buying a house on a private road

Ali71

Hi,


I have been in the process of buying a property and thought everything was going fairly well. The solicitor has just written to me with his report on the prospective purchase. He has mentioned that the property is on a private road (it is in a little cul de sac off of another, public road). We had no idea about this, the estate agent didn't mention it (!) and this is the first we knew of it. My solicitor is making enquiries of the vendors solicitor as to whether she has had any demands now or in the past for payments towards any maintenance. I have been reading that it's the responsibility of the house owners fronting the road, (confirmed in the report by my solicitor) and they would be liable for any compensation claims in the event of an accident, i.e someone tripping and falling in the road etc.


Bit worried about this, although its a lovely house and garden. Anyone any experience of this type of thing and whether it's the sort of thing that would be expected to break a deal? I don't know yet but will be talking to the house owner tomorrow. If there's no owners assoc, or if they don't have insurance I'm a bit concerned. I've had problems with the other leaseholder in the flat below the one I am in currently. Don't want to jump out of the flat and in to the fire so to speak............

PasturesNew

It sounds a bit like where I live... there is a drive/entrance off the public road and then each house owns a freehold piece of that which includes the house/footprint, the parking bay and the turning areas.....

So, here there is no management company, no charges.... and if I catch somebody tripping on land I own I'll give it a large dose of "You should look where you're going matey".

G_M

The issues of

1) what you own (the bit of road in front? a share of the entire road? Nothing at all but with a ROW?)

2) what you might have to pay (maintenance, insurance etc)

should be defined somewhere in the Title Deeds.

Wait for your solicitor to advise you.

kerri_gt

W live in a private road (didn't realise when we viewed either) and actually really like it overall. We do pay a fee to a managment company each year and there are a number of covenenats such as we all should have the sam front door colour, need to keep the front gardens in good order and such that keep the road looking nice. There's also some others such as not being allowed to dry washing on the front lawn or own livestock which are a littl more left field, but still keep things in order. It also means most people care about, and take in interest in the common road areas.

Of course there's some grumbles that occur, one house fitted an external TV aerial which is against the covenants although it appears it's being allowed to stay up and one of the directors nearly had a coronary at the last AGM when someone asked hypothetically about solar panels :rotfl:

Slinky

I was born in a house on a private road. There was a very informal arrangement amongst the people that live there to maintain it as and when required, a quote would be obtained and contributions would be collected. I've no idea what the deeds actually say about maintenance if anything. The little old ladies who didn't own cars paid less than those who did. It was all quite amicable. Never in 50+ years of my family living there has there ever been an issue of somebody suing for accidents.

Ali71

Thanks for all the replies. Everyone seems fairly chilled out about it, I will check back with my solicitor as to what he finds out and ask the seller tomorrow what is in place if anything with regards to maintenance and insurance. The letter says the access area giving access to the parking and garages is private and I would be liable jointly for the maintenance of it with the other residents who use it. It's just about big enough to do a very tight three point turn, but not enough extra room to swing a small cat at the same time..........Thanks to all.

Marvel1

This is me and I avoid anything leasehold and private roads, can't be dealing with extra payments and what ifs.

G_M

cjdavies wrote: »

This is me and I avoid anything leasehold and private roads, can't be dealing with extra payments and what ifs.

Yeah. That's you.

But no reason for the OP not to make a different decision. It's a question of making a decision based on knowledge rather than unsubstantiated fears.

Ali. As well as getting information from the sellers, and advice from your solicitor, don't forget to knock on neighbors' doors.

You'll get a far better picture from someone with no personal interest in selling to you, and whilst the strict legal position is important to understand, so is the actual reality of how it works year by year. The neighbours will know.

JP1978

It would of course depend on the length of the private road and how many houses it serves - could it act as a right of way to elsewhere, could people use it as a shortcut? Do all houses located on the road have an equal liability for any upkeep?

We have such a 'road', albeit very short - it supplies three houses, incl ours - we are on the jnc of the public road and the private road and cars have to pass the private road to get into our drive and the other two drives.

Our deeds say we need to pay a third of any upkeep to the driveway, nothing re any liability.

Only issue we have is other people using it as a turn around as they cant be bothered to drive another 30 yards to where the correct turn around is, or if they can, it can have cars parked in it.

Tom99

How long is the road, how many houses and what condition is the road in?

walwyn1978

G_M wrote: »

Yeah. That's you.

But no reason for the OP not to make a different decision. It's a question of making a decision based on knowledge rather than unsubstantiated fears.

Ali. As well as getting information from the sellers, and advice from your solicitor, don't forget to knock on neighbors' doors.

You'll get a far better picture from someone with no personal interest in selling to you, and whilst the strict legal position is important to understand, so is the actual reality of how it works year by year. The neighbours will know.

That. We were in the same boat years ago, wanted a house in a private road and had a load of legal information. Spoke to 3 prospective neighbours, realised what it all meant (in that instance a monthly payment to the street mansgement company, which had been set up by the residents and had a board staffed by us - all volunteers, no salaries, AGM etc - all houses had one equal share in the company and decisions (e.g. Should we retarmac this year at a cost of X or fix the electric barrier at Y and leave savings of Z) were majority vote at the AGM.

Once it was explained by them it all made sense and we were happy to buy.

As far as compensation etc our street management company used to take out an insurance policy but we were a through road, you could walk down it bwteeen two standard public roads so it was felt that made sense. In your case there may be no need for that as from the sound Of your post it's a short cul de sac? Again, speak to the neighbour's and see what they currently do if anything.