Buying a house on a private road

canaldumidi

thegreenone said:

.......  As above, your solicitor should ask lots more questions about how the management co. works.

and of course you'll get a good feel for how it works when you knock on the neighbours' doors.

TheCuriousSausage

I have lived on a private road with 10 houses for the past 10 years. There have been a few potholes appear but as one of the younger residents I just buy some cold tarmac/pothole repair and fill a hole before it gets too bad. The road was extended for 5 more properties nearly 40 years ago and the road is original and still in good repair. I wouldn't worry about it if the house is right and it sounds like there is a sense of ownership already in the road.

BikingBud

naboo94387 said:

Sandtree said:

I'd certainly be asking the lawyer to look at any of the agreements and opine on how enforceable etc they all are.

One of my cousins has lived on a private road for at least 30 years and not once has any material repairs been done to it because the owners cannot come to an agreement... its a much longer no through road and they're about 2/3rds down it, the houses at the beginning of the road don't believe they should contribute as much as those at the end of the road because they only use a small proportion of it. 

In earlier years it wasn't so bad, some do pour loose gravel into the bigger holes but now anything with below average ground clearance certainly has to park up the road and walk down it. 

Thanks this is another concern. At the moment there is a 'management company' made up of the 5 houses on the road, they all seem to meet up and are on the same page regarding repairs. But this might not be the case in the future.
I am finding lots of stories online about pot-holed private roads that just carry on deteriorating because some members don't want to pay the costs. And that would no doubt start adversely affecting property value.

So go and introduce yourself before you buy and ensure you all have aligned expectations.

See how it currently works, see how you may wish to cover any future liabilities that may come around. 

If it works currently then you are the only person that appears to have a point of objection, nobody else seems to want to change it.

I would also consider the condition of the road as important as the condition of the house. As others have mentioned simple lack of communication and sense of shared ownership has likely eroded some value from those houses that are now left with cart tracks because the owners do not want to or cannot reach a simple agreement.

How do you plan on dealing with any other regular maintenance activities with the house, boiler, roof, decorating etc? It's merely another upkeep cost!