Can I drive down a private road?

[BusyCM]

I want to go and look at a house for sale, not a viewing yet but I want to see the road it is on and the area etc. It's not a cul-de-sac so I would just drive once through it, maybe quite slowly...

Is it

A. Illegal?

B. Just frowned upon

C. Absolutely fine!

Thanks 😊

C

A friend of mine lives in a private road. Lots of houses on it and anyone can drive down. Obviously people have visitors!

Depends on the road.

You have a legitimate purpose for going down the road but there are some through private roads near me that do road blocks every couple of months to keep the roads private. The security guards they put on them are quite rude.

It's absolutely fine. You may not park unless you have business with a 'frontager' of the road.

C. It's just an unadopted. If you were camping out and dogging, probably not!

Factor in you'll pay towards the upkeep of the road if you buy, it can be very ££££

C absolutely fine. Even if a neighbour were to stop you and ask who you were visiting you are well within your right to say ‘I’m interested in the house which is on the market and just having a look.’

Yes of course I live down a private road, you can drive it whenever you wish. Someone might be peering out at you , to see who it is, but it’s fine.

Completely fine, I lived in a private culdesac. We all owned our own bit of the road up to the midpoint. It was frowned upon to park in front of someone else’s house, but to drive through it is par for the course.

We paid for the upkeep of the road, which was thousands, fine, fair enough, but of course you don’t want people driving down if they don’t need to, as the more wear and tear on the road, the higher the cost of upkeep.

Fab! Thanks very much 😀

C if you have a legitimate reason.

We live down a private track, with three other houses/ cottages. If you were just driving along we’d smile and wave at you. If you stopped, we might look you over. If you stop and wind down the windows and a fug of weed comes out, or Worse, wind up the windows and the car starts rocking, I’ll come out and knock on your window and give you a stern talking to. Or worse still, send scary Wendy from Walnut Cottage to do the same.

My parents lived in a private road when I was a child. Anyone could drive down it. In fact it was part of an estate of three private roads which intersected and connected to other non-private roads. I don't live there any more but would have no hesitation at driving through if I was ever in that vicinity. I have heard of other private estates however which have security etc where it might not be possible.