What are the legal implications of buying a property with a private road?
This article was written for and published as original content in the East Anglian Daily Times property section.
Many properties are reached by a private road, the use of which is shared with one or more other owners.
The biggest concern when buying such a property is to ensure that you have a legal right of way over it. Because the road is private, this means that it is owned by someone else and not by a public body such as the local council. With public roads, a public right of way exists, but where they are privately owned, you must have a right of way.
There are two methods by which a right of way might come into existence. The first is an express right and the second is an implied right. An express right is one that has been written down somewhere and recorded for the benefit of the property. We would normally expect to see this recorded on the Land Registry title.
An implied right is one that arises purely by reason of the access having been exercised over a long period of time without having to pay anyone, ask permission and without objection from anyone else.
Needless to say, an express right is far better as there can be no doubt as to its existence and implied rights can be more difficult to prove.
The next concern is to know who actually takes responsibility for maintaining and repairing the road. Road surfaces frequently break up and so repairs are needed periodically and can be expensive. If you live on a public road (or adopted highway) then the Council will attend to repairs and the funding will come from public money. However, if you live on a private road then the Council will not do this. Often there is no one body who takes responsibility formally and this can lead to the road becoming damaged which can lead to damage to your vehicles when using it. Even if someone does take responsibility, there is then the danger that you will be asked to contribute a sum to any repairs and so it is best to assess all of this prior to buying the property.
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