Would you buy a house on a private road?

[Gottoloveatakeaway]

Just that, really. We've seen a nice house, everything looks good, but it's on a private road.

We did.

Our house is on a private road. What are your concerns? Are they purely regarding finances and liability?

Ours is, what’s your worry?

Your solicitor will need to check about access and liability for repairs.

We backed out of a sale because the road at the back of the property (giving access to the garage) was 'unadopted' and we could have been liable for repairs.

Check for history of fly tipping

Absolutely, I miss our private road so much.

I would worry about costs mounting up for maintenance but the solicitor could check out whats been paid over the past 20 years say

We have had 3 private roads out of 4 houses. No issues

It's about costs of maintenance, really. We've never lived on a private road before.

It's a lovely quiet street tucked away, a few pot holes, but where hasn't. About 8 houses. Sounds reassuring so far.

A good friend of mine lives on a private road. Yes there are costs for the road maintenance etc. but the biggest issue they have had is the politics around making decisions regarding the road. The road WhatsApp had all sorts on there in terms of people trying to call the shots, demanding, taking issue, not coming to Decisions etc on speed bump placement. My friends DH seemed to inadvertently become peacemaker and had to go knock on doors and resolve issues

We have an agreement, and pay a sum each year, we save most of it, it’s 150 quid, do much of the cleaning ourselves is blow leaves etc. and then the money saved builds up and goes to big repairs which we all agree on if it needs doing.

So I live on a private road. I asked a LOT of questions when I was buying and the answers were:

The residents have all formed a company and given their rights over the private road to the company, residents are now obliged to pay the company £100 per year and every few years the company fills in any potholes. Every 10 years or so they resurface completely. When we moved I think the road had £20k in the company bank account, which was enough to resurface it at that time so I was happy.

(In terms of rights of access, if you are at all worried, you can buy an insurance policy for about £60 which pays out if your house is devalued in future as a result of access rights being challened.)

Basically it is all likely to be fine but you need to understand (1) What the procedure is for maintaining the road and (2) How much money is currently saved up towards future maintenance. If the seller can answer these questions all should be well. If the seller shrugs and says oh it’s all informal and there isn’t anything saved up we just chip in when needed, then I would worry and consider pulling out.

I should add thst the fact it’s a private road means that there are residents meetings every so often. This sounds like anpain but actually means you get to know everyone on tbe road and its created a wonderful community.

@Eleesah that's all really helpful thanks. I'll use your questions.

This is the way to do it. I've seen some horror stories of people not putting any money aside each year and then being landed with huge repair bills.
Especially when the deeds say the owner of the road is entitled to carry out any works they deem reasonable and then bill the other homeowners for their share.

Nope. Not a chance. We have lived in a village with a private road and residents. They still have endless issue with dumped cars and fly tipping and not everyone stumps up their share of costs to resurface. Recently went to view a bungalow on a private road, it was very evident as to which home owners paid for the upkeep and those which didn’t - so no, as those problems seem to be more common than I would have thought. (We didn’t even bother with an internal viewing.)

My friend lives on a private road and wishes she didn't! Any damage to outside property is for the residents to deal with, including pot holes, water damage to the road, everything really! One resident caused a lot of problems, they have moved out but the water drainage remains. They talk about it but when it comes to money no one is willing to pay. Not a life threatening situation at all and they love where they live but these issues have been put off for a long time and they are selling! X

I live on a private road. Two tonne bags of type 1 a year for filling in potholes and a bit of effort with strimmer/ leaf blower. Every six years or so we get forty tonnes of type one and put a fresh layer across the top of road (200 metres)

However they have been very happy there for over 10 years and the neighbours all get along. A private road just means any damage has to be paid by residents, not the council, but if just minor things like an odd pothole, drive around until it needs to be done! Xx

I'm on a private development, resident run management committee. Service charges go up every year and yes we're liable for the upkeep as the road is unadopted. Service fees are high but we have a healthy sink fund, it's not worth going cheap as it stores up problems later. That's all ok, it's a risk but that is what it is. The problem is the politics. I definitely won't be doing it again if it had a communal garden to look after or if houses are too close together, maybe at a stretch if it was truly just an unadopted road with only a road to worry about. Every time a house is sold it's a much bigger deal than it would be in an ordinary road, it's feels very unsettling. All the younger residents have sold up as they get bullied out and the road has now become a retirement community by default meaning a lot of cliques amongst the boomers with silly games of whispering when I go past or nipping into each other's houses when they see me outside. No wouldn't do it again and way too much pressure to attend the one meeting a year at an inconvenient time in the middle of school holidays otherwise batshit crazy schemes are "voted" through with for example residents doing maintenance themselves meaning a very patchy result and the emphasis on what they want done to benefit their property. Waking up to open your curtains to find your resident "volunteer" neighbour digging around in your bushes, leaning on your wall or planting a random tree to block your view in the communal areas outside a window is unsettling. Worse still is the "volunteer" gardening residents, normally old men, who come out at school home time to do odd jobs so they can watch the secondary school girls go by and having to see him ogle them is just yuk but they're too stingy to hire professionals who would come earlier in the day and would get on with the job. So instead I have to watch this timed enthusiastic half hour of gardening where nothing much gets done except staring at girls going by. Honestly these private developments are way too intense in terms of close living, I really don't want to know my neighbours this well.

@movingontonew that sounds horrific. Hope your user name is indication of a move.
This is just the road. Houses all have their own gardens.

No, I lived on one previously and there was a difficult person. It made things hard work.

We're on a private road and it's great. No traffic, no passers by. We did pay our share for road repairs but that was a one-off many years ago.

We lived on one and it was impossible to put in the same residents parking restrictions as the nearby roads. As we were 10 mins walk from the station, we soon found us swamped by commuter parker's and we couldn't put in 'official' residents parking. We had to rely on our own signs and could revert to a private clamping firm, but it was chaos.