Land sale

greychair2

please move to more appropriate forum if necessary

we live on a private road which is a dead end. There are 5 properties on this road. We are responsible for the upkeep of the road. The road owner is unknown according to a land registry search. The houses are all on one side of the road, the other side is the end of others gardens for the next road (all adopted, ex local authority houses)
one of these houses has put the end of their garden up for sale for building on. No planning permission applied for but a one bed, one storey home is suggested on the listing. 

Can a property be built and access given onto our road? Our fear is that one will lead to several of the properties on the adjoining road jumping on and also selling their gardens and we go from a very quiet road to a road full of houses! 

Thanks

Brie

Do you or others on the road own the right of way?  If not I'd suggest that you can't restrict anyone from using the road.  I think the best you can do is object to any planning application when it's submitted.  

se2020

Check your own deeds first and see exactly what rights you (and the other houses) have to use this road. 

The last thing you want to do is stir up a fuss saying they have no access rights until you are sure that you have them yourself!

Bigphil1474

How are you responsible for the upkeep of the road but don't know who owns it? Not saying that isn't right, but there must be a document that says it. Normally I'd expect that each house would look after the road outside their property, or all of the properties would have joint responsibility for all of the road.

daveyjp

Bigphil1474 said:

How are you responsible for the upkeep of the road but don't know who owns it? Not saying that isn't right, but there must be a document that says it. Normally I'd expect that each house would look after the road outside their property, or all of the properties would have joint responsibility for all of the road.

I've lived on a private road developed in the 70s where the ownership of the properties included a small strip of the road to the centre line, but no overall requirement  for any owner to keep the road in good repair,

maman

Bigphil1474 said:

How are you responsible for the upkeep of the road but don't know who owns it? Not saying that isn't right, but there must be a document that says it. Normally I'd expect that each house would look after the road outside their property, or all of the properties would have joint responsibility for all of the road.

I'm assuming the 'we' in the original post means we, the residents of the road not just one household. 

Presumably, they've taken the job on because they want to have a decent surface in the absence of an owner. 

eddddy

The key is probably to find out who owns the road.

Typically, it's the road's owner(s) who grants rights to use the road.

So it's very possible that the road's owners can grant rights to the owners of the potential new houses. Typically, the road's owner(s) would charge each new home owner a chunk of money for those rights.

(I guess it's possible that the seller of the plot of land has already discussed/agreed terms for access with the road's owners.)