Do you live in a property with a management company, on an unadopted road or where the council are not responsible for the utility pipes?

[BirthdayRainbow]

Please tell me everything. I am trying to buy a house where all the above applies and I'm getting very frozen feet.

Teehee

I think you mean 'cold feet' :)

Anyway, it comes up on here quite often. But I'm giving your thread a bump.

Oh no, I mean freezing as I'm right at the end of pulling out.

Thanks for the bump.

DD backed out of a fairly new build because of similar reasons. There was a maintenance charge for private maintenance which could have gone up every year. I did a bit of digging and Yorkshire Water wouldn’t take over ownership of the water pipes because something hadn’t been done to standard by the builders. The roads were owned by the management company.

it all felt a bit risky, so she bought a 1970s established house on a council maintained street.

We do. The management company is run by the residents, so there's no one to screw us over. The road is in good condition, so unlikely to be an issue. We contribute about £300 a year towards gardening and electricity costs. The only problem is the street lights - the timer sometimes breaks and bulbs need replacing.

We did but we sold and moved 6 months ago. The residents in the end appointed a board of directors for the estate and they then secured the contract with a new company to manage green spaces. We paid about £120 a year. The road was still not adopted when we left and we'd been there nearly 9 years.

We never had any real issues, the price did creep up hence why we appointed the directors as the original management company were terrible but one thing that did become problematic for many sellers was that there was a clause in the deeds that said if you didn't pay your fees then the management company could exert a possession order over the property. So many sellers had issues with this and their buyers pulled out as their mortgage provider wouldn't accept this clause. Some ended up
Paying over £1k for a deed of variation that some lenders would accept.

We still have a management company at our new house but it's £50 a year and there was no Clause in the deeds for us to worry about.

It's very common on new build estates where we are, all of them are private maintenance companies with fees

We do but the residents run it really, and make all the big decisions about what to spend our money on, eg we recently had cctv installed on the road in. Street lights and any road or pavement issues are sorted out pretty quickly. We have a gardening /tree surgery company who take care of all the green areas. Severn Trent are responsible for our water though. I pay £600 a year, and that hasn't gone up in 8 years.

I feel that's a real mix. As it stands there is no money to pay. Apparently at the beginning everyone paid £100 but the vendors say they don't believe they've paid anything. How can they not believe, why didn't they know?! They said they are the only owners of this house but I know that to be a lie. The road thing doesn't bother me as unlikely to be worked on but the pipes do, the unknown does. I know I have to pay £1 to have a share. All feels odd. Why the fuck they can't tell you this in the particulars I don't know. I'm months down the line and heading for a nervous breakdown. Not a flippant comment. I am actually already poorly and stress makes it worse.

This Is in Yorkshire too..

Isn't there one of these on TV occasionally where the road has fallen into ruin and disrepair ?

The problem comes I guess when you don't have adequate management structures in place because then people cannot be forced to make their contribution, and there is always one person that thinks a road with a 6ft wide 3ft deep crater in it is "fine" and refuses to contribute.

The other issues is that if there is a management company in place they might see it as a opportunity to rinse the residents. Management companies can be removed, but it can be difficult dependent on the removal terms.

I would be cautious. Oh and it's quite possible they forgot they paid something if they have been there a long time. I don't remember every bill I paid years ago. OTOH if vendors are not being entirely forthcoming with you I would take that as a warning sign.

To me it's one thing not to offer information if you are not asked it, but quite another to actively tell someone something that is incorrect.

Questions have been sent. I'm awaiting replies but I am planning on going ahead. I've driven on the road and it is actually in good nick.

I advised my son to pull out of a purchase precisely because it had an unadopted road-Victorian cobbled street with huge craters filled with tarmac. It’s the unknown which would worry me. If there is a management company owned by the residents, it would make me feel much more secure.

It is owned by the residents and the road is fine.