Un adopted Road

[Yellowbutterfly1]

Outside my house the road is maintained by the local authority, it is fully surfaced, edges, pavement etc. Exactly the same as the rest of the road.
Around 15 years after my house was build, a back garden was sold off and 2 more houses built extending the road however the road outside these 2 houses has never been adopted by the local authority so it’s in quite a state.

When I purchased my house the local authority for some reason said the road outside my house was not publicly maintained, the sellers said not to their knowledge and they’ve never paid anything because why would they when the road was created by the council.

I’m trying to find out who exactly owns the un adopted road outside my neighbours house, they aren’t the best people to ask so I downloaded the title deeds and map from land registry and there is no mention of the road at all or any mention of rights of way or anything at all and the red boundary line is just of around their house and garden.

How can I find out?

You can search online for the definitive highways map for your local area. That will tell you what is classed as s highway. That is not the same as it being adopted though.

You can also search for a list of adopted roads.

Thanks Collaborate, I did find a list and it said ‘Mixed maintenance responsibility’ and ‘Multiple maintaining parties’.

I need to drive on part of this un adopted bit of road to access my driveway In the sense that I reverse in my driveway. If I drove into my driveway I would still need to drive on that bit of road in order to turn the car.

My neighbour has never said anything about that as it is obvious I would not be able to use my driveway otherwise, but constantly complains if we have a visitor or tradesman and they park so much as 1 inch past my driveway therefor encroaching on their ‘private’ road.

I really want to know if they and their other neighbour actually own this piece of road. I expected the details on the land registry to show it outlined , shaded or some words about it.

No - you need to forget about the land registry. That isn't going to tell you anything about the roads.

Look at the definitive highways map. that will tell you what rights the public has to use that bit of road. If you have no right to use it then the neighbour is entitled to get upset if you continue to use it.

The problem they have, or anyone else has, is that the LA will expect the road to be made up to current standards before they'll adopt.

You have the title register and plan for the neighbour's house? What about the other house, you say there are two? It's possible the one at the far end technically owns the road with your neighbour having an easement over the part they need to use to access their house and it's noted in the title register of the other house.

Also, if those houses weren't there and the road hadn't been extended, how would you have accessed your drive in a car?

If you download the TP1 (transfer of part) from when those two properties were first built and sold, it will likely mention the road in there. Often those with the benefit of the road are responsible it’s upkeep and maintenance.

The road likely belongs to whoever purchased the piece of land to build on.

What I don’t understand is how you accessed your property pre the existence of this road, if it is only a relatively addition.

When my house was the last in the road, there was a sort of turn round point directly in front so the road was wider so there would have been room to reverse in or out without the need to have to turn the car straight away. (We say this on old aerial photos)
Later the house in front of us sold more of their garden for the last 2 houses to be built so they removed the extra bit of width in the road as they absolutely thought it wasn’t needed anymore as there would be room to access the driveway as you would in an ordinary road. This happed around 30 years ago.

Where would I find the TP 1?

You can download it from the land reg. it will be called a transfer but will be dated. If you can remember the year the properties were built and sold for the first time it’s that date you need.

Thank you very much ZigZagPlant, I will take a look.

Thank you to everyone else for you help as well.

Have a look at the planning application as well. It will all be online. It will have had to have a statement on access which should have mentioned any plans for adoption.

I’ve looked again at the title plan for both houses and there is a Covenant That talks about the fact that only 2 houses can be built.

It seems it was 2 back gardens, 1 owner sold his back garden to his neighbour who then built 2 houses on it.

Nothing about right of way etc

It sounds like you’ve got the transfer for the two houses when they were one.

You need the transfer which splits the house from one to two.

Those aren't the transfer docs the OP has - they are the title registers and plans for the two newer houses. I think you need to order copies of other documents if you're a member of the public.

I think your right.

Both houses just say the same thing and just have the boundary around their houses highlighted.

The non made up bit of road outside their houses actually extends nearly 2 inches across my official boundary line when you actually take a look so maybe I do have some rights over it, who knows. They is nothing in any of my deeds though, probably because they were build so long after my house was.