Buying House - Private Road Dilemma

b80_2

hi,

id really appreciate your insight into a house I'm looking at buying.

I'm in the process of buying a property for myself. one thing that's bugging me and has held up the exchange is the fact that a private road begins adjacent to my potential new homes rear garden - only about 2 metres or so of private road runs along side the property.

The house is on a corner plot, the front and most of the side road are on public maintained highway. The rear garden has a gate that leads onto a small alley way which comes out onto the private road where my bins are kept.From a practical point of view this doesnt bother me as if i was asked not to walk into the road I could move my bins to the front of the house. the garden can also be accessed through my garage so no issue moving rubbish/garden waste through there if I had to.

the seller has lived there for 7 years and has never been asked not to use the private road. the owner of the road is a builder and doesn't reside nearby.

my solicitor doesn't feel it's a big issue and has put together an indemnity protecting me if action was ever brought against me. apparently if I'm not asked to stop using the road within another 13 years it becomes assumed I have right of way.

My issue is more from a future seller point of view. Do you think the above could cause issues selling the house in the future? apparently someone else pulled out before me due to this private road situation. As much as a house is primarily a home and I do like this place (close to my daughter), I really don't want to end up spending what to me is a serious amount of money on a potential 'white elephant' that no one else would want to buy further down the line.

What do you think, am I over-analyzing (something I'm prone too!). I want to buy this place but mentally I need to be sure I'm not taking on too much risk here.

cheers

G_M

How vital is the access via the private road, to you and/or any future owner?

I don't see what the indemnity policy can do. It cannot grant you a Right of Way, so if the road owner suddenly prohibits you from using the road, all the insurance could do is perhaps pay for you to fight a legal battle with him. It will not guarantee that you win that battle!

b80_2

not vital at all. bins can be moved to front of house. if any serious work was needed in the garden then tools etc can be taken through the garage and into the garden. don't really ever need to use the gate that leads onto the private road except for taking rubbish out to where the bins are currently housed and like I say this can be changed.

Davesnave

It sounds as if you only have pedestrian access via this route, so if you have full access at the front, it would be a minor detail to most purchasers. Some people don't even like the 'risk' of a rear garden access these days.

However, one also has to wonder how the owner of the private road might police this 2m section and prevent the owner of your house from using it. That wouldn't be easy!

A third idea occurs to me; would it be possible to create a new pedestrian access to the public road if this one were ever to become problematic? I'm in a similar position to you and it would be no more than an afternoon's work to create a pedestrian access from the public road if I wanted one.

Of course, individual circumstances vary, but I know the council wouldn't be in the slightest bit interested if I did that.

davidmcn

G_M wrote: »

I don't see what the indemnity policy can do. It cannot grant you a Right of Way, so if the road owner suddenly prohibits you from using the road, all the insurance could do is perhaps pay for you to fight a legal battle with him. It will not guarantee that you win that battle!

It would at least cover any resulting loss in value of the house. Though it doesn't sound like a big deal either way.

More importantly is that it means you already have a policy to wave at any future buyer/lender asking similar questions.

b80_2

thanks for the responses so far, it's helping to put my mind at ease!

just popped up to the property and there is a flower bed along the side of the house which goes all the way to the alley, so this could be made into a narrow path if needed .... im.assuming this is part of my property!

a potential concern could be if the fence needs replacing, would the workmen need to work from the outside of the property rather than on the garden side. if somehow the owner of the road found out about the work I guess it could be completed from the inside.

thelem

Does the property need to contribute to the upkeep of this private road? That could be what scared the last people off, particularly if you'd be responsible for the whole road and not just 2m.

Davesnave

You are thinking-up problems that aren't very likely to arise. If there's an opening there, it's unlikely the owner of the road has given it a moment's thought for years. People usually only notice things or think about them when they change.

Most people are also amenable about allowing access for those engaged in genuine maintenance work, provided they are approached in the right manner. It's only when such access is taken for granted that permission is likely to be grudging or refused.

G_M

b80 wrote: »

I'm in the process of buying a property for myself. one thing that's bugging me and has held up the exchange is the fact that a private road begins adjacent to my potential new homes rear garden - only about 2 metres or so of private road runs along side the property.

not vital at all. bins can be moved to front of house. if any serious work was needed in the garden then tools etc can be taken through the garage and into the garden. don't really ever need to use the gate that leads onto the private road

I no longer understand the purpose of this thread.

b80_2

just re-assurance that the private road situation is unlikely to put off future buyers or significantly impact the house value.

Tom99

You should be fine, it does not sound like an important problem. Just keep a copy of the present owners statement (in writing) that there has been no issue in the 7 years they owned the property.