Problems with unadopted road

poorlittlefish · 31 October 2012 at 2:17PM

The road I live in ends in a turning circle that's in front of my house. Most of the houses are in the other end of the street and it's only that section of the road that's adopted by the local council. From the end of the row of houses to my house there are only three properties - two large houses and my little one at the end. It's this part of the road that the council says is unadopted. When I bought the house the previous owners told me the road was adopted and the solicitors never really got to the bottom of it (the council's records were so poor they thought they still owned part of my garden).

The neighbour next to me runs a business from home and I was aware of this when I bought. What I wasn't aware of (and couldn't check because I was living 200 miles away) was that he has regular deliveries from large articulated lorries, which then turn around in front of my house. The unadopted part of the road, which already suffers from not being covered in tarmac, is getting badly potholed and rutted with the tyre marks from the lorries.

There's nothing within my deeds that mentions either the road or any responsibility for its maintenance, but as it's unadopted and I'm the one at the end, I'm very worried that I'll end up unable to get to my property by car, thanks to next door's delivery lorries completely ruining the road. The road and turning circle is also used by the bin lorry, people in the adopted part of the (narrow) street and members of the public who come to walk their dogs etc.

My point to all this is liability for the unadopted part of the road, proving who is causing the problems and where I stand on getting potholes etc fixed, particularly when, having no need to use the turning area, I'm actually the only one not causing any damage to it!

Many thanks.

pooch · 31 October 2012 at 2:33PM

poorlittlefish wrote: »

The road I live in ends in a turning circle that's in front of my house. Most of the houses are in the other end of the street and it's only that section of the road that's adopted by the local council. From the end of the row of houses to my house there are only three properties - two large houses and my little one at the end. It's this part of the road that the council says is unadopted. When I bought the house the previous owners told me the road was adopted and the solicitors never really got to the bottom of it (the council's records were so poor they thought they still owned part of my garden).

The neighbour next to me runs a business from home and I was aware of this when I bought. What I wasn't aware of (and couldn't check because I was living 200 miles away) was that he has regular deliveries from large articulated lorries, which then turn around in front of my house. The unadopted part of the road, which already suffers from not being covered in tarmac, is getting badly potholed and rutted with the tyre marks from the lorries.

There's nothing within my deeds that mentions either the road or any responsibility for its maintenance, but as it's unadopted and I'm the one at the end, I'm very worried that I'll end up unable to get to my property by car, thanks to next door's delivery lorries completely ruining the road. The road and turning circle is also used by the bin lorry, people in the adopted part of the (narrow) street and members of the public who come to walk their dogs etc.

My point to all this is liability for the unadopted part of the road, proving who is causing the problems and where I stand on getting potholes etc fixed, particularly when, having no need to use the turning area, I'm actually the only one not causing any damage to it!

Many thanks.

This is something your conveyancer should have looked into berfore you bought the property.

I would suggest you refer back to the conveyancer.

molerat · 31 October 2012 at 2:45PM

Agreed. In my conveyancing pack Q&As was "who is responsible for the maintenance of the highway", a "don't know" answer would not have been acceptable.

Buzby · 31 October 2012 at 3:10PM

If unadapted, then the maintenance cost falls on those who have properties adjoining. If 3, then the costs to you would be 33% of the total cost of repair. The smart move would be to find out why he Council didn't adopt it. - were they asked? Had the developer(s) not completed a required function to allow a takeover?

All this should ave been disclosed as part of the purchasing process - as this is a major consideration if not Council maintained.

CAB_National_Representative · 1 November 2012 at 12:38PM

poorlittlefish wrote: »

The road I live in ends in a turning circle that's in front of my house. Most of the houses are in the other end of the street and it's only that section of the road that's adopted by the local council. From the end of the row of houses to my house there are only three properties - two large houses and my little one at the end. It's this part of the road that the council says is unadopted. When I bought the house the previous owners told me the road was adopted and the solicitors never really got to the bottom of it (the council's records were so poor they thought they still owned part of my garden).

The neighbour next to me runs a business from home and I was aware of this when I bought. What I wasn't aware of (and couldn't check because I was living 200 miles away) was that he has regular deliveries from large articulated lorries, which then turn around in front of my house. The unadopted part of the road, which already suffers from not being covered in tarmac, is getting badly potholed and rutted with the tyre marks from the lorries.

There's nothing within my deeds that mentions either the road or any responsibility for its maintenance, but as it's unadopted and I'm the one at the end, I'm very worried that I'll end up unable to get to my property by car, thanks to next door's delivery lorries completely ruining the road. The road and turning circle is also used by the bin lorry, people in the adopted part of the (narrow) street and members of the public who come to walk their dogs etc.

My point to all this is liability for the unadopted part of the road, proving who is causing the problems and where I stand on getting potholes etc fixed, particularly when, having no need to use the turning area, I'm actually the only one not causing any damage to it!

Many thanks.

Hi poorlittlefish - our CAB representives aren't covering this topic on our board at the moment. We'd recommend that you get expert advice on this, starting with your local bureau, and probably also expert legal advice.

If it is of any help, I've found this information about 'unadopted roads' on the Department for Transport website.

xylophone · 1 November 2012 at 3:16PM

And is your neighbour allowed to use his home in a residential area for business use?

Have you approached your local councillor at his surgery?

Problems with unadopted road

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