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Original poster

Buying a house on private road

36 replies

EsmesRedPetticoat · 28/06/2022 18:25

We are looking at a house on a private road, 2 houses use the road to access the houses but it’s not a through road to anywhere. There’s no agreement in place currently to pay for maintenance as far as the vendors are aware and they don’t know who the land belongs to.
anyone have any experience? What would we need to consider? Would this put you off a property? It’s towards the top of our budget but in so many ways it’s a dream house except for this!

OP posts:
ShaunaTheSheep · 28/06/2022 18:30

Deal breaker for me, I'm afraid. Even if all the ownership and maintenance responsibilities were clearly set out, I wouldn't want the potential risk and cost. With no information, I would not even consider a purchase.

Summersdreaming · 28/06/2022 18:30

Kind of. My lane doesn't have a name, it forks off from a named road and my address is the named road.. but it's quite clearly a different road/lane. It has 4/5 houses along it. No idea who maintains it, nothing came up during conveyancing. We've only been here for a few months so can't help other than saying it didn't put us off.

BadAtMaths2 · 28/06/2022 18:30

no. We looked at house on unadopted road. Didn’t buy it as big potholes. That was 3 years ago, road surface has got worse and they still haven’t got together to fix it.

ChessieFL · 28/06/2022 18:31

The private road itself wouldn’t necessarily put me off, but the fact that nobody knows who owns it or is responsible for maintenance would. I wouldn’t want to end up with a sudden surprise bill or access withdrawn or something.

Ohnonevermind · 28/06/2022 18:31

I’ve just sold my house(cash buyer long story) but it can be an issue getting a mortgage as they could regard the house as land locked.
I’d get solicitors advice as you may acquire rights after x years etc but part of our road had become degraded and we were unable to repair it .
We had to move due to nightmare neighbours and it impacted on our ability to sell.

Original poster
EsmesRedPetticoat · 28/06/2022 18:51

Hmm we haven’t viewed the house yet but we’re going to go out later and have a squizz at the front of the house/location to see what the road looks like.

OP posts:
Sprig1 · 28/06/2022 18:55

I would run a mile. Shared access arrangements like this are a nightmare even if it is clear who owns/has responsibility for what, never mind if they don't.

gg96cgp · 28/06/2022 18:59

I would check out factually who owns the land and speak to the other neighbour. Without details as to how long the road is, etc, its easy to get very scared by something that may be easily managed.

pbdr · 28/06/2022 19:04

I live on a farm steading at the end of a fairly long private access road. The residents of the houses (16 I think) all pay money into an account monthly by standing order, which pays for maintenance of the shared septic tank, road etc. it costs a few thousand a year in total to patch the road up and keep it in decent condition.
It's a nuisance, but it's fine since we have a clear setup for everyone contributing, and established residents who organise things. I would absolutely want to know who is responsible for maintenance and how it is organised before considering buying.

Frazzled2207 · 28/06/2022 19:08

Hmm. We recently bought a house on a private road. Quite well organised though. We all pay a certain amount per month and then road and other repairs are organised when needed. We’ve seen the accounts and it all seems fine. 5 houses.
If it wasn’t for that arrangement I wouldn’t be keen at all.

2bazookas · 28/06/2022 19:24

Deal breaker.

Whatever damage /snow blockage happens to that road, you suffer the inconvenience/wear and tear on your car.. If neighbours decline to share the cost of maintenance, you're on your own. If neighbours drive heavy machinery up and down (tractors, horseboxes, farm bull dozers) or their visitors park so you can't get past...you suffer the damage.

purpleme12 · 28/06/2022 19:34

Ohnonevermind · 28/06/2022 18:31

I’ve just sold my house(cash buyer long story) but it can be an issue getting a mortgage as they could regard the house as land locked.
I’d get solicitors advice as you may acquire rights after x years etc but part of our road had become degraded and we were unable to repair it .
We had to move due to nightmare neighbours and it impacted on our ability to sell.

What was the problem with your neighbours?
Did you put it in the form?
How did it affect your ability to sell?
I have nightmare neighbours too

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 28/06/2022 19:35

I live on a private road, but it sounds a different set up to the house that you are looking at. There are 10 houses, most of them built at the same time. There's a residents' association that we all pay into, most of the cost is the gates but the fund is also for gardeners to keep the joint areas and any road repairs needed. The road itself is about 20 years old and, as far as I know, hasn't needed any work doing to it and it's still in good condition.

It didn't put me off at all when I was buying this house, but I can see that a less formal and transparent set up could easily lead to problems.

purplecorkheart · 28/06/2022 19:39

Avoid, I used to visit a friend who's parents live at the end of a private road. There was no official legal documents re maintaince but an agreement among the house owners. As the years has passed more ans more of the houses have passed onto the next generation who don't do anything about maintain. The former road is horrific. My friend's parents are lucky they can access the rear of their house via a neighbours farm. They cannot use the road and can not afford to pay everyone share. They cannot get a buyer for the house

Ohnonevermind · 28/06/2022 19:48

@purpleme12

My neighbours are the ones buying my house 🤣

We had been trying for years to find the owner of the road - we needed to be there 20+ years to acquire a ROW. But life is too short to wait around for another 3 years

Original poster
EsmesRedPetticoat · 28/06/2022 19:51

Apparently there is a legal agreement in place with the current owners to ensure both properties have access

OP posts:
Ohnonevermind · 28/06/2022 22:32

@EsmesRedPetticoat

Is it a legal ROW ? This is your solicitors job to advise you. Many banks will run a mile

TopCatsTopHat · 28/06/2022 22:46

I live in a property which is one of 2 houses at the end of a longish private road (bought it 5 years ago). The other house owns the road and we have legal rights of access to it, both houses share maintenance responsibility. All written in the deeds etc, bank has no problem with it for the mortgage.
The road now has some potholes and we are both clubbing together for the repairs, it's fine for us. This Rd is the only access for both households so when the potholes are bad both of us want it sorting. The repairs we are about to do are the first that have been needed in about 20 years.
I wouldn't want to do it without knowing who owns it and the access and maintenence being clear and legal. I do know of a house near me who ended up with a worthless house as the landowner withdrew permissible access. If it's all legal and above board I'd be OK with it.

Original poster
EsmesRedPetticoat · 28/06/2022 22:48

@Ohnonevermind I’m not too sure. We haven’t viewed the property yet but we’ve looked at the outside. It’s a bit odd as the address is listed as a normal
adopted road but the front of the house isn’t on that road,it’s on this access road which runs between 2 rows of houses. The back of the house is on the adopted road.

OP posts:
Original poster
EsmesRedPetticoat · 28/06/2022 22:49

We will be armed with more questions for the agent before we view it properly on Saturday.

OP posts:
carefullycourageous · 28/06/2022 22:52

I would only even begin to consider this if there is a well-established formal agreement in place amongst all relevant parties on how any areas are maintained and the split of costs.

But it would massively put me off - I sold a house on a private road simply in order to get away from this issue.

amipreparedtocompromise · 29/06/2022 06:10

We're also looking at one on a private road. Similar to you that vendors don't know who owns it. Apparently a few years ago they each paid £6K to have it resurfaced. It worries me a little because we certainly wouldn't have £6K if someone came knocking! It wouldn't say it's a deal breaker for us but it's definitely a con for the house. Try and find out as much as you can

PragmaticWench · 29/06/2022 07:00

Be aware that the agent may not know the legal situation with the road. They may tell you something that isn't factually correct, so you'll need to discover the legal position before spending money on surveys etc.

Original poster
EsmesRedPetticoat · 29/06/2022 08:05

Thanks for everyone sharing experiences. We have other reservations about the property even though it’s easily the most beautiful in our price range so we’ll see once we’ve found out more. My husband looks increasingly more uncomfortable the more we talk about it!

OP posts:
Daisydoesnt · 29/06/2022 08:18

I would only even begin to consider this if there is a well-established formal agreement in place amongst all relevant parties on how any areas are maintained and the split of costs

This

OP have you downloaded the title deeds from the land registry yet? That is really well worth doing for the £6 it costs. Be prepared for the EA to either know nothing or to fudge their answers on something like this. If I were you, and you were seriously interested, Id get some advice from a conveyancing solicitor before making an offer.

I also hate to say it but it sounds very much like the reason “it’s easily the most beautiful in our price range” is because the price has been heavily discounted because of this very problem.