private road implications

kezzygirl

Hi, My husband and I are viewing a property Saturday, it is on a private road along with 3 other properties. I understand that we would be liable to pay towards upkeep of said road, are there any other implications we need to think about?thanks in advance, kez

Cakeguts

Right of access. In some private roads parts of the road is in the deeds of the houses. You have to make sure that you have right of access over these parts of the road. You don't want to end up with a house in a road where you can only drive down one side (This nearly happened to us once but the solicitor caught it in time.)

kezzygirl

Blimey, I will bear that in mind, thanks

kerri_gt

Also look at other covenants that may apply - we live in a private road and for instance we are not allowed to put aerials or anything else on the main roof - satellite dishes are also included in this but the management company are reasonable in that they accept in this day and age many people have them, but they are generally placed at the back of properties out of sight as far as possible).
All houses in the road need to adhere to a particular colour of window frame, keep front gardens in good order, not put any signage or flags on the front garden / of the house except estate agent signs and such - which actually keep the road in the main looking very nice. I believe long standing caravans and (I think boats) are also prohibited on driveways.

There are a few slightly more obscure covenants - apparently we're not allowed to keep livestock except cats / dogs. However, overall there is nothing that feels significantly restrictive and its nice knowing that the road will be kept to a certain standard.

Also check out things like broadband / fibre / cable connections. I'm pretty sure that our road does not have cable and if we ever wanted the road to have this everyone would need to pay via funds held in the management company (it would also have to be an approved spend by the majority of owners).

G_M

kezzygirl wrote: »

I understand that we would be liable to pay towards upkeep of said road,

Was that in the marketing blurb or the ageent told you?

Or are you just assuming it? It may, or may not, be true.

Sarastro

Is the road in good order now? If not, I'd be asking for something off the price.

kezzygirl

kerri_gt wrote: »

Also look at other covenants that may apply - we live in a private road and for instance we are not allowed to put aerials or anything else on the main roof - satellite dishes are also included in this but the management company are reasonable in that they accept in this day and age many people have them, but they are generally placed at the back of properties out of sight as far as possible).
All houses in the road need to adhere to a particular colour of window frame, keep front gardens in good order, not put any signage or flags on the front garden / of the house except estate agent signs and such - which actually keep the road in the main looking very nice. I believe long standing caravans and (I think boats) are also prohibited on driveways.

There are a few slightly more obscure covenants - apparently we're not allowed to keep livestock except cats / dogs. However, overall there is nothing that feels significantly restrictive and its nice knowing that the road will be kept to a certain standard.

Also check out things like broadband / fibre / cable connections. I'm pretty sure that our road does not have cable and if we ever wanted the road to have this everyone would need to pay via funds held in the management company (it would also have to be an approved spend by the majority of owners).

I don't think we would have a management company as the property is freehold? The estate agent did say the person who built the house lives in the road and named the road after their surname. Thanks for your post it's really helpful

kezzygirl

G_M wrote: »

Was that in the marketing blurb or the ageent told you?

Or are you just assuming it? It may, or may not, be true.

I asked the agent on the phone, he said it's maintained by the property owners.

kezzygirl

Sarastro wrote: »

Is the road in good order now? If not, I'd be asking for something off the price.

We will be doing a drive by hopefully tomorrow but if not will definitely be looking at it Saturday! The house itself is an odd layout, so I wonder whether we could factor this in a reduction. That and it has been on sale since April and reduced price in june

kezzygirl

UPDATE

We have been and looked around the outside, the road is gravel with some holes in and dips. its only a small road.