

However in many developments there are no shared areas and the developer intended to get all areas adopted.

Is your property Freehold?

Did you sign an agreement that the roads were your responsibility? (or is it a condition on the freehold?)

Who is the legal owner of the land the road is on?

If there is no mention of the roads in your deeds, or any other agreement, the road is none of your business, and any costs of adoption, will fall to the owner of the land (the developer)

Unfortunately, without a close look at all the relevant documents, a conclusive answer is impossible.

Jenna_Caldwell

Hi all,

I bought my house 5 years ago (2008) and am now re-mortgaging.
When I bought the property, the roads had not been adopted by the council so we had to pay a £3,000 retention.
The retention was removed back in 2010 but I have just been infromed that a charge was placed on my property back in 2009 by the solicitor that carried out the conveyancing.
I knew nothing about it and have now been told I can't re-mortgage or sell until the charge is removed.
The solicitor will not remove the charge unless another solicitor carries out an undertaking or unless we pay £1500 to redrow to remove the charge.
Bank Of Scotland (orginal mortgage lender) said that I called them in 2010 requesting for the retention to be removed but I have no record or knowlege of doing this at all. Why would I do that?
Can anyone pelase help/advise?

Ps - The roads have still not been adopted by the council

Thanks in advance
Jenna x

ValHaller

Jenna_Caldwell wrote: »

Can anyone pelase help/advise?

Ps - The roads have still not been adopted by the council

Thanks in advance
Jenna x

Please start a new thread. Otherwise you will find people answering the original problem and perhaps ignoring yours.

Jenna_Caldwell

ValHaller wrote: »

Please start a new thread. Otherwise you will find people answering the original problem and perhaps ignoring yours.

Would you mind telling me how I can do that?

ValHaller

Jenna_Caldwell wrote: »

Would you mind telling me how I can do that?

Go to the forum where you wish to post - in this case http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16 and look for the blue 'New Thread' button.