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.

I’d want to know the deal with getting broadband,,,,I know someone who lived on one and Virgin wouldn’t dig the road up for cables. Also if the water pipe or sewer bursts before it hits the public carriageway who’s responsible? It would put me off.

A family member lives on one and not a chance I would now. The amount of disputes over the road is pathetic. One of the residents is incredibly reactive and nasty. So he won't agree to anything. The other neighbour decided he was going to fence off his bit of the road, had to get a solicitor to write and say this was not allowed.
I'm sure it's fine if everyone is reasonable and for about 20years everyone was.....

Hard no from me.

Look up the definitions of 'private road' and 'private street' under the Highways Act. And ensure you know what you are purchasing and the legal implications.

I used to, no issues at all and lovely for the kids as they all played out, only 9 houses, 5 of which had children all towards the end. We were gravel not tarmac which is cheap to maintain as you simply pour on more gravel to fill potholes!

It depends on who lives there and the history really. A road might be less issue than for eg communal green areas. There is an estate near us which has communal roads but also found it was responsible for a large wall that fell down during a storm and the insurers refused to pay out. The politics really came to play as it needed a proper thorough job doing as was hundreds of years old and needed back pinning. Those not wanting to move wanted it doing correctly, others wanted a botch. Much cheaper but wouldn't last. The wrangling lasted a year with traffic lights on the main road adjacent. Eventually the insurer coughed up and interestingly paid for the proper job.

Live on one with 10 houses total. We all gravel out side our own houses once a year. Lived here 5 years and never had an issue.

We have overhead cables for WiFi and septic tanks/water treatment plants, so not on public sewer.

we have lived here a decade and never an issue, in fact I’d say it was preferable to a public road as we are in charge, it’s basically our road. It didn’t even cross my mind to have a concern when we bought.

there is no one difficult , as we all pay a small sum each year, and it more than covers any repairs when it builds up , it’s obvious when it needs doing, and everyone is happy to muck in and keep it clear, one of the home owners is elderly so they don’t, and that’s fine. Folks just do it as they see fit. No big deal. Sometimes one person will just do the whole thing if they fancy and are bored of a weekend.

I can’t even imagine how someone would be difficult,,,no no don’t repair the pothole? We don’t have committee meetings, it is simply no big deal and seldom discussed.

Thanks all. I'm much clearer now. It's now a question of checking if there is a management system with funds, which will be ok with us. If none of this is in place, it's going to be a no.

Our house was built in 1998 the road has never had any work done on it and still doesn't need it. We find because it's only a small street we get very little traffic, we don't pay in yearly so any repairs would just be split at the time.

I lived on a private road for ten years and we had the same arrangement as mentioned by Eleesah. We had an annual residents meeting, and paid in around £100 a year for road maintenance. The road was resurfaced while I lived there and there was still money left in the account. There were 20 houses on the road.

The road was dug up occasionally e.g. to lay electric cables, or to renew septic tank pipes, there were never any problems. I loved living there.

Like any communal thing it is probably OK right up until the point one or more of your neighbours turns out to be a nutter.

At that point it probably becomes significantly less OK.

Interested as to whether or not you progressed with your purchase, we are currently in a similar uncertain situation, we are looking to move and have seen a lovely house on a small private road of 9 houses

How big is it - big difference in maintaining 100 yds to 1000 yds

We live on one which has ten houses. It's gravel road so we all maintain the bit in front of our house and buy more gravel when needed. Wouldn't live anywhere else tbh as it's hidden away.

We're at the end of an unadopted road. Neighbour at top of road is not reasonable - he gets the most wear and tear as we all have to drive over his end to go in/out, and his is the steep bit. He 100% will not allow anyone to repair "his" end, due to a historical dispute with his neighbour over boundaries. He doesnt want "his" repair to extend to the bit of lane in front of their house. But instead just pays for all of his stretch to be repaired himself. Which is insane, and is to his own detriment.

However, because lane is narrow everyone has to use all of it (even if just for deliveries & bin lorries to turn around at the end), so its in everyones own interest to keep it passable.

@Lambeth1954 we didn't proceed, as they took the house of the market a few days later. Interestingly another house on the same road has now popped up, so we're booked in to view that now.

I wouldn’t for all the reasons already listed - drainage, waste collections, maintenance & not being able to know who else will pull their weight in contributing & the politics & unknown costs as a result.

I did, kind of without realising (first time buyer more concerned with other issues!). It’s fine, some potholes but lovely neighbours. I am considering tipping some gravel into the biggest hole near my house but not sure if that’s the done thing.

What is the cost of insurance, my buildings insurance has meant the service charge has doubled recently