Unadopted road

moneyistooshorttomention

The house I am buying is in an unadopted road.

Don't think this is going to be a problem overall and the "plus sides" (like privacy and it not being a road "anyone and everyone" will feel free to use) probably more than counterbalance.

Anything I need to look out for please?

1. I have been told I will be responsible for a share of the road surface maintenance...but the road looks well-maintained and I don't think that should be an undue problem (even though it looks like there might be an element of "free-riding" going on with not all properties on the road contributing equally:cool:).

2. I gather I don't have to worry about sewers/water supplies as a recent (2011) change in the law says that all of this has become the responsibility of the local water company.

3. I am wondering about things like the gas/electric/telephone/broadband services. A friend of mine has told me that his girlfriend mentioned that the electric supply had proven unreliable to a house he knows of in this area and that the local electric board was asking for payment to transfer it from overhead wires to underground. It wasn't a huge amount of money involved in the event...but it would be a cost and the obvious query about "What about if other households couldn't/wouldn't pay their share?" for this.

I am assuming that gas and electric are provided by "underground" means and telephone by B.T. overhead wires and that, either way, it doesn't matter a bit to me personally and I can safely assume all will work okay on the one hand and not cost me any money/hassle with neighbours to get them to pay their share etc on the other hand.

Is this the case?

ValHaller

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

A friend of mine has told me that his girlfriend mentioned that the electric supply had proven unreliable to a house he knows of in this area and that the local electric board was asking for payment to transfer it from overhead wires to underground. It wasn't a huge amount of money involved in the event...but it would be a cost and the obvious query about "What about if other households couldn't/wouldn't pay their share?" for this.

I can't see that the road being adopted or unadopted will make any difference to this apart from the issues of free loading and cooperation on shared infrastructure being more rehearsed.

Furts

Be careful if any services change with time. For example, if a drain has to be repaired, or a service fault rectified, or a service moved from overhead to below ground.

With an adopted road, all work should be to a high standard to meet the requirements of the adopting body, namely the local authority. There are Trench inspectors, Streetworks inspectors and/or Clerks of Works monitoring this. With a private road this becomes the responsibility of the residents - are they suitably qualified and will the contractors exploit this opportunity ?

In a similar vain if kerbs need to be replaced, or a new surface put down etc.the tender, contract details and monitoring will be with the residents.

hazyjo

Is it near to somewhere people will want to use for parking? If so, prepare for people to take no notice (like in a road near me where people park there for the nearby restaurants). It must drive the residents mad.

Also, it might look okay now, but that's not to say it'll always be like that. This is the road near me (try a virtual walk up it). It's a nightmare - potholes everywhere, it floods, and is generally unsightly.

(See here: http://goo.gl/maps/ePZoq) Takes a sec to load the google streetview on it.

Maybe at one time everyone contributed. Doesn't seem to be the case now. I've known that road to look like that for several years now. Nothing ever seems to get done properly. Maybe they all like it like that!

You really need to sort out with your solicitor what's been drawn up to force payment, or to force a reasonable decision. It's quite possible that, even if not now, in the future people might say no to works/improvements.

Jx

moneyistooshorttomention

From the layout of the area I think it highly unlikely there will be any attempts at unauthorised parking in the road.

I'm not too concerned about the surface of the road, as I don't have a car myself. In the event therefore it would more likely be the other (non free-riding) residents that would be asking me to cough up a portion of costs for resurfacing. I'm okay about paying my "fair share" of this, despite only requiring the road to be okay for my own visitors to drive up personally.

I would say my only personal concern is whether the gas/electric supply lines are down under ground currently and, if not, what happens about the fact they aren't (ie would I need to take out some sort of insurance/indemnity policy for my share and whether the public utility companies would try and shove responsibility onto other residents' shoulders for getting unwilling fellow residents to pay up or accept that said public utility companies would do the work and then chase up any non-payers later). Ditto the B.T. phonelines.

EDIT: have just sent email to my solicitor saying that I presume all solicitors automatically make queries to the vendor re public utilities at the outset in the case of unadopted roads OR it simply doesn't matter (ie because the law has been changed to be the same as for drains/sewers and the other public utilities have this as THEIR responsibility and would deal with it anyway in the same way as they would with public utilities in public roads).

hazyjo

You might not have a car, but there might come a time when you're needing a mobility scooter (or zimmer!) to get around. Would be concerned with the surface of the roads/pavements in that instance...

Why are the other residents 'free-riding' by asking you to contribute towards the surface of pavement/road?! Strange attitude. You do realise we all pay for it in our taxes? In fact, we all pay for things we don't or might never need. Crazy comment!

Jx

moneyistooshorttomention

Its a private road. I think not all the residents in the road pay for surfacing of the road as far as I can make out. Public taxes aren't utilised at all towards the road surface.

As stated...I'm perfectly prepared to pay my fair share of the cost of road surfacing..even though I don't anticipate ever needing any zimmer frame myself..

Furts

The gas will not be overhead, so your concerns would be telephone and electric. A quick check, visually, would tell you if this is the situation - or ask the residents.

Cables can degrade with time, and will not be subject to wind damage, or posts rotting, or collisions if put underground. (Telecom might upgrade to fibre optic.)

But if the service authorities propose doing this it could be argued it is in their financial interests - so the residents should not meet the costs. I would expect this to be countered... and negotiations, or residents refusal to contribute...

Fibre optic telecom would be a different argument as a tangible gain would be offered to the residents.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm not techno-minded. Can I assume that "fibre optic" means superfast broadband, as opposed to current ordinary broadband?

If that's the case, then I assume residents can say "No thanks all the same. I'll stick with ordinary broadband" and avoid having the superfast variety if it would cost them to do so.

So, if electric cables are underground...does that mean they won't degrade over time (well at least not over the rest of my expected lifetime anyway)?

mjm3346

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I'm not too concerned about the surface of the road, as I don't have a car myself.

Damage to delivery vehicles, trips and falls etc -- it will not be the council that gets sued for damages. Waste collection, post etc can refuse to call if the road surface is deemed unsafe.

How do I report a private street that is unsafe?
This is usually the responsibility of the owner (usually the frontager). If the problem is thought to be a danger, for example a deep hole in the road suddenly appearing, the Council can arrange to make it safe by placing barriers or road closures around the hazard. However, the permanent remedials are then to be carried out by the owner/s

Poc

I live on a private road and many of my neighbours have taken out insurance in case an accident happens on their piece of road. It would appear we are each liable for any problem which occur on our own piece of land.

In the past 11 yrs various houses have had problems with phone lines, water leaks, gas leak etc. None of the utility companies have tried to charge us because the road is unadopted.

The road consists of 10 houses, most of which wanted to retarmac the road. House no 6 refused to pay any money resulting in the first part of the road being tarmached and the second part not being!!!!

I would be quite happy to buy another house on an unadopted road.