Unadopted road

Malks

Used to live in an unadopted road and had no issues with it.But we did form a residents association where we all paid £5 a month into afund, for future repairs and also for Public Liability insurance. That way wetried to protect ourselves from any one off big payment to resurface. Or someone claiming against us. There wereonly 12 houses in the road, so it was easy to manage and everyone got on witheach other.

As for people parking, it was an issue, so we erected somesigns saying Private Property Clamping in Operation. We never had any intentionof clamping but it seemed to do the trick and people stopped parking in theroad. Just depends on how abused the parking is though.

As for utilities charging, the only one that wanted to chargewas Virgin Media, as no one wanted virgin we declined the kind offer of diggingup our road at our expense to install something no one wanted. Gas \ Electric \BT just fixed the issues as per normal, same with the two streets lights, thecouncil serviced them as if they were their own.

As Poc says insurance is the only thing to be mindful of, ifsomeone trips outside your house you are responsible.

moneyistooshorttomention

I have/will continue to have insurance on my house that covers me for "public liability" (so if a slate slips off my roof and hurts a passerby then my insurance company would pay).

Is it the case then that "public liability" cover only extends to the immediate frontage of a house. Thus, in this private road, I would be covered for my own personal "front garden" section under standard household insurance (that "public liability" section) but wouldn't be covered under that section for if someone had an accident walking up the main part of that road?

I guess that would be the case and I should maybe tell my insurance company that there are x number of houses in this private road and it would be the case that if, say, a private road had 10 houses in it that each house would have to make sure that they were covered for one-tenth part of any possible claim from A.N. Injured Other.

Thus, if there were 10 houses and 5 had insured themselves against accident claims and 5 hadn't then the 5 insured households would go straight to their insurance company in the event of a claim and 50% of the payout would come from these insurance companies. The 5 uninsured households would have to stump up the money personally (and probably go broke as a consequence) and the claimant would only receive the 50% of the payout that would come from the insured households iyswim and be chasing the uninsured households for ever more for the money they owed him if they didn't actually have it. (Hope I've explained that clearly...I know what I mean...:rotfl:).

moneyistooshorttomention

Reassuring to hear the comments re fuel/phone suppliers almost certainly wouldn't expect money towards costs.

Just a bit concerned because a friend of mine said that his FIL had been asked for a share of money before now towards putting electric cables from overground to underground. But I guess that counted as "improvement", rather than "maintenance" and I would only have to concern myself with "maintenance" and therefore there would never be any charge payable by myself.

jgh

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

it not being a road "anyone and everyone" will feel free to use

"Anybody and everybody" are free to use an unadopted road, how on earth do you think they get to somebody's front door? Helicopter?

suebfg

Don't want to !!!! on your chips but I'd never live on an unadopted road again. The main issues were around maintenance and payment of contributions - not everyone had a requirement to contribute in their deeds and this led to disagreements. With the weather we have in the UK, potholes regularly appeared and the cars would be a right state, all splashed with mud. Exterior of houses similarly splashed with mud etc.
I'd find out if I were you if one of the houses owns the road but you are granted access over it. In that case, that house will rule over all and sundry and set the rules and you or your visitors might not even be able to park on the road unless it is in your deeds.

banwa

The house we have just sold was on an unadopted road. Never had any problems whatsoever BUT I know a couple of potential buyers were put off by it, so it is worth considering the impact when it comes to resale. I personally wouldn't buy on an unadopted road again if I could help it (ie unless it was my dream house) because there is always a risk, and I am not a risk taker.

Also, it is rare I think that an unadopted road is not also a right of way or a public highway, where anyone and everyone would be permitted to use it.

Strapped

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

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..

Is it actually private, or is it just unadopted?

moneyistooshorttomention

banwa wrote: »

The house we have just sold was on an unadopted road. Never had any problems whatsoever BUT I know a couple of potential buyers were put off by it, so it is worth considering the impact when it comes to resale. I personally wouldn't buy on an unadopted road again if I could help it (ie unless it was my dream house) because there is always a risk, and I am not a risk taker.

Also, it is rare I think that an unadopted road is not also a right of way or a public highway, where anyone and everyone would be permitted to use it.

Being a private cul-de-sac then it's the case that the residents would expect that anyone entering the road would be doing so specifically only in order to see one of them basically. Legally speaking, I expect that A.N. Other who had taken a fancy to drive up the road for no reason connected to us would be allowed to do so.

moneyistooshorttomention

Strapped wrote: »

Is it actually private, or is it just unadopted?

Errrm....what's the difference please?

I say "private" - but I assume the correct word is "unadopted"....as in "private" presumably means strangers aren't allowed in the road without reason, whereas "unadopted" just means "It's down to the householders in the road to maintain the road".

There isn't a sign up saying "private" at the entrance to the road.

Davesnave

We live next to a private lane, supposedly paid for by about 15 properties, but from reading the management committee's newsletters, it seems that some people never pay up, or pay up late, whenever there are repairs. Some properties are owned by persons overseas, or at the other end of the country, who always seem hard to reach.

From day to day experience, I know that one or two busybodies get into regular arguments over parking and the use of the lane, especially when lorries or tractors are involved. This can be quite entertaining, especially when a muck spreader is involved - It's amazing how often muck can be 'accidentally' spilled, how hard it is to prove whose it is, and how late or early it can appear! :rotfl:

There are also further heated discussions over maintenance of verges and the few undesignated parking places.

Part of the problem seems to be that various property deeds say slightly different things about the lane. There is at least one spurious map circulating, which I came across when a resident randomly claimed our front wall was communal. As we have the relevant LR map of what's ours, that one was quite easily dealt with, but one can't insure against neighbours being bonkers!

The lane isn't much of an issue for us, though apparently our predecessors were questioned and even challenged over using it, despite having rights to do so at all times and for all purposes.

If we'd known of these problems with the lane, it wouldn't have put us off this property. It's all part of life's rich tapestry, and probably a typical experience of country living.