Experiences of living on a private road?

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Looking for a new house - a “forever home” (although I find the term a bit twee!). There is one I love however it is on a private road. Is there anything I need to be aware of about this that might be problematic?

You will be responsible for a proportion of the up keep and the council won't do certain things for you. I can't remember the details but I think I remember my parents had to arrange for their road to be gritted privately etc.

It can be a nightmare to get agreement regarding maintenance if jointly owned with other householders. I vowed to never share land with anyone ever again.

Oh sorry yes my response assumed shared ownership. Who actually owns the private road?

I don’t know yet - currently trying to work it all out!

You need to know how things like road resurfacing, upkeep of grass verges and trees etc and street lighting is paid for. I live in a tiny private cul-de-sac and we have a Residents Association. Each house contributes a small amount per year that builds up into a sinking fund. We employ gardeners, tree surgeons and professional contractors as and when, but mostly look after minor things like grass cutting between ourselves. We buy our own ice melt/grit and do that ourselves as well.

Also if it's not a cul-de-sac, how is public access by other cars policed? Is there a ROW or is it gated off with security measures like CCTV and electronic access (more cost). Longer, private through-roads where I live have these kinds of measures to stop cars cutting through.

Larger private estates might employ a management company and that's where things can really get expensive.

So may questions… how long is it, however many houses, ask the estate agent for more information. Is there a service charge and management company or is it for residents to organise between themselves? When was it last maintained? What happens with utilities (who may wish to dig it up).

personally I wouldn’t want to take it on, but I would recommend getting the information asap so you can consider before offering.

All of the above. Please take proper legal advice. One potential upside is extra privacy - it should not feature on Google street view.

That's interesting @SumUp do you mean shouldn't as in they are not allowed to feature them or shouldn't as they can't access due to gates etc?. My parents private road is ungated and I've just checked and it is on Google street view.

In my experience

• the upside was privacy

• the downside was the other owners of the road, the hassle agreeing when and how repairs will be undertaken and the cost of funding those repairs.

Arguments this year have been about the number of delivery vehicles using the road to deliver to certain properties, the varying weights of resident cars with some perceived to be wearing the road out more than others and the fact that one resident demanded the whole road should be relaid while the others wanted tarmac patching.

i probably wouldn’t buy another property on a private road 🤣😂

It shouldn't be really and they usually aren't. Ours is ungated and quite short, so obviously a chunk of it is visible just from the street view of the non-private road it's off. But the rest is not, and it doesn't show up as available to view.

Basically it's private land so Google have no more right to film there without the owner's permission than anyone else.

Having been involved with a similar set up before, I would be very, very wary (in fact I’ve sworn I’m never doing it again). It only takes one person to be difficult and things can become messy very quickly. And we were set up properly as a limited company with proper directors, rules etc etc.

I live on a private estate 60 houses. There is a management company and directors from the estate. We pay an annual fee currently £300 a year. This pays for any repairs to the estate eg loose flags, tree trimming, public space maintenance, upkeep of the play area etc. We recently decided a regular gritter was needed and the management company organised that. We have a sinking fund for any big expenses in the future eg repairing/replacing road surfaces. Our estate is 10 years old and looks smart. Because we all pay I think people respect the area more. Jobs get done efficiently and quickly because you are not waiting on the council.

Taking the bloody bins half a mile down the road in my car every week to where they are collected is a pita.
Constant filling in potholes with gravel

Is it on an unadopted road, or is it part of a housing development with a management company?

An unadapted road - it’s basically a dirt track running between two normal roads

I’ve never lived on one of those, but from what I’ve heard what Purplemoor said seems to be a common problem. Basically other people being unwilling or unable to pay for repairs, or not agreeing on what repairs should be done, or not agreeing on how to apportion the cost.

My DH and MIL had a house on a road like this. Being unadopted basically meant no council upkeep whatsoever; no drainage/gutters, no street lighting, no pavements, no tarmac. The bin lorry did use it and empty bins outside people's properties fortunately, but it was still awkward at night in the pitch black (it was like through a woodland, basically).

It was used heavily for people walking and emptying their dogs, which often were off lead and just ran around in people's gardens, pooing where they liked and generally not cleaned up after, possibly because with no pavements, it wasn't "residential" enough for them to think they ought to.

The road itself was just solid sandstone but it got hollows worn out and the residents filled them with road planings, which just wore them deeper. There were loads of arguments about the best way of maintaining the road (some didn't want the potholes filled, some wanted it tarmacked, some didn't because they'd get youths doing car races down it, etc) and some residents weren't great at paying their subs promptly.

It was very, very messy compared to living on an adopted road, and I wouldn't want to be involved in it. And DH is very "never again"...

I wouldn’t do it again. The upkeep is a nightmare to sort out.

And, although it’s a minor thing, it’s a pain in the
arse that the bin men don’t come and take the bin from directly outside the house, you have to take it to the end of the road (although I don’t think they’re all like that)

We live on a private road of 10 houses. It was too narrow to be adopted when built, so it is a pain getting lorries in for moving and the bins are left down the road.

We all have a share in a company that owns the road and some of the residents run the company. We all pay towards upkeep etc.

It's mostly fine, the issues have been around street lights and gardening. Some of the residents want us all to chip in and do the gardening, rather than hiring someone to do it for us. But if that's the worst of it, then it's really ok.

I live on a small, gated cul de sac. We do our own management and it's very well kept but quite expensive, mostly because of the gates which break down a fair bit and will need to be replace in the next year or two. It was great when the DC were tiny as they could play on the road with the other kids and ride their bikes etc. I'm hoping to move soon, but that's more because I don't like the house than because of the location.

We live on a small estate (16 properties). All very amicable usually and the management company is just a few residents who act as treasurer, chair, sec etc and arrange any repairs.
We contribute £80/year although this has varied (road needed resurfacing one year).
We do currently have one property where the owner doesn't live on site and therefore hasn't bothered to pay the annual fee. Someone will now need to chase him which can be a pain.

Generally though, all is good and works well

Was also coming on to say bins. Ours are big wheelie bins no chance of getting them in the car so trekking down the lane in the dark and rain after along day on my feet so often late in the evening.
There are only 3 of us on this lane so the peace and quiet more than out weighs that inconvenience.

Yes, we do. There can also be issues with deliveries and bin collections (depending upon the length and condition).

Bins are collected from my road as normal, thank god! But it is a stumpy cul-de-sac and the bin lorries barely have to pull off the main road to be within reach of most of the bins.

We haven't had any issues as yet on ours but there are only 6 houses and it's only 15 years old so the road surface is still almost perfect. It might be different once work actually needs to be done as it's not clear whether everyone is responsible for the whole road, with costs to be split, or everyone is only responsible for the bit outside their property. We do have to take the bins down the end for collection but it's a 30 second walk so not an issue, occasionally we all chip in for a man with a tractor to cut the massive boundary hedge between us and the next road.