Unadopted road in chain

[Karaokequeenie]

In a fairly long chain and everyone ready to complete apart from buyers several links down the chain who are buying a house on an unadopted road. This has delayed the completion while their solicitors get info re this.

Should I be worried? Is this a big problem would you say? Im assuming they knew from the onset - or is this likely to be revealed in searches. Anyone advise on what solicitors do re this and timescales?

I need new glasses, I read this as “unadopted children in road”

I've lived on 2 unadopted roads. Solicitor just needs to check it's all OK (eg paying for private rubbish collections and proportion of costs for resurfacing roads etc) but it didn't make the chain fall down either time.

Possibly if they decide against it once they find out the implications. I certainly wouldnt buy on one. Potentially it means paying for road repairs, street lighting repairs, rubbish collection, verge maintenance and gritting. It depends a bit on why it's unadopted.

I live on one- we have a committee and we pay a fee each year to cover repairs and insurance etc. The council sweeps it but we get invoiced (via the committee). We don't have street lights. I quite like it as we are allowed speed bumps which means the road is not a rat run like most of the roads parallel to us, and to me that is more than worth the fee. Also it's only slightly wider than single track so no-one parks down it.

Why would they need to pay for rubbish collection? They still pay council tax. I accept they may need to put their bins at the end of the unadopted road (where it meets a public highway) to get them emptied but that doesn't cost them anything (other than an inconvenience).

We love on an unadopted road. The council still does bin collections and lighting. It just doesn't mend the potholes. We don't pay into a neighbours thing either. We just have a sort of loose agreement that whenever anyone gets work done at the end they pour the leftover sand/ gravel/ whatever into the potholes. Been here 10 years and it's been no problem at all. Also means nobody drives through. The next road down is a rat run between 2 towns so it makes a huge difference to noise levels and safety. I actually love it. Does get a bit dusty in the summer and muddy in parts in the winter but get a window cleaner and doormat and all good

Thank you all for the comments. It doesn’t sound like something that would stop me buying a house so hopefully the buyers lower down the chain will feel the same.

I live on adopted road and the council don’t seem to fill our potholes either! 🤣

I live in an unadopted road. Been here over 20 years! It's fine - we just have to take our bins to the corner of the adopted road / about 20m. The road is rough and has a few potholes. We (there only 4 houses along it) throw some rubble from time to time. It's fine.l

Of the many things that held up our purchase, the road was not one of them.

They probably just want to understand the implications as this thread shows that arrangements vary and you probably want to understand it. I think people are rightly wary as some unadopted roads on new estates can attract hefty management fees.

I mean some people/mortgage companies are spooked by it and some aren't.

Personally I would not want to live on an unadopted road, but clearly some people are happy to.

If I found out a house was unadopted late on in the buyign process I would probably at least want a significant discount, as you are likely to incur extra costs from living there.

I also live on an unadopted road; have done for years with no problems. It's a cul-de-sac with a copse at the end so traffic is minimal (apart from delivery vehicles). There are 15 houses and we all maintain the road outside our respective houses, helping older neighbours if necessary.

There's indemnity insurance for unadopted roads; generally, it's the responsibility of the vendor to pay for it.