Street lights missing

martindow

There is no guarantee that the local authority will adopt it at all. Having to make cuts many LAs leave the developers and residents to sort out grass cutting and maintenance. There have been several threads recently about people concerned that houses come with management companies and annual charges, sometimes with a very vague idea of how these charges might increase in the future.

Unless street lights are a requirement of the planning permission the developer may well not provide them if they are not paid for by the house owners.

stator

Your solicitor when you bought the house should have investigated whether the road is being adopted or whether there is a management company to cover the costs of maintaining it that will bill the residents.

It shouldn't be possible for new estates to have unadopted roads that are abandoned by the developer. The planning system now requires roads to be adoptable standard and/or payments to the council to adopt the road.

Chanes

I know this is slightly off topic, but someone mentioned council cost cutting in that they don't (or may not) adopt roads and lighting on new estates, I wonder if it will cross their mind to retrospectively impose such on older estates? The housing estate I live on was built in 1992, it's quite a large estate but it is recognisable as an estate and separate to the older housing stock around it. Could be easy to impose a service charge. Or is that paranoid! :eek:

keith969

PasturesNew wrote: »

We've no lights. What do you need lights for? Can you get something rigged up yourself if it's to get from your car to your house?

When I grew up, the street lights went off at midnight, we had no problem walking home a few miles in the dark.

I guess people have never heard of torches.

AdrianC

keith969 wrote: »

When I grew up, the street lights went off at midnight, we had no problem walking home a few miles in the dark.

I guess people have never heard of torches.

Our nearest streetlight's five miles away. Fortunately.

moneyistooshorttomention

Chanes wrote: »

I know this is slightly off topic, but someone mentioned council cost cutting in that they don't (or may not) adopt roads and lighting on new estates, I wonder if it will cross their mind to retrospectively impose such on older estates? The housing estate I live on was built in 1992, it's quite a large estate but it is recognisable as an estate and separate to the older housing stock around it. Could be easy to impose a service charge. Or is that paranoid! :eek:

I'd be inclined to think that's highly highly unlikely.

Thought never crossed my mind that anywhere "normal" (ie the Council deals with it all) won't remain "normal". Any Council that tried that would have the vast majority of local residents up in arms at the thought of having bills they aren't due for imposed on them.

Nick_C

A house that I was trying to buy a couple of years ago was on a large estate built almost 30 years ago, and the roads had still not been adopted! Something to do with the water company not being satisfied with the drainage arrangements. This left the developer responsible for maintenance of the roads and pavements, and no service charges in place. The developer was still trying to sort it out and was optimistic of a resolution in the near future.

So just to say these can take years!

Usually on a new build though, the developer will put in street lighting. If they haven't, I can see the council being reluctant to take on the cost. The development should be finished to an appropriate standard.

What advice did your solicitor give you on this issue before you completed?

PasturesNew

keith969 wrote: »

When I grew up, the street lights went off at midnight

They do that here, where I live. Pitch black it is.

davidmcn

Chanes wrote: »

someone mentioned council cost cutting in that they don't (or may not) adopt roads and lighting on new estates, I wonder if it will cross their mind to retrospectively impose such on older estates? The housing estate I live on was built in 1992, it's quite a large estate but it is recognisable as an estate and separate to the older housing stock around it. Could be easy to impose a service charge.

Do you mean the roads are adopted by the council? I don't think it's competent for the council to unadopt them just to save costs.

If you mean they've never been adopted then eventually someone will need to pay for maintenance.

stator

Chanes wrote: »

I know this is slightly off topic, but someone mentioned council cost cutting in that they don't (or may not) adopt roads and lighting on new estates, I wonder if it will cross their mind to retrospectively impose such on older estates? The housing estate I live on was built in 1992, it's quite a large estate but it is recognisable as an estate and separate to the older housing stock around it. Could be easy to impose a service charge. Or is that paranoid! :eek:

No, it's not the council who impose charges.
On some estates the developer doesn't want to make the roads/sewers etc adopted so they set up a company to manage the estate, the company charges the residents a service charge each year. The houses that are covered by a service charge will have it written into their deeds via one of a couple means. So when you buy a house your solicitor will check if this is the case.
If the roads and sewers are adopted they will stay that way.
If the council haven't adopted them and the developer was not required to make them to a specific standard or the developer has gone bust and the developer didn't set up a management company then the residents might have a problem when the roads or sewers need maintainenace, but this would be rare.