To not contribute to private road fund

[RoadFundRefusenik]

We live on a council-owned road that can only be accessed by crossing a private road. When we first moved here, the committee that maintains the road used to send a letter explaining that although we aren't on the road they would appreciate if we would contribute to the fund. For ten years we have ignored these letters.

Last year the tone of the letter was more pushy and implied that our contribution was not optional. This year in addition to this year's charge they have said that last year's demand is still owing and if we don't pay they'll register it as a debt that may affect our credit rating.

In the past we have chosen not to pay because as we see it we live on a council road and pay our council tax to cover these things. In addition, for the first several years we chipped in with our neighbours to pay for a gardener to maintain a council-owned patch of land between our properties and the private road that the council never tends to. Now we take turns with our neighbours to mow it, rake the leaves, take care of the trees etc. As part of this we also clear leaves from the private road and cut back tree shoots that overgrow that road so we do contribute, just not financially. Some of our neighbours contribute and others don't.

So AWBU to continue to not contribute to the road fund? And do they legally have the right to threaten our credit rating over this?

I’d love to know the original agreements when the parcels of land were sold off. It seems such an odd situation that OPs road was adopted. If each parcel of land had to contribute when it was a house, where does that responsibility now lie? I know fair is irrelevant as to what should happen, but seems really weird it now all just falls on the remaining houses.

I'd tell them that's not how important things are funded, and to raise the money properly according to law.

And - if you're dealing with the Council - that's a perfectly reasonable stance to take. But in this case we are talking about the OP's neighbours. The people she needs to see and maybe deal with on a daily basis. People from whom she may need a favour on occasion. It's shortsighted to look at it on a purely legal basis, I think.

And if your neighbour’s fence fell down, would you contribute to that? If they had a large tree in their garden cut down, would it be ok for them to send you a bill accompanied by vague threats to “put you on a list” if you didn’t pay up? This is exactly the same.

Shaskin no it's not exactly the same - it is very different - the road is being used by the OP for her / her guests benefit, not solely the neighbours. It is a shared benefit, of a shared access - play silly buggers if you like OP but as stated by the other posters, it may well come back to bite you.

It doesn't sound optional, I had a service charge similar to this, I didn't pay it one year and they didn't chase me but then the following year they did.

Fences typically benefit the people on both sides of them equally, but only one of them will be responsible for its upkeep. Large trees might actually be cut down for the benefit of the neighbours rather than the owner of the land, but the landowners retain legal responsibility for the cost nonetheless. It is the same.

As said, the first step is to check the deeds of her property to see if there is a covenant saying she should pay.

If not she should then try to find out who owns the road, and if they have an obligation to maintain. The two are not automatically linked. You can own it and have no obligation to maintain it. In additition do they have to grant access. If they do not, they could block the road and the op would have to fight in court for access. Access which would probably come at a small annual cost as that would be reasonable.

Then she’s a decision to make. It’s all very well to say I’m not paying when the road is maintained, it’s a whole different ballgame if everyone else does the same thing and it falls into disrepair.

As said, I happily pay towards ours, because I want to be able to drive up it, and I want my guests to be able to drive up and and not have our cars damaged by pot holes, or have it turn into an unsightly muddy mess. However our deeds all mention it so we are all legally obliged. Neighbour owns it and has to maintain it, we pay a contribution, and they have to grant us access. However even if our deeds didn’t spell it out, we would all do this anyway.

You need to check the deeds of your house. It maybe that to use the private road you have to pay towards its upkeep as a percentage of the piece of road I would imagine. I have the same with a path that provides back access to my dear garden. If so, it will cost a great deal more to fight it through court. I would insist that you contribution is proportionate to the size of the bit of road and the number of people.

Either you're meant to pay towards the upkeep, and your deeds will show that, or back in the 1970s the residents at the time got a nice fat sum of money to buy access. If a chunky lump sum was meant to settle access in perpetuity, then that's how it is - they've had their benefit and don't get a second bite of the cherry. You can't take your pension in a lump sum when you retire, then have buyer's remorse 20 years later when annuities would have been the better bet, and ask to start one anyway, can you?

If people have moved in since, then they should have had searches done, and those searches should show which situation applies, because it affects how much they would personally have to contribute towards road upkeep, so potentially purchase value. I mean, house prices are sentimental so it may have had no effect at all, but in strict economic theory terms, it should have. It's a cost against the property.

If someone got a house for slightly less because they need to maintain a road that not all the users pay towards, then why should they be able to ask for costs now, too? That's not reasonable. Either she has to pay annually and they were disorganised about asking, or she doesn't have to pay at all. This hardly seems something where morals are affected, either way.

It’s all very well to say I’m not paying when the road is maintained, it’s a whole different ballgame if everyone else does the same thing and it falls into disrepair.

Yeah, there is that. But I'd seek qualified legal advice before starting to pay, because if doing so over years turns that into an obligation legally (no idea if it would, in the same way access to land does, but she should check), then in turn it could become something that devalues her own property, potentially, no? Because any future purchaser would factor it in when buying her place.

Kittikat it doesn’t mean the Solicitor hadn’t done their job properly and not told them about the covenant to pay. It means they probably explained it to them but they sat there blank faced and nodding without really taking in what the Solicitor was saying as they were so focused on getting their house and promptly forgot about it!

Please contact the highways dept at your local council to ascertain whether it is a Private Street or Private Road. They may have this info on the website.

Jessikita that cracked me up.

if your neighbour’s fence fell down, would you contribute to that?

If I had been driving over it several times a day every day I probably would.

Lol sleeponeday first hand experience!
I’ve seen it happen loads with shared alleyways between terraced houses, neighbour disputes where people have a right to cross garden’s etc. The client/s just don’t take it in and retain the information.

Their Solicitor must have told them and documented it, or I’ll guarantee those 4 house would claim on the soliciotr’s professional negligence Insurance.

Sorry can’t edit forgive the spelling mistakes!

Unless it was in my deeds that I was required to pay, I would tell the private road peeps to do one. It sounds like to me they are trying to get other people to pay for something they are responsible for.

Jess oh I completely believe you, that's what made it so hilarious!

I know! I was just using it as a chance to vent my frustration at some clients lol

Sorry I disappeared everyone. A poorly DS and a DH recovering from surgery had me run off my feet today with not a minute to spare for mumsnetting. I'm back now, with some answers and replies... and an update! Bear with me as I'll break this up over a few posts.

I must admit that all 4 owners of the new houses did not believe me when I first approached them. I wrote them all a letter and quoted the relevant covenant and suggested they contacted their solicitors to get it confirmed. They all coughed up in the end. .

And I am really guilty of not understanding, when I bought my house, what a private road meant and no, I did not listen to my solicitor for the reason you stated!! Far, far too excited to be moving into my new house!

Gets the popcorn out

First off, I assure those of you who think I'm an example of What is Wrong With the World Today for not paying into the fund that I actually care very much about community, good neighbour relations, and being a contributing member of society. I come from somewhere where daft setups like this simply do not happen in urban settings and years of googling never yielded any enlightening information about private roads. Which is why I finally turned to the good people of mumsnet.

I had always assumed that there must be some benefit for those who live on a private road - lower taxes or something - because otherwise it just makes no sense. Now that I have lived in the UK for longer, and some of you knowledgable people have clarified, I realise that it's just one of those quirks of a very old nation where things have unfolded much more organically and chaotically than in a newer country like my homeland.

This gives me a lot to mull over regarding my moral obligation as a good neighbour, although I still say the bad neighbour in all of this is the local council who are badly letting down a handful of citizens because of historic loopholes it has never been in their interest to close.

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We were in this position. So much hassle and aggro between neighbours ( 5 of us) that we moved (to a place with no neighbours within 2 kms)