Unadopted road

lonestar1

OP=Original Poster
SIM= Searches of Index Maps
http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/education/commonhold/reg_preliminary/sims/

anandp

Just found out from Land Registry website (I was previously searching under postcode and not street name).

The road & pathway belongs to an old company, that got dissolved in 1994 according to Companies House. Apparently, when a company gets dissolved, its assets transfer to the Crown (assuming this means Government or HM).

Not sure on next steps...


....additionally found that the road got transferred to Harrow by Brent in 1993.

Snooze

lonestar1 wrote: »

If you dont know who owns the road then you may not even have permission to use it!
If you can find who does own it maybe offer to buy it from them after expalining they would need to fund any reapir work to drains etc under their road.

Once you own the road turn it into a toll road and charge your neighbours to use it. After a few years you should have made enough cash to do any upgrades needed to get it adopted by the council

:rotfl:

Now that is quality! Although I doubt it would do your neighbourly relations much good!

Rob

Richard_Webster

anandp wrote: »

Just found out from Land Registry website (I was previously searching under postcode and not street name).

The road & pathway belongs to an old company, that got dissolved in 1994 according to Companies House. Apparently, when a company gets dissolved, its assets transfer to the Crown (assuming this means Government or HM).

Not sure on next steps...


....additionally found that the road got transferred to Harrow by Brent in 1993.

If you and the other residents get together and set up a company then you could approach the Treasury Solicitor to ask about buying the land and maybe you could close off the road to the public. However the Council may be treating it as a highway (i.e. usuable by the public as of right) even if it is not maintained by the Council and if it is a highway then you can't close it off.

anandp

Richard_Webster wrote: »

If you and the other residents get together and set up a company then you could approach the Treasury Solicitor to ask about buying the land and maybe you could close off the road to the public. However the Council may be treating it as a highway (i.e. usuable by the public as of right) even if it is not maintained by the Council and if it is a highway then you can't close it off.

The preference here is having the Council adopt the road. With this in mind, and assuming the Treasury Solicitor disclaimed the road, does this not mean that the road is essentially ownerless?

Can this be grounds for having the road adopted?

Snooze

I'd just like to point out that before even considering this "getting the council to adopt the road" option, you'll have more hoops to jump through than you can shake a stick at. Also, the £1500 per linear metre to bring it up to standard is actually a LOT more now (varies from council to council).

Council's don't like adopting roads because it's time and money they don't have and a whole pile of hassle. They'll throw every excuse in the book at you for not doing it and invent "repairs" that don't need doing along with made-up absurd price tags to price you out of being able to afford the work in order for them to adopt it.

I used to work for a City Council Highways Dept at their Materials Testing Laboratory and road adoptions were one of the things we used to do. We'd go out to the site and drill the road at fixed distances taking a bore sample of the foundations which went back to the lab for examination. 9 times out of 10 the bores would just crumble instead of coming out in a clean solid block thus meaning the construction was very poor (even though to the average eye the road looked well constructed). Don't be surprised if yours turns out to be the same and you're presented with a very large bill.

Rob

Richard_Webster

I didn't know that level of technical detail, but I too worked for a Council at one time!

What used to happen was that the Council decided to try to take over a particualr road for adoption and sent out out all the statutory notices and then got a load of complaints from people who lived there saying they couldn't afford the £1,500 (this was 25 years ago - so the price will be more now). It soon turned out to be more trouble than it was worth with all the objections from the residents. I think OP will find that he/she will have a job getting a majority of residents to support this and without that majority the Council will probably decide that it is not worth while spending their time and causing complaints and objections and will drop any proposal on that basis.

In one private road in my area (gravel surface - residents pay so much a year for new gravel) the Council carries out an informal consultation every 10 years or so to see if the residents want it adopted and each time they vote overwhelmingly against it.

anandp

In this particular case, we're only talking about 16 homes, of which I've spoken to about half of them about the adoption of the road.

All those 8 were in favour, so if its a case of majority, only one more is needed, though I'd imagine all would be in favour given the recent spate of burglaries...

All the above is, of course, based on zero or minimal cost - as this had not been on the radar. When I did post the original note though, it was under the assumption that the road may be owned by residents, which, I now know NOT to be the case.

In this example, I cannot see how the council could therefore suggest we should pay for its upkeep.

Snooze

anandp wrote: »

In this particular case, we're only talking about 16 homes, of which I've spoken to about half of them about the adoption of the road.

All those 8 were in favour, so if its a case of majority, only one more is needed, though I'd imagine all would be in favour given the recent spate of burglaries...

You'll quickly find those 8 suddenly become uninterested when you mention costs, I'll guarantee it!

Rob

PasturesNew

anandp wrote: »

In this particular case, we're only talking about 16 homes, of which I've spoken to about half of them about the adoption of the road.

All those 8 were in favour, so if its a case of majority, only one more is needed, though I'd imagine all would be in favour given the recent spate of burglaries...

All the above is, of course, based on zero or minimal cost - as this had not been on the radar. When I did post the original note though, it was under the assumption that the road may be owned by residents, which, I now know NOT to be the case.

In this example, I cannot see how the council could therefore suggest we should pay for its upkeep.

Maybe your neighbours aren't as well off as you. Where I lived there was a rear access lane. I'd have loved it to have been just levelled and a basic topping put on it. No way did I ever have the money to do it if it had been suggested though.

Want and being able to afford it are two entirely different things for most people.

"only £1500" to one household is 1/4 of the household income, possibly half their monthly disposable income. That amount to a single person might be six months' disposable income before they'd left the house to buy clothes or fix breakdowns in their house. So to come up with £1500 might take them 2-3 years of scrimping and planning. Not worth it for a spot of tarmac and a few lights.