Unadopted road and ex-local authority flat???

Poorlass

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for reading.

I am selling my flat which is ex local authority and an enquiry has been raised by the buyer's solicitors that the flat is on an unadopted road.

I have done some research and this appears to be one and the same with a private road.

Is it possible that 50 years ago the council built the property on private road?

I have never been asked to pay for maintenance for the decade I have lived here and the council fixes potholes etc.

Also there is a bus road on the road and the council was consulting a couple of years ago about parking permits on the road.

Could it really be an unadopted road and where would I get this information? I live in Lambeth (London) and they have no information on their website regarding these kind of roads.

The sale has been going on for 4 months and we were due to exchange and complete by the end of this month so I would really appreciate some help. Many thanks in advance guys.

blckbrd

Making the assumption it's not a street propety/conversion it's not unusual OP. Does your lease not mention the maintenance of roads within the boundary of the block/estate? If it does, that's an indication the road isn't a public highway.

No idea why the LA wouldn't charge you though as they find a way to charge for everything!

Poorlass

Thank you for your response Blkrd!:T

I have a copy of the lease so I will read it tonight.

I have looked at their website and it says they are responsible for mainatining all roads except for the red route and ours is not on the red route.

Furts

It is not unusual for a Council to take a long time to adopt a road - and sometimes it gets overlooked.

I have known periods of 15 years plus, during which time the council has resurfaced the roads thinking they were adopted, when the reality was they had never checked on this, they were unadopted and should never have been resurfaced.

Also, in my experience councils do not want to adopt roads etc. because this creates work for them and a future maintenance liability.

The flip side is developers want to get rid of the liability as quickly as possible, and want to offer work to the councils for adoption.

When roads have been built by councils or Housing Associations this can cause a problem - similar to a conflict of interests.

Perhaps this throws some light on your situation?

Poorlass

That is helpful Furts, thank you very much for taking the time to respond.

I have made a big mug of coffee and am just about to read the Leasehold document as suggested by Blkbrd earlier and it looks like I will be burning the midnight oil.

PL