Shared drive access and deeds.

Misterboy

Hi all. We have a shared access to the back of our property. This is shared with 7 other property owners.
The drive is deteriorating badly now and is need of repair. My neighbour has obtained some quotes and divided the costs between all 8 owners. Only 5 of us are willing to chip in which puts our individual cost up. However it is in all of our deeds that we are responsible for the upkeep of the drive. Can we force the others to pay?

davidmcn

Yes, if that's the deeds say. That's the whole point of putting these things in the deeds! But depends how much money/hassle you wish to go to in order to extract the money (and whether they actually have the money).

Misterboy

Well there are 2 neighbours who don't actually use the drive, 1 who has categorically said no, and maybe another might not want to when he finds out that not all are willing. We are looking at nearly £2.5k each which could be reduced to £1.5 so it's saving £1k each for the hassle.

G_M

Whether they use the drive or not is irrelevant from a legal perspective - so yes, you could use the courts to extract payment, assuming, as you say, that the liability in the Deeds is clear.

There may be a moral arguement that as they don't use the drive
a) they (their cars) have not contributed to the deterioration and
b) they will not benefit from the upgrade

It's up to you and your neighbours to weigh up

* the moral against the legal arguements
* the cost, time, stress and animosity of a legal battle against the cost of dividing their share between you

You could also consider whether they have long term plans to stay put. If not, you could wait for new neighbours to move in.........

If the non-payers happen to live at the far end, you could consider leaving the final stretch of drive unrepaired?

Misterboy

It just so happens that 3 of us live at the far end. And actually all will benefit because it would enhance any future sale. It is difficult because whilst we don't live in each others pockets, we do all get along and the last thing we want is a long running dispute.

PasturesNew

Firstly you need to print out/highlight the bit where people have to pay (from the deeds).

Then get the quotes.

But you can't MAKE people pay.... you can make them liable for the cost, but if they've not got a bean you can't get blood from a stone.

Maybe the way forward is to ask them when they can pay, or to arrange to set up some repayment method. Or invite them to get cheaper quotes and then a repayment.

Or, you might have to find a way to legally put a charge on their property so you get the money back when their house is sold.

In short: If you didn't use it and didn't have the money at all .... what'd you hope people would do for you? Also, would you have liked to have been part of the quoting process, find your own prices and get your own opinions as to how bad it was/what was needed?

It might be that the quote getter travels the longest distance and would prefer to gentrify the area..... which would mean pricier firms approached for quotes etc.

martindow

There are always likely to be problems getting everyone to agree. Apart from possibly being unable to raise the cash people will have very different ideas of when work needs to be done. If it's a bit bumpy you can just drive slowly.

Is it tarmac or a gravel road? If the latter, you can fill in the worst dips with a few tonnes of chippings at very little expense. Is the quotation you have £20,000 (8x2,500)? That is a lot of money to spend.

stator

Being responsible for maintenance of the road may not make them liable for the cost of replacing the surface if it is not stricly necessary.

rosyw

A lot will depend on the wording in the deeds. In mine it says I am expected to pay "a fair & reasonable" proportion of the costs of maintaining the drive, there are 4 of us that use it but I am the only one without a car, so I only walk up and down the drive a few times a day, also I have few visitors, whereas my neighbour has numerous cars using the drive each day, so contributes far more to the wear & tear. As far as I'm concerned my "fair & reasonable proportion of the maintenance should not be the same as my neighbour. If your neighbours that don't use the drive have similar wording in their deeds I can quite see why they wouldn't expect to pay for repairs.

Fosterdog

martindow wrote: »

There are always likely to be problems getting everyone to agree. Apart from possibly being unable to raise the cash people will have very different ideas of when work needs to be done. If it's a bit bumpy you can just drive slowly.

Is it tarmac or a gravel road? If the latter, you can fill in the worst dips with a few tonnes of chippings at very little expense. Is the quotation you have £20,000 (8x2,500)? That is a lot of money to spend.

How did you work out that it would be £20,000 (8x2,500)?

OP said that there are seven people involved, if all seven pay it is £1,500 each coming to a total of £10,500 or if only five pay it is £2,500 each coming to a total of £12,500. I'm not quite sure why it will cost an extra £2,000 for the total with everyone paying a share, seems odd that the total price would differ depending on how many pay. That is quite a stretch from the £20,000 you've worked it out at.

OP is the level of work quoted really necessary? At those prices I'm guessing it is a full resurface rather than remedial work to some areas. They may be more willing to pay a lower amount for a share of remedial work rather than the higher amount for the share of a resurface.

Vectis

I think the exact wording might be important. Maintaining is very different, and a lot cheaper, than improving. Maintaining could be simply throwing down a bucket of gravel to fill the potholes.

What does the drive consist of at present (and I suppose it could also be relevant as to what is was originally)?