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Unadopted road used by everyone. How should this be maintained?

Morning all. In our village there is a 500m stretch of lane which is unadopted but used by everyone, bin wagons, posties, emergency vehicles as well as residents. There are 2 houses fronting it, both lived in by the same family (grandparents next door to son and his family).

I understand that legally, any houses fronting the lane are responsible for its maintenance, though this seems unfair given that it is used by everyone. The reason that everyone uses it is that the road that it allows access to has a very difficult and dangerous and narrow 'main' junction to a major A road with fast flowing traffic. Depending on which way you come at it, you either have to pull right over to the side of the oncoming traffic to turn in, or alternatively wait and creep in, checking nothing is trying to emerge as there's only space for one vehicle at a time. There are houses up to the edge of the road so the junction can't be widened without knocking them down.

The council say it's not their responsibility so now that it is in a really shocking state, huge potholes, ridges etc, how can we get it maintained? The home owners have done a bit but it could be costly ongoing, are there any funds we could access to sort it out? Can we/they barricade it off so forcing vehicles to use the dangerous junction hoping the bin men for example will go back to base and say they need safer access?

Any ideas gratefully received. Thank you.

EJ
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Comments

  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Who are "we" if you're not one of the owners of properties fronting the lane? Do you have rights to use it? If so, what do your title deeds say about it?
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Who owns the road? You cannot assume that "any houses fronting the lane are responsible for its maintenance" without looking at the Deeds.


    £3.00 each here.
  • elljay
    elljay Posts: 1,021 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts
    Thank you for such speedy replies. The 'we' I referred to are all of us who live along the road that this lane accesses. Our cars take a battering each time we go along it but it seems the lesser of the evils, rather than using the main road access. Given that the guy who owns the houses fronting it is elderly we thought as a community we might pull together to do something, or alternatively persuade the council to adopt it. However despite all the arguments the council are adamant they won't do so.

    The land registry has been checked, the lane has no owner. I've read in several places that houses fronting it are legally responsible but you're right, I could be mistaken.

    Whichever way, we either want to work out a way of maintaining it or persuade the council to take it on. Occasionally in the past, workmen tarmacking another road in the area have chucked a couple of buckets of spare tarmac at it for the price of a pint but unfortunately those days of obliging council workers have gone.

    I think possibly the only way forward is to get together a group of concerned residents and try to do it ourselves. But then what about liability if someone trips in a hole we've previously filled? It feels like a minefield!

    Just to add, it isn't on the rights of way map.

    Thanks.
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    elljay wrote: »
    I understand that legally, any houses fronting the lane are responsible for its maintenance, though this seems unfair given that it is used by everyone.
    No, not really. They bought the properties knowing the maintenance responsibility and the right-of-way situation.
    The council say it's not their responsibility
    It's unadopted, so they're right.
    so now that it is in a really shocking state, huge potholes, ridges etc, how can we get it maintained?
    Lean on the people whose responsibility it is.

    Or go a different way.
    Can we/they barricade it off so forcing vehicles to use the dangerous junction
    Probably not, if there's been a right of way established through constant unrestricted use.
  • elljay
    elljay Posts: 1,021 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts
    AdrianC wrote: »
    No, not really. They bought the properties knowing the maintenance responsibility and the right-of-way situation.

    It's unadopted, so they're right.

    Lean on the people whose responsibility it is.

    This is an old, very rural area, many of the houses are just passed on through families so even if a conveyancer did inform him of this responsibility back when, it's unlikely he would have refused to live in his parents' (grandparents', greatgrandparents' etc back 300 yrs) house because of this.

    And what about the bits of the lane without houses fronting it? Scrubby land belonging to nobody.

    It seems quite wrong that he should pay when bin lorries/delivery trucks etc servicing the other houses are wrecking the lane. Residents cars are the least damaging in the scheme of things.

    Will double check the absolute liability again though, someone has suggested his is just to the middle of the lane, not the whole width. Will clarify.

    Thanks.
  • Don't assume that the deeds will make it clear who exactly is responsible.

    I own a property where it fronts a small section of road that is unadopted.
    There are 4 houses that appear to own the road and that's what we have always assumed...however on close inspection of the deeds the road was not wholly transferred to the properties and is still owned by the developer of the land...the houses were built at the turn of the last century and the builder and potentially his first descendants are long gone.

    Our situation has just fallen into some sort of obscurity.

    We have to grant a right of access across the road to those who live at the off shoots of either end as this land was adopted by the local council when the remaining land was developed around 50 years ago...but there is nothing to suggest that we need to maintain it.

    I guess the maintaninance issue will lie in our case with the developer or their descendants....but its a hell of a job to trace them.
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  • elljay
    elljay Posts: 1,021 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts
    Our situation has just fallen into some sort of obscurity.


    I guess the maintaninance issue will lie in our case with the developer or their descendants....but its a hell of a job to trace them.

    Thank you, nice to hear it's not just us with this problem. 300 years ago I don't think developers were invented, it was just Farmer Brown who built a house, added on to a bit by Farmer Brown's son and so on. The damage to the lane probably started when wheels were invented and has gone downhill ever since!

    Locals contend that as the council did maintain it by the aforementioned buckets of tarmac now and again, this set a precedent but it's not a strong case. Anyway councils will only adopt roads that are in good condition, not like this.
  • gary83
    gary83 Posts: 906 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper
    Cant help thinking these two quotes are slightly related;
    elljay wrote: »
    occasionally in the past, workmen tarmacking another road in the area have chucked a couple of buckets of spare tarmac at it for the price of a pint but unfortunately those days of obliging council workers have gone.
    elljay wrote: »
    Locals contend that as the council did maintain it by the aforementioned buckets of tarmac now and again, this set a precedent but it's not a strong case. Anyway councils will only adopt roads that are in good condition, not like this.

    You can hardly blame the council contractors for no longer helping out, or accepting a couple of quid for chucking some surplus tarmac on an unadopted road if people are then going to turn around and later claim that because of that the council should now be forced to adopt it and do expensive repairs now the roads gone to ruin.
  • diggingdude
    diggingdude Posts: 2,499 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    elljay wrote: »
    Thank you for such speedy replies. The 'we' I referred to are all of us who live along the road that this lane accesses. Our cars take a battering each time we go along it but it seems the lesser of the evils, rather than using the main road access. Given that the guy who owns the houses fronting it is elderly we thought as a community we might pull together to do something, or alternatively persuade the council to adopt it. However despite all the arguments the council are adamant they won't do so.

    The land registry has been checked, the lane has no owner. I've read in several places that houses fronting it are legally responsible but you're right, I could be mistaken.

    Whichever way, we either want to work out a way of maintaining it or persuade the council to take it on. Occasionally in the past, workmen tarmacking another road in the area have chucked a couple of buckets of spare tarmac at it for the price of a pint but unfortunately those days of obliging council workers have gone.

    I think possibly the only way forward is to get together a group of concerned residents and try to do it ourselves. But then what about liability if someone trips in a hole we've previously filled? It feels like a minefield!

    Just to add, it isn't on the rights of way map.

    Thanks.

    You could all throw some money into the pot and get it fixed? Likely doing damage to the cars of everyone who uses it
    An answer isn't spam just because you don't like it......
  • custardy
    custardy Posts: 38,365 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    elljay wrote: »
    Morning all. In our village there is a 500m stretch of lane which is unadopted but used by everyone, bin wagons, posties, emergency vehicles as well as residents. .

    EJ

    You picked strange examples.
    If you dont want services for your properties using the road then arrange for them to terminate/service a point before the unadopted road starts.
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