To not contribute

[narcdad]

Got a letter hand delivered this morning from a house in the high street asking for a £200 contribution to resurface the back lane behind a row of houses (mine included).

The houses all have access to this lane and they use it to park their cars in their garages as there is no street parking due to the houses being on a high street.

I am the last house and do not use this lane as it's difficult to get my car in our garage as it's at a right angle, I also have a drive that fits 2 cars (I am not on the high street but adjoining road). Also my part of the back lane is in very good condition as I don't use the lane to drive down, so no pot holes etc.

AIBU to not contribute? They have stated in the letter that the contractor can do the work on Friday 1st & Saturday 2nd April and have included those bank details!

Forgot to say, you do need to know what's in your deeds, but might be worth speaking to your neighbours to find our what's in their deeds. Unless someone has messed up, all deeds for properties in the road should have the same thing in them.

Asking someone to find £200 at five days notice? No-one heard of the cost of living crisis.

@RiojaRose

I don’t think I’d respond to that at all. No need to.

I agree - I’d wait for the inevitable knock and then be like wtf did u expect to them

I'm going to compose a reply and I'll post it here before I send

Dont forget to check your deeds first

It really is as simple as "you're responsible for it or you're not", and it's best to find out for sure

[quote narcdad]@DogInATent good points, I'll have to go through the deeds as I believe we do have rights of access, our house had an extension by the previous owners and the council said they'd need to create another parking space as the house is now a 5 bed (it's a loft conversation with 2 single rooms)

There is a side ally to gain entrance to the back garden which I share with my neighbours as it's a terrace.[/quote]
The other thing you can do is buy a copy of the Land Registry Title Plan online. You can do this for any property that's registered - it might be worth not just getting your own, but those of a couple of neighbours too (maybe one from the main road) to compare. It only costs £3 per property.

www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

Ownership unclear
Not asked beforehand

It's a nope from me.

They've not given you much notice! And no, don't just send money to someone who's put their details through your door.

Unless it was completely official with company details, I would think its a scam. Don't pay it either way. What do the neighbours say about it?

Seriously have you thought someone might be trying to scam everyone and then everyone pays £200 and then the work doesn't get done.

£200 actually sounds cheap for that kind of work so I would personally be wanting to know what group discussion had been had and that any work planned would have been after at least two or three different quotes. You have literally no proof that the work will be done or any details of what or who is doing it. I wouldn't be handing any money to anyone without knowing a bit more. If it was legit then I would pay it as just because you never use it doesn't mean that everyone else should pay for your share (if they don't use it either).

£200 actually sounds cheap for that kind of work

Not really. For a back lane a couple of loads of road planings are ideal and not expensive. But they're generally only available when there's roadworks being done, so the short timescale may reflect availability of the materials.