A road maintenance agreement is usually a good thing to have in place if you share a common access with one or more properties. Sometimes the only access to some properties is on a private easement road from a public right of way; this means that the responsibility of the road maintenance falls on the people who have the right to use the road.
A road maintenance agreement will generally contain these items: The legal description of all properties that have the right to use the road, the way that responsibility for repairs is to be shared by the parties, how the costs for repairs will be incurred by the parties, emergency repairs and the consequences for non-participation in the maintenance.
Road maintenance agreements are a great thing as long as all parties involved share in the repairs as spelled out in the agreement. Sometimes a lender on a property with a private road will require that an agreement be in place prior to them making the loan.
So remember when you are looking at property that takes access on a private road easement to check with your real estate agent and check the title report to see if an road maintenance agreement is in place. Reviewing a preliminary title report during your feasibility or inspection period to check for these kind of red flags can save you time and heartache in the end.
| Download: Joint Road Maintenance Agreement |
150 Comments
Absent an agreement, can one owner force another owner into a road maintenance agreement? maintance agreement? We own the majority share of a strip of private property and have had to entend an easement by necessity to the adjoing parcel… there is no agreeement on maintance – they use the strip to enter their property, we do not use it … we don’t want to upgrade or pay to maintain what we don’t use and don’t want to beforced into any such agreement. Do we have this option? We were already sued by other (non adjoining parcels) neighbors claiming various easments on this same strip of property and the Court ruled in our favor.
I don’t believe that you can be forced into an agreement especially if you are not using it for your own access. I access my home over another property and the owner only uses a small portion of the access and we maintain what we use and they help with the rest. Unless a court rules that you share the maintenance I don’t think you can be forced to put an agreement in place. Good Luck
What is the difference between maintenance and improvements
I am a homeowner sharing a private road with six others, all of us use this road to access our homes. How do I find out which, if any, of the homeowners have been required to sign a road maintenance agreement. Do you have any suggestions as to writing up an agreement and what happens when certain homeowners refuse.
If you are part of a plat or short plat there may be a provision regarding a road maintenance agreement in that paperwork. A title report will show all recorded documents that affect your parcel. There may not be an agreement in place and generally they will list all of the owner’s with their legal description along with the legal description of the access easement and it will spell out the terms of the maintenance, the cost and how it will be done as well as the ramifications for people that don’t participate. If there is not an agreement in place you cannot force anyone to enter into an agreement so you may have some difficulties there. A real estate attorney probably has the ability to prepare the agreement then all parties must sign, notarize and record the document to make it binding. I myself live on a road that is accessed by 6 properties and the only agreement in place is one spot on the plat does it say that the maintenance of the road will be shared equally so it is pretty loose and not really enforceable. My wife and I like to keep the road in a nice condition so we end up doing most of the work and incur most of the cost. I hope this helps, John Wahl
I am looking to create a Private Road Maintenance agreement for a listing of mine. It is located on a private road with 3 other houses. Currently all 4 houses share in the responsibility to maintain the road for repairs and snow removal on an honor system. There have never been any disputes over this. However, I have a prospective buyer who doesn’t want to buy the property unless there is a maintenance agreement for fear that if the neighbors sell the next owners will not want to participate equally and they will not have any recourse. Does anyone have an example of a private road maintenance agreement that you could make available to me? E-mail me via KyleVetter.com Thanks!
I own a 500′ private road as identified by the town. I own 4 lots at the end of the road and my friend another as well. I will be selling 2 of the lots eventually after the town stops jerking me. I am in the middle of writing my own maintenance agreement using others on the web for ideas where relevant. The agreement will have 2 components, the first; optional is for the 5 who live on the 5oo’ stretch in the beginning (all gravel), will ask them for $100. each year. The 5 next lots who share the use of the next 600′ will also throw in $100 for the first 500′. This group at the end, me 4 times plus my friend will then form a second component; mandatory compliance of the first $100 plus another $100 from that point on, one lot branches right with a 350 driveway. Proceeding straight ahead 2 of the building lots share the next 500′ then one goes left 2150′ on an easement until he hits his lot proceeding another 150′ to his future house site. Back at the end of the 950′ another lot goes goes right 800′ on an easement as well, before touching said lot and another 350′ to driveway. That’s my mess. Another twist is the town trying to make me build an 18′ wide road to serve as driveways, make it so expensive it would make it approaching unfeasible. Sorry for the ramble just came from my 7th meeting between Planning and Zoning, back to Planning then the selectmen. All for my driveways. Frustrated by a pathetic board administrator who rights the rules making up as she goes along. So much for LIVE FREE OR DIE. jh
I bought 20 aches on a private road with 22 others, the real estate sign said with road agreement. Come to find out the developer only filed on 1 lot. Now I’m trying to get all the remaining lot owners to join the same agreement. Thus far I have 16 of 22 signed and notarized. I can’t seem to reason with the remaining 6. If we 16 have formed a legal association, 74% can we vote on assessments, road rules, like weight limits, & dues. And require them to pay the same as the rest of us? Even if they don’t join of vote.
We have a recorded joint use maintenance agreement between us and 1 neighbor. The ingress/egress road we use to access our home and propery crosses their property. They have begun dropping sheep and goat poop on the road just beyond their driveway so we have to drive over it when we leave our home. We have spoken to them about it and they said they can do anything on “their” property. Yesterday, when he finished disbursing poop to his field, he drove back over the road and stopped right in the middle, again just beyond their driveway on our side and turned on his auger and dumped a whole pile of poop right on the road intentionally. My husband went out yet again and cleaned it up. Are there any rights we have to keep them from doing this on the same road we share to get to our properties? Should we hire an attorney?
Terry, unless you are in a recorded subdivision with a homeowners association I don’t think there is any way to force those people into an agreement. It sounds like you have made great progress with getting 16 of the folks to sign on and that just shows that they all want to keep the road in a nice condition. If the remaining parcels don’t join your association I’m not sure if you have any recourse.
Margie, they cannot legally stop you from using the easement but unless your agreement spells out the condition in which the road is to be kept you may have to consult an attorney.
I live in a sub-division, the original owner of the property put in roads for access to our homes and property. Since he did not want to maintain the roads, approx. 2/3 of the homeowners decided to form a road maintenance association to care for maintenance of roads and snow removal. We have been doing this for 23 years, and registered our non-profit association with the state 21 years ago. Since then the original ower died and his heir sold the road /easement property to a property owner, who is not in our association. He tried 8 years ago to take over the maintenance of the roads, for profit and our association fought him, and he finally backed down without having to go to court. Approx. 5 years ago the other section of our sub-division formed their own road maintenance association and recently got a road maintenance agreement with the owner of the road property, just prior to his death. The other association actually formed a homeowners association and has sent our association members a bill for maintenance of the roads that we have been caring for and improving over the past 23 years (we have actually been able to pave about 1/2 of the roads and have plans to finish paving within the year) Now the property for the roads are again up for sale, is it necessary for our association to purchase the roads to be able to continue as we have been? We have tried to discuss a joint purchase of the roads in the sub-division with the other association (18 members, we have 27 members) We are puzzeled at why they would rather get into a bidding war or a legal tangle instead of purchasing the roads jointly and having the attorney’s draw up an agreement for both associations to continue as they have been. Our deeds give all homeowners rights of egress and ingress, we would rather not waste our associations money on legal fees if we do not have to. Any suggestions on how to deal with our quandry?
William, you do not have to purchase those roads in my opinion; you have the legal right to use them as you said your legal description included the right of ingress to and egress from your property. Is there any way you can combine your groups? The other association can’t force you to join theirs and vice versa but it would make the most sense to try and work together obviously most of the owners care about the roads and want to keep them nice. You have the legal right to use those roads and have been maintaining them at your expense the owner of the property cannot take that away from you unless you agree. You may have to consult an attorney to try and come to an agreement between the two groups and could set it up so that the financial burden is allocated appropriately.
I hope this helps.
We share the right of way with two property owners. Our neighbor sold their property and are now using our driveway as their entrance. When we questioned them about getting permission to use our driveway, they said one of the other property owners gave them permission. Is this legal? Wouldn’t they have to get permission from all three of us?
Thanks!
I need to point out in my previous comment, that the neighbor sold the property which had another driveway on it but the NEW OWNER is the one that has started using our driveway saying on of the owners gave them permission. (Confusing I know)
Thanks
Joyce, it depends on whose property your driveway is on; if you are crossing your neighbor’s property to get to yours that means that you have an easement over their property to get to yours. If that is the case then the person now using your driveway to get to their property is only driving over the neighbor’s property as you are then the neighbor has the right to grant them an easement. If the new person is driving on your property as well to reach yours then they also need you to grant them an easement. So the bottom line is whoever owns the property has the right to grant an easement. If you have any other questions or if this isn’t clear please let me know.
HELP! We need a road maintenance agreement. Do you know of any websites for us to go to for some good pointers and ideas on how to draw one up for a lawyer to make everyone happy. It is just a private road shared by 9 families on 50 acres. Some of us do our share while others do NOTHING to help. Thanks for any help. Tracy
Hi John,
Let me tell you a story, I hope you can help us.
We live on a dirt road with 9 houses on it, its a culdesac. We have lived here since 1994. Ocassionally we chipped in to help maintain the road.
Four years ago (2004) our road came up for back taxes. None of us have a written easment in our property discriptions. Its only implied.
The neighbor in the middle of the block purchased the road, without informing anyone it was coming up for back taxes.
Since purchasing the road , every winter, all of us have gotten demand letters for maintenance.
There is no written or verbal road agreement in existance. Just the demand for money since 2004. They are now taking us to small claims court for the 4 years of back money. Is there anything in our favor.
They demand $250 a year per house for a dirt road about 2000 feet long. Most homes have 10 acre frontages, we have a 5 acre frontage. The demand is the same.
Is there anything we can do? Do you have a good road agreement we can look at? Do you know of a good attorney in our area. We live in the Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho area.
If you can help at all thankyou, like I said we have been served and have 20 days to respond.
Sincerely,
Kim
I second Nancy’s request.
Our situation is that the road servicing our neighborhood is a collection of easements. We have signed a road maintenance agreement and have no problem with maintaining the road as a gravel road. Some neighbors want to pave the road. I have concerns about the long-term expense of maintaining a paved road. Do they need our explicit permission to improve the easement across our property or can they just collect the money and pave?
Thank you for your time!
Our common gravel road serves six properties, one of which is now split into two properties and two of which have two dwellings each. One of these dual dwelling properties also has two businesses: a home consulting business–with visiting clients— and a vineyard. They account for probably 90% of the traffic and most of the heavy equipment on the road. Other than distance traveled, is there any established guideline to apportion maintenance expenses?
Maurice, If you currently have a road maintenance agreement in place it should spell out the details of the maintenance and how it is to be divided among the owners as far as their share. If property is subdivided or used as a business those properties in my opinion should be subject to the agreement. If it is not spelled out about business use then you should have some sort of recourse towards that owner if you are unable to work something out. I would think that they would be willing to keep the road nice for their clients and not expct you to subsidize their business. If that is the case you may want to consult a real estate attorney to see what kind of recourse you have. Thanks, John Wahl
“Mutual Easement Agreements” are NOT the same as “Road Maintenance Agreements”
Hello John,
This is a long twisted story….
In 2002, we agreed to purchase a new residence located on a private joint use driveway (JUD) which by county building code, should only be used by two properties. However, the county incorrectly allowed three properties to access and utilize the private road and none of the title insurance companies identified the problem prior to closing on any of the properties. We brought the private road issues to the attention of the builder, our real estate agent and the title insurance company prior to closing on our property. Our real estate agent and the builder had their attorney create a “Mutual Easement Agreement” which we naively believed would correct the legal descriptions so that all three properties using the “JUD” would be responsible for the care, maintenance and repair of the road.
Then, in 2006, we learned from the assessor’s office that none of the legal descriptions for the three properties had been corrected AND the Mutual Easement Agreement was useless to two reasons: 1) it was incomplete and 2) it was recorded after the builder had sold the last lot (without legal access to the private road) to another party and was no longer the legal owner.
I tried contacting our title insurance company and the title insurance company of the property without legal access to the “JUD” and both companies denied making any mistakes and refused to address our concerns.
So, recently I met with an attorney……Fortunately for us, we are within the 10 year time frame to avoid “Adverse Possession” of the private road. This attorney suggested we meet with all the property owners who utilize the private road to agree upon and enter into a “Road Maintenance Agreement”. If the owners of the property without legal access will not cooperate, this attorney suggested recording a letter with the county stating the property owner(s) without legal access to the private road do NOT have permission to use the “JUD”. According to this attorney, we don’t actually have to deny access but we do need to publicly document the owners without legal accesses to the private road do NOT have permission to utilize the private road. It may take some time but when the property owner(s) try to sell their property without legal access to the private road, the title insurance companies SHOULD easily locate this information which should make the property unattractive to prospective buyers and decrease the value of the property. If the property owners without legal access want to keep the value of their property up, they should want to participate in a “Road Maintenance Agreement”.
Sounds logical to me. What do you think?
Renee, you are correct in the fact that if you record these documents that show that these properties do not have legal access the title companies will show these on their reports and obviously they will have to deal with the problem in order to insure a clear title. It is in my opinion in the best interest of the property owners who do not have the legal access to cooperate and help participate in the maintenanence of the road. It sounds like you are on the right track to getting it cleaned up. Good Luck! John
I am looking to purchase a commercial property that an adjoining property has an easement and right of way for ingress and egress. Currently there is not road maintenance agreement. The holder of the easement is generally the only one to use the road and drives large trucks over the road. It appears that this is why the road is currently in such bad shape.
If we purchase this property can we legally force the holder of the easement to make repairs or share in cost of repairs? Would we be responsible to maintain the road or could we let it continue to deteriorate until possibly unusable? Could we take the damaged road out ?
Dusty, if there is currently no maintenance agreement in place then the only way one can be implemented is for all parties to agree to it. If currently the other party who has the right to use the road is not maintaining it I would think there would be no motivation to start. If you have the right to use the road you can maintain it and keep it nice but without an enforceable agreement there would be no guaranties that the other user will participate. Your best bet is to see if they are willing to participate in a road maintenance agreement and help maintain the road in a nice usable matter otherwise I would think twice about the impact this will have on you and your business. John Wahl
We have a confusing situation. Any insight you can give would be appreciated. When we bought our property 5 years ago it was (and still is) on a private road. There were 8 properties on the road, 5 acres each and the easement runs across each of our properties. We signed the easement and road maintenance agreement and have no problem with that. Of the 8 properties, 5 were developed, ours being the 6th and finished a year and a half ago. There are 3 other properties past the end of our road. They needed access to their properties. After a lengthy lawsuit the settlement ordered that they were to have access across our easements and they were to be added to our road maintenance agreement to help pay for costs of improvements and maintenance. It was further stated in the settlement that we are in no way responsible for any of the costs of the new portion of road that had to be constructed for them to access their property. There is no reason for any of us on the original portion of road to even use that road. There are 2 road agreements now – the original one that had 8 property owners on it and now has 11 property owners on it (with the addition of the 3) and the new road maintenance agreement that has 4 property owners on it (the property owner at the end of the original road is unfortunately on both). Now, some of the property owners would like to pave the entire road. The 3 new owners don’t feel it is fair that they have to pay an equal share in the original road, but that the original owners do not have to help pay for their road. So………….long story short, we have been told by some that they would like to have one road maintenance agreement drawn up to include the entire road and that all property owners would be responsible for an equal share of cost for the whole road. Some of us do not agree. We are told by them that the issue can be brought to a vote and if the majority of the 11 want one road and equal shares that we can be forced into the agreement. I feel that since I signed one agreement upon buying our property that no one should be able to, in effect, decide to add more road to that agreement with out my consent. Do you know if I can be forced into a new agreement by majority vote?
Thanks,
Dori
Dori, I haven’t heard of anyone being forced into an agreement but do not know how your original agreement was structured. Maybe it says that a majority vote can make decisions for all that are affected by the agreement. I agree that if new properties were added through a lawsuit that you wouldn’t be responsible for their portion and those folks should be happy they have access. I would review your original agreement and maybe consult an attorney. Since the original 8 properties started with the agreement and most were subdivided I’m sure that could affect your original agreement. John Wahl
Hi John,
I live on a private road that is configured as a Y where the base of the Y, the entrance, is shared buy all of it’s residents. There are 3 groups using the base of the Y for main access. If we are to pave the Y what would the proper cost share be.
I’m assuming top left leg pays 1/3, top right leg pays 1/3 base of the Y, since it’s shared by all 3 for access, is split 3 ways. Is that fair?
Thnx,
Richard Tag
Richard, it sounds fair but first check your road maintenance agreement and see if there is a provision outlining how the costs are to be shared by the parties. If it is not specific and you all agree to split it up how you described I think that is best. As long as everyone agrees and there is no dispute then it sounds like a good resolution and everyone is happy. If everyone doesn’t agree then you may have to consult an attorney to come to an agreement. John Wahl
John:
Are there any laws that would prohibit a gate across a private road? This gate is not locked.
Thank you.
Cathy
We have five lots in our area and no current RMA. We plan to prorate the expense based on distance to driveway from the County road. Three of the five are in agreement as to the basic terms and are willing to sign. The first lives so close to the County road that we don’t really care if he signs. But the fifth person owns the lot at the very end of the road. His share would be approximately 30%.
Most of the property on which the road is situated belongs to me and there is a recorded easement on it for ingress and egress to the other properties.
Should the fifth owner choose to not sign and moreover to not share in the expenses do we have any recourse, possibly under a theory of unjust enrichment or some other cause of action ?
From what I can glean from the other posts it seems apparent that you can not force a person into an agreement, but could possibly still make them pay for their fair share if you get a good judge on a good day in a Court of Equity.
Your thoughts?
we have an easement across an adjacent property. we would like to pave/improve the road. do we have that right?
This is a follow up question to my May 15th question.
The short story: Three (3) property owners utilize a private road owned and maintained by two (2) property owners. The one without legal access is not interested in participating in a Road Maintenance Agreement so I would like to proceed with recording a letter with the county stating the owners without legal accesses to the private road DO NOT have our permission to utilize the private road.
My questions are:
1. What would you call such a document/letter?
2. Do you know of a template or form letter that I can use as a guide?
3. What items does this letter need to include?
A. Obviously I’ll include parcel numbers and legal descriptions. How about street addresses?
B. I have two email messages from the assessor’s office addressing the problem. Is it appropriate/acceptable to include such correspondence in the document?
C. Is it appropriate to include photographs or other images?
D. What, if anything, should NOT be included?
E. Should it be notarized?
4. Who should the letter be addressed to, If anyone? The current owner, the public, ????
Thank for you input John!!!!
Renee
I’m trying to help a friend sell a 1 acre building lot her recently deceased husband received as an inheritance from his mother many years back. The lot is accessed by a private gravel road that passes through a deeded right of way across 5 other 1 acre lots before reaching my friend’s lot, which is at the end of the road. Each of the other lots is also accessed off the private road, so a total of 6 lots use the road. There is no road maintenance agreement for the road, and none of the other landowners want to enact a road maintenance agreement and have been very hostile to the suggestion. There is a recorded easement (right-of-way) across each of the lots to allow the road.
A realtor told my friend that the lot cannot be sold without a road maintenance agreement in place. While such an agreement might make the lot more desirable for some buyers, I don’t understand why there would be any requirement to have a maintenance agreement if the buyer is informed that none exists and there is a right-of-way in place. It seems to me that each landowner may use and maintain the private road at his or her own sole risk and sole expense. It may work out that the costs can be shared, but none of the landowners, including someone purchasing my friend’s lot, should have any expectation or legal recourse if the costs are not shared equally.
While the lot itself is quite nice, it is located in the bad part of town and the other houses in the neighborhood are not well kept. My friend doesn’t expect to sell the lot for a high price (it would be good for a low income person. perhaps for a mobile home) and is trying to keep her legal costs low to help out on the price. In other words, it would be pointless to spend thousands drafting legal documents to outline a road agreement and trying to get the neighbors to agree when the lot is not going to bring much more than the legal documents cost. Is there any reason why a road maintenance agreement would be required to sell a piece of property?
Andrew, the only way that I can think of a road maintenance agreement being required is if the lender for the new buyer required it. I would put the lot up for sale and disclose that there is no road maintenance agreement but anyone is allowed to work on or maintain the road to their liking. I would think that most people would be willing to participate to some degree. My wife and I maintain our private road that serves 7 properties and people usually will contribute money but very rarely their time. Good Luck, John
Cathy, I wouldn’t think there would be any restrictions on a gate for the road as long as all owners agree to it and assuming it is a private road then there shouldn’t be a problem. John
Steve, you are correct in the fact that you cannot force someone into an agreement if they already have legal access. It is obviously a different story if you are granting a new access then you can outline the terms prior to granting access. In this instance if the owner isn’t agreeable to a 30% share in the expenses and you do not want to pursue legal access it may be in your best interest to see what they would be willing to pay. In my own experience something is better than zero. John
Ken, if you want to improve the road better than the current condition as far as paving the road I wouldn’t see why you couldn’t unless there is something specific in the agreement saying you can’t. The only resistance you may come across is if the other owners don’t want to contribute to the cost and upkeep of a more expensive upgrade. John
Renee, I am not sure what you would call the letter you want to record but do think it is a good idea. It looks like you have all of the correct info that you want to include. I think it is important to record the letter because it will then show up on that persons title and will have to be addressed either when they sell or refinance the property. It may be a simple way to make this person participate or seek other ways to legally access their property. John
Four different subdivisions in my area have been granted easements to use a private road owned by the development company so long as each subdivision helps with the cost of maintaining the road. I am organizing this and we have met and agreed upon the cost per subdivision. Each HOA will write a check to a road maintenance fund account that is non-interest bearing with at least two representatives from the area to take care of deposits and bill payment.
Do we need to register with the state as a non-profit association? Will we legally be responsible for any accidents on that portion of the road….should we purchase insurance……or is this up to the owner of the road?
Cheryl, If the 4 subdivisions have formed an entity for the maintenance of the road you may need to file as a non-profit; as far as an insurance policy goes I would think that if each subdivision has the right to use the road and has their own insurance policy they should be covered. I know that each driver should also carry their own insurance policy and be covered there as well. These are good questions and consulting an attorney to double check is probably wise. Thanks, John
We live on a private road with a road maintenance agreement and a road maintenance association, to which we pay $100 per year dues.
The agreement states (among other things) :
“Work or repair or maintenance is to be undertaken or contracted for only after each of the undersigned , his successors and assigns, has been fully advised as to the extent and estimated cost, and a 70% majority of the parties have consented thereto.”
The directors have drafted a set of by-laws (currently being voted on) that I believe is in conflict with the agreement:
1- In counting votes, the proposed by-laws say that members who have not returned their ballots (by mail) within the time period set by the directors will be deemed to have voted in favor of the proposed expenses. There is no requirement that the time period set be reasonable, and no checking that members have actually read their ballots.
2-The proposed by-laws allow the directors to authorize up to $1000 per year without approval.
I am totally outraged by item #1! I cannot see how a non-vote can be considered as a yes-vote; can this possibly be legal? The same interpretation of the 70% rule is being applied to the current vote concerning the by-laws. Since many members will probably not return their ballots, I am afraid the directors will declare the by-laws to have passed, even if a majority of actual ballots received are opposed. I can forsee many legal problems later, when expensive road work is involved.
I have expressed my concerns with the acting President of the association, who consulted some of the other board members. His only suggestion is that I write my objections on the back of the ballot.
Short of calling every neighbor involved (close to 30) or contacting a lawyer, what can I do to stop this?
Doug, when associations are formed and bylaws are made unless the majority of the people are involved to have their voice heard the board can make up the rules. I would suggest that you contact the 30 people who are on the road; it sounds like you care about what is happening and the others are not paying attention to what is happening. If everyone has a genuine interest in what is happening I am sure an agreement can be made that works for everyone. My wife and I have a private road that is shared by 6 properties and no one other than us will usually do any maintenance or contribute any money so we really don’t care what the others think because thay are not involved. Short of contacting an attorney I think if all of the owners show a genuine interest a solution can be made. The original agreement can be amended if all of the owners agree as well. Thanks, John
I am at the entrance to the subdivision at the bottom of the hill. Way up the hill a lady has improved her property with two years of heavy duty equipment trucking up the hill. This has weakened and the top section of the road. The people at the top of the hill want me to pay 135.00 for their proposed road resurfacing. The association had a vote 17 for and 7 against. The work is not benefiting me. Do I have to pay?????
I own a vacation home on 35 acres. There is a neighbor who has an access road to his otherwise unaccessible property across my land. Our driveway takes off of this road after it has traversed 2/3 the distance across our property. Thus it is a shared access private road for 2/3 of it’s distance across our land. The neighbor lives there year round but we are up there on average 3-5 days per month or about 10-15% of the time. Thus we use the shared part of the road 1/10th to 1/7th as much as they do.
There is significant expense to the road maintenance as there is considerable snowfall and mud ruttind annually.
My question is: Is there any precedent to how the costs of shared road maintenance should be distributed when the use is so unequally fractioned? My neighbor states he expends a lot of money and effort to keep the road open in winter and does some of the work himself. This is clearly true. It is also true that I benefit from this because he has to maintain the shared portion of the road to keep access to his property. He asks me to pay for 50% of the expense of maintaining the shared portion despite that I use it 1/7th to 1/10th as much. Is this fair?
Sean Coston
Sean the only way there would be a precedent for something like that is if it was written up that way to start with. I assume the original road maintenance agreement stated that the costs would be shared equally. If your neighbor was agreeable to having you pay on a per use basis then you can change it but it may be hard to monitor. It may not be fair because you don’t use the road that often but you have the right to use it anytime you want and that is the point of the agreement. I would try to talk to the neighbor and see if something could be worked out. John
John,
Thanks for your reply. There is no original road maintenance agreement because up until last year when we built our vacation home, our property was undeveloped. He paid for or performed all road maintenance prior to then because only he used the road at all. There is no official easment in our property description granting his right to have the road, the right is assumed as it is the only way to gain access to his property. Thus, as far as I know, there is no standing legal document that defines his or our responsibilities in regards to the road’s maintenance.
I guess my question for you was – in the absence of such agreement in this situation, is there any case law precedent or standard practice that is abided by? Sean
Sean, if there is indeed no easement granted for the neighbor to access their property across your property then they don’t have the right to do so. They may have a claim of adverse possession if they can prove they have been using and maintaining that road for i beleive at least 7 years. It sounds like you may have some leverage and could talk to him about giving an easement and then also draft a road maintenance agreement that would work for both of you. If you only use the road on a part time basis you may put in a provision that increases your contribution if you choose to use the road more frequently. You may need to hire a surveyor to give you the exact legal description of the roads location. Good Luck, John
I belong to a HO assoc. whose bylaws state that they are responsible for the “maintenance” of the 2 private roads. There are two roads which they take care of in the spring and fall. In the winter the city plows the larger of the two roads but ours is dead end. We are trying to get the HO assoc. to arrange for snowplowing our dead end and they refuse to. THey reply “maintainenance” does not mean snowplowing. What is your answer? We have arranged for the plowing for the last 10 years but do not like the liability which we are exposed to.
Catherine, my definition of maintenance is that the road is maintainted to the degree that you can take access to and from with no problems. The other owners need to put themselves in your shoes and see that they are saving money because they don’t have to pay to have both roads plowed because the city plows one of them. Good Luck, John
Thanks John for your quick reply. Unfortunately we are dealing with what I call ignoramuses!!!! They can buy million dollar oceanfront property but they just don’t get the word maintenance!!!! Do you know any good Maine attornies???? The HOA is sticking to the fact their attorney says maintenance does NOT include snowplowing.
Catherine, I aqgree with you on your comment; I would check with a local title company or look in the phone book under escrow closings or real estate attorney’s. I am in Washington State and don’t have any contacts in Maine. Thanks, John Wahl
LOL! What a gem of wisdom, Catherine. The word “maintenance” is not in some people’s lexicon that is for sure.
We have our house up for sale and a perspective buyer asked about a road maintenance agreement , which there is none amongst 5 home owners. We have talked to the owners and just 3 would sign an agreement, is that sufficient and what is our next step with the agreement? Do we just have to have it notorized and give it to the title company when escrow closes, or do we have to have an attorney involved?
Shirley, If you can only get 3 of the 5 to sign the agreement that is a good start; hopefully the other 2 parties will pitch in and help when it comes time to maintain the road. I would definately get it signed and notarized and I think I would record it and then bring a copy to the title company so it will be of record when they process your report. It will then show up on title for the perspective buyers lender to review and probably make things go a little smoother. Good Luck! John
Sir…I am trying to refinance a home. I live on a Private Road with 9 homes, but we have no formal Maintenance Agreement. The finance company is requiring us to have one. Frankly, I’d never heard of one before. I am sure we won’t be able to get all the homeowners to sign. Am I out of luck? Will anything else that you know of take the place of a Maintenance Agreement for the purpose of Re-Financing a home? Thank You.
Al, every lender has their own reqiurements; some lenders do and some don’t require an agreement for private roads. So you can either search for a new lender who may not require an agreement or see if the lender will allow you to record an agreement that is not signed by all parties. There is an example on the website that you can download and input your neighbors and your’e information and have signed and notarized and then recorded. Even if you can get a few people to participate it is a step in the right direction of keeping the road in a good condition. Thanks, John
Thank you for your reply, John. My lender is informing me that the Private Road Maintenance Agreement is a requirement of Freddie/Fannie to insure the loan, and that if others have not needed one to close, it is because it just “hasn’t been caught”. My friends and neighbors across the street refinanced at over 80% loan to value 5 months ago and did not need one, so I am understandably confused by my situation. Thank you again for taking the time to respond. I am researching this further.
Al, i would guess that not all loans are backed by Freddie/Fannie and different lenders have different requirements. As time goes by in the mortgage loan industry I would guess that restrictions are going to be get tighter and tighter with all lenders. This may be a good bargaining tool to take to your neighbors to say; hey lets get this agreement in place because we are going to have to do it eventually. John
Here are some questions I haven’t seen addressed yet.
I own three of six parcels of land, varying from 20 to 40 acres in size, located on a dead-end private road, and for which an ingress/egress easement has been granted across 5 of the parcels (including my 3). All 6 parcels are on the same side of the road. My 3 parcels are undeveloped, and they are the first 3 parcels on the road (closest to the road entrance).
Currently, only one of the 6 parcels is developed, but building will commence on a second parcel soon. Upon granting the 4th building permit served by this road, the county will require that the private road be brought up to county private-road standards.
We parcel owners are in the process of developing a Road Maintenance Agreement, and I’m hung up on a couple of principles.
First: I don’t use these properties, and I don’t personally intend to develop them – I bought them as investments, and they are all currently up for sale. Is it unreasonable of me to limit the cost-sharing of maintenace, upkeep and (eventual) upgrade to only those parcels that are (or are in the process of being) developed?
Second: As this is a dead-end road, the traffic is heaviest at the entrance and lightest at the dead end. My parcels are the closest 3 to the entrance, so “everybody” will be using my portions of the road, yet I will not be using “their” portions of the road. An equal split of the maintenance (etc.) costs seems to disadvantage me. Is it unusual to split the costs by some road-usage ratio, such that the parcels furthest from the entrance would bear a greater percentage of the costs? If so, what seems “fair” to you?
Third: If I manage to exclude undeveloped parcels from the cost-sharing scheme, it seems fair to me that, as each parcel is developed, the developing owners should pay some amount of money to the other developed parcel owners for any permanent road improvements (e.g., including road upgrade costs but excluding maintenance costs), as the new dwelling will materially benefit from the improvements. Have you seen such a scheme, and if so, what seems “fair” to you?
As you may have guessed, I am cash poor and want to avoid the sharing of any costs for which I will not receive benefit.
Thanks for whatever insights you might provide.
Gern — In the road agreement that my husband and I are a part of, which was drawn up by a lawyer, parcel owners are not subject to maintenance fees until the time that the parcel is occupied.
Also in our agreement, there is a higher burden for those living at the end of the road, however the road is over a mile long and for the most part we all pay about the same. I would guess in your case, it would be easiest to split it equally.
Gern, I understand your points and I think anything can be drafted as long as all of the owners are in agreement. If you have property at the beginning of the road you obviously will not use the majority of the road and if you haven’t developed the property and don’t use the property then you probably aren’t using the road. You however may use the road to show the property to potential buyers and yes it would be fair at the time of development to maybe have an agreed upon amount to contribute to the maintenance as well as to start paying your fair share for the regular use. I think as long as all owers agree any terms can be written into the agreement. Usually an agreement is binding and passed along to heirs and successors of the property and casn only be changed later if all parties agree to it. Good Luck. John Wahl
Thanks, Jade & John, for the response.
Jade, it sounds like your scenario is nearly the same as mine. The driveway is currently 3/4 mile long (but it would grow another 1/8 mile if the last parcel (40 acres) is split into two 20 acre parcels).
FOLLOW-UP QUESTION: JADE, are you in a position to send me a soft copy of your contract, or at least the portions at pertain to these points that I’ve made? I’d like to see how this was worded. If so, my e-mail address is teddybear5776@hotmail.com.
THANKS!
I have an even stranger situation. I live at the center of a city block. For over 60+ years, the alley running through the block (and one lot’s only ingress/egress) has been maintained by the city as a public alley. It received all maintenance including snowplowing, paving, tree trimming etc…until a neighbor’s private dispute with the city over some alleged property damage caused the city to scrutinize the plats and claim now that the alley was not “properly dedicated” all those years ago and therefore the city pulled out completely and claims it’s private property. Six property owners need the alley for garage access. The general public has used the alley as a short-cut for all this time as well, and still does. There was no formal vacation process because the city claims it wasn’t ever “formally” dedicated. We all are stunned at this turn of events and not sure how to proceed, since we all bought our lots with the understanding that we had access via this public alley. !
None of us are wealthy, but do we need to take this to court to plead “implied dedication” exists and that there was an accepted obligation to maintain that the city, on behalf of the public entered into by making improvements to the land and maintaining those improvements with taxpayer money? Otherwise, would all of us need lawyers to try to establish all the cross easements and maintenance agreements which would be needed? How about the guy whose only access from a public street to his property is via the alley? Aaarg!
Karen, I can understand your concern; are you saying that you are now denied access through the alley because it is basically owned by all of the owners and there is no easement in place to access your garages??? I do think you have some recourse with the city and it may be best for all of you to obtain a copy of your title insurance policies and see who you were insured through and go talk to the title company about this to see if you have a claim. If you have a claim then the title insurance companies will have to represent you regarding this issue. I would think there should be some way to resolve this with the city and wouldn’t think they would want a lawsuit. John Wahl
Thanks for your reply. After some digging in available abstracts, there are some very old (100 yrs. plus) driveway easements for some property owners to access garages via either one or the other street. No one apparently has a written/documented easement over the entire alley, although we all, and the general public, have been using the entire way for 67 or so years. One homeowner was allowed to build a garage 30 years ago that is only accessed via what, at the time was considered a public alley, and now he has no written easement to his own garage. The owner who is landlocked has one notation of a driveway easement in their abstract out to one street, is it still valid since it was never mentioned again in the title? Since that owner has no other street access except via the alley(The street the home was built on was discontinued by the city 70 yrs. ago) is that lot really a buildable lot? I heard of something called a “flag” lot, is that what the city made? What does it mean? Does the city have any obligation to that property to provide them with services to ensure clear access to another street, since his lot used to have street access and that street was closed due to the dangerous grade decades ago? The alley is old and while it was functioning just fine for all these years, the city is now trying to say they can’t take it back because it doesn’t meet all the new (wider) codes for right of way and the garages are too close to widen it. Shouldn’t the width be considered grandfathered in? Do we even have a chance at fighting city hall or do we not have a case without court? Some neighbors have consulted lawyers and can’t get a definitive answer. One neighbor wants to sell and is wondering if she needs a lawyer to document that the general public drives over the portion of alley in her backyard? I tried calling the title company and they couldn’t even locate our file. The title paperwork was not with our house file either, but I know we bought a homewoner policy. If you have any other comments we would all appreciate it, things are a real mess.
Karen if the lot that lost its access because the street had to close a provision should have been made by the city. If the City told that person they could use the alley then they assumed it was the city right of way and should still claim it and take care of the maintenance. A flag lot is a lot tha is directly behind another lot with a skinny driveway along side the front lot. If everyone agrees you can create an access easement through the alley and have all of the owners sign the document and have it recorded as well as an maintenance agreement with it. I still think the city is leaving you high and dry; all owners should make an appoiuntment with the city and all come in at once or consult an attorney together and share in the cost. It does sound like a mess and I wish you luck. John Wahl
Hopefully a quick question(s) does a road manintnance agreement, when changed, have to be apprroved (signed) by all (not just a majority or supermajority or president) like the the original agreement had to), of it’s members or is it up to the AGREEMENT to define this, and, does it become enforceable (in effect) when signed or voted on or when it is filed with the county. We have an agreement that hasn’t been filed with the county since 1996 and we are going by it’d statues that have been updated several times with just a majority vote of the quoroum . Thanks in advance -Howard
Howard, I beleive for the changes in the agreement to be binding all of the parties must sign the amended agreement; unless it is part of a plat and the Homeowners Association can approve the changes with a majority vote. More than likely all parties should sign the amended agreement then you are covered. John
The following is being quoted to force existing property owners into joining a road agreement or placeing a lien on property owners thet don’t join or pay.
14.48.090 Private Roads in Plats and Short Plats – General Requirements.
(1) Any private road which is constructed to a standard less than the minimum county standard for public roads shall be retained permanently as a private road and maintained privately until the road is reconstructed to county public road standards and specifications in effect at that time and accepted by the county.
(2) Covenants providing for the perpetual maintenance through a road maintenance fund and providing signing of the private road by owners in the development shall be required for any private road serving five or more lots and such covenants shall be reviewed by the county. The covenants shall be recorded by the subdivider with a copy provided to the planning department and shall be referenced on the face of the plat or short plat prior to its recording.
The road assn. has also informed us that they were going to seek free legal advice on creating a road maintenance agreement………then hit us with a $700.00 bill for services from a lawyer and expected no one to question the charge. They commented that anyone that thought advice could be had for free was stupid.
It’s my understanding that this Code applies to new subdivision planning. The Private road has been in existance since pre 1985 if that helps any.
They have 10 out of 43 owners and wish to charge the others fees regardless, developed or not, same price at the start (where conecting to county road) as the end 1.5 miles.
A little help please?
Dan, I am sure that some areas may have rules in place to force people into a road maintenance agreement. The language refers to short plats; our all of the lots served by the private road part of one plat or one short plat or possibly they are un-platted acreage parcels and there are no covenants regarding the road. Regardless it sounds like the financial burden is an issue with a lot of the owners and you may have to seek out your own attorney for some advice on what exactly your rights are. Possibly you could meet with the people who are heading this action up and discuss a way to implement the agreement so that it is affordable to all owners so that all owners will want to participate. I understand your frustration as my wife and I share a road with 4 other properties and rarely do they help with any of the maintenance. I think you should band together with the other folks who are questioning the group who is heading this up and get some advice and see just what the options are. Good Luck, John Wahl
I live on a private road consisting of 5 private homes and a horse farm at the end. The horse farm consists of 95% of the traffic on the road including tractor trailers and large horse trailers . It is poorly maintained by the farm maybe 2 times a year. The potholes are unbearable at times. 2 Owners are not interested in spending money and that is apparent by the condition of their homes. the farm is no longer returning calls to try and have a proffesional company come in and grade the road and make it usable. Where do I go from here?
Thanks,
Mike
Mike, It doesn’t sound like there is a road maintenance agreement in place; if there is there should be enforceable rules spelled out in the agreement. Either way it sounds like you may have to consult an attorney regarding the situation. I agree with you that if the horse farm is running a business and making money they should maintain the bulk of the road; first check to see if you have an agreement and what it says second consult an a real estate attorney who may be able to come up with a solution. If parties are au-willing to participate it is difficult to get anywhere and sometimes it is easier to just maintain it yourself. Good luck, John Wahl
we live on a private road my husband has been plowing for the last 8 years we have one neighbor who lives below us and one above. our road is about 1/2 mile long and very steep. up until this year my huband has not recieved any pay for plowing. but this year he had to get a new truck and plow and with gas and all we thought every one shold chip in to help. the neighbors above have no problem paying but the ones below wont pay he says we have to plow by his house any way so he shouldent have to pay us becase we are above him and we also do his driveway but he says its just being neighborly to do it for him. he called up screaming when i left a bill for 180 for 2 months of plowing thats 20 a time i called for estimates the cheepest was 100 a time just for the road. it makes no sence we asked if he wanted to hire someone to do it and he said it would cost too much. so how do we get this guy to help out a little
Hi Lisa; I would look at your road maintenance agreement if you have one in place and see if there is any language in there that has enforcement for non-participating parties. Typically you would file a lien against the party for the amount due and if they don’t pay you would have to start a foreclosure action against them for the lien and then get a judgment by the court that forces them to pay. It doesn’t sound like you have an agreement in place or one that you have been enforcing and you have been really nice and plowed the neighbors portion of the road and even cleared the driveway several times for them. I would certainly stop clearing the driveway and let them deal with it themselves. I can’t believe that they would’t help even a little bit but hey people are strange. Good luck, John Wahl
We have a question about filing taxes on the interest fom the bank account for our “road improvement association”. The road association was originally started back in the late 80’s and it has never filed a tax return. One of the members thinks that we need to file a “US income tax return for homeowners association”, form 1120-H. Other members disagree and their take is that we are only a “road maintenance” association. There is no “covenant” on our deeds, just and extra agreement regarding the private road maintenance that is filed with the county, and the dues are paid directly to the road association, not the county. We are not incorporated nor have any other agreements/restrictions on anything else, like a “common interest development” or something. We only made ~ $35 in interest last year. What’s your take on the question? Thanks in advance and thanks for answering our previous question from 3 months ago. -Howard
Howard if the road association is separate fro the homeowner’s Association and you don’t have an actual entity filed with the state like a homeowner’s Association typically does; it is my opinion that you don’t need to file a tax return. I think a quick call to a tax accountant would clarify and put everyone at ease. Thanks again Howard! John
I have a lot in a developement that has an established road maintenance agreement. It is on title for all lots in the developement. No one has implemented the agreement by setting up directors, collections, bidding contractors. What is the best way to establish and enforce it. Secondly the agreement has no provisions for excessive use by commercial businesses. All changes for assements and additional work are stated to need a 60% majority. Will this majority rule apply to additional assesment for commercial or excessive use?
Tom, I think that anyone could call the first meeting to order and get things started as an association; you would have to elect board members or just a secretary i think you could be as loose or as stringent as you want too. If the agreement says that you can change the agreement with a 60% vote then i beleive you could up the assesment for a commercial lot that uses the road more frequently than the residential lots. I would probably start with a first meeting and see what the other owners are thinking. Good luck, John Wahl
To Answer Barbara’s question regarding her private road and someone wanting to put speed bumps on a dirt road with out getting a majority vote and if legal action can be taken.
Barbara, if it is not specifically spelled out in your agreement on how decisions are made with the parties then I would think everyone should try to come to some sort of an agreement. Does the person who wants the speed bumps work on the road and help keep it up? Does everyone participate equally? I know on my private road my Wife and I do the majority of the maintenance and so we don’t ask anyone else if they do or don’t like what we are doing. So I guess it depends on the circumstances. I am sure you could sue them for any reason you want but there must be a solution that everyone can agree on. Good Luck! John Wahl
We share a private road with one other family in which we own a deeded 5/8 interest in two bridge crossings. The other family owns adeeded 3/8 interest. No road maintenance agreement is in place. Agreements have all been verbal. Beginning in 2000, we only use this bridge for 3 months out of 12 – it is a vacation home.
Prior to that several weeks/year.
In 1999 the larger bridge failed and needed replacement, and we paid 5/8 the cost, the other family 3/8 the cost.
We have paid for and provided labor for the small bridge repair since 1997.
When the small bridge failed in 2008, we replaced it with a culvert at considerable cost. We notified the other owners what our actions and costs would be before undertaking the repair.
The other family has refused to pay their 3/8 share citing the reason that they have maintained the major part of the road, and that their costs since 2000 have equalled our outlay.
What are the criteria for calculating equitable shares of maintenance costs in this case? Ownership plus degree of use? Simple ownership portion? Both ownership and usage?
Thanks for your help.
Diane your question is one that comes up time and again regarding how much use and how much of a portion each owner should pay. First it is my opinion that even if you only use that road 3 months out of the year you would expect that if you wanted to use it any other time of the year that the road would be in good shape and ready to use. So just because you only use it for a portion of the year it is always needed to access the property and should not be an issue in determining cost to maintain the road.
It sounds like you may want to sit down with the other owner and go over what you have paid to maintain the road and what they have paid and come to a written agreement on any further maintenance. I do know that sometimes it is agreed upon that if one party drives a further distance on the road they will pay a little more than someone who is not as far down the road; again this should be agreed upon and put into the written agreement. You could just come up with a budget for the year and split it 5/8 and 3/8 and have it available in an account for the maintenance. It really comes down to reaching a decision that both parties can agree upon. I know that sometimes that is hard because one person may use the road more than another or one person may physically do more work on the road than others but the road is necessary for access, so everyone needs to try to remain civil and reach an agreement. Good Luck, John
What is the best way to establish a new RMA amongst the users of a private road. We wish to buy some property accessed by the road and there is no current RMA which is prohibiting the financing of the purchase.
Also, how does one determine what a “fair” price per property owner?
Jessie you can put an agreement for private road maintenance in place at anytime; all owners should sign the agreement. There is a sample of one you can download at the top of this page. All of the owner’s names and legal descriptions of their properties should be included. You can be as detailed as you want; as far as determining who is responsible for what. If you think someone at the end of the road should pay more than someone at the beginning then put in the percentages and make sure everyone agrees. You could just split the costs equally and keep it simple. It is all on how everyone wants to set it up. Of course you can always hire an attorney to draft one up and get their take on it from a legal standpoint. Good luck! John Wahl
I have lived at my home for 15 years on a private road. When I moved in no one lived behind me. Around 3 years ago a builder bought the land behind me and put Modular Homes on the property. We all share the same private road but have no road maintenance agreement. The new owners refused to sign a home owners association agreement so I’m sure they won’t sign a road maintenance agreement. I am trying to refinance my home and my mortgage company (Wells Fargo) refuses to budge on this. What can I do?
Marti, it is unfortunate that those neighbors don’t want to help keep things in a nice condition. I think you could create a road maintenance agreement and get as many people to sign it as possible who share the road and record it. If it is just you and the neighbor behind and they won’t sign it then I would still record it and at least one is in place. I don’t think the lender would hold you hostage on your refinance as long as you have put one in place. Look at the top of this page for a downloadable example of a road maintenance agreement. John Wahl
HI! John-
Who ever thought a driveway maintenance agreement could cause so much headaches! How do I go about finding a good real estate lawyer for a driveway agreement? Does he have to be local? I just paid almost $1,000 to one who is local and they made it worse. Please help.
Dean, I agree it is a HOT topic out there and because there haven’t always been zoning and subdivision rules lots of properties were created with lack of access or lack of maintenance agreements. As far as recomending a good attorney it would probably be best to have someone in your area help and fix what you have already started. A good place to ask is a title company for a recomendation or perhaps a real estate office that has used an attorney in the past and knows that they would be a reputable source. I don’t think an agreement needs to be too complicated or overdone as long as it serves the purpose of keeping the road in a good working manner for all who have the right to use it. Good luck. John
John,
Say only 3 out of 20 neighbors are willing to sign a RMA for the private road they all share. The remaining 17 are not willing to participate.
Are the 3 who signed (or their successors) legally responsible for maintaining the road forever while the remaining 17 do nothing?
What happens if this dead end road ends up being a thorough fare in the future or all lots become occupied? Are just the 3 original participants still bound to maintain the road?
What are the consequences for the non-participants?
What are the benefits for the willing participants?
It seems as though putting a RMA in place only legally binds the good hearted neighborly people into maintaining the road, which they were already willing to do, and does nothing to the free loaders.
Thank you for your help! This is a most frustrating and unfair scenario.
Tamara if you are putting a RMA in place for a road that 20 properties share and on 3 will sign I would make sure to have the legal description and tax id #’s of all 20 properties listed on the agreement so that it at least put the agreement on their title. Weather they will or will not participate is another story but if it is on title and a property is sold and the new owner sees the agreement they may be more willing to participate. Unfortunately the only way to enforce participation would be through legal action and sometimes it is just easier and cheaper to fix the road than mess with the headache. As far as extending the road i believe tha the legal owner of the road would have to grant an easement so depending on who the owner is and who has the right to grant an easement it may be more difficult than you think to extend the road. Thanks and good luck, John Wahl
Hi John,
We share a gravel road with 6 other houses. No agreement in place. We only cross over 1 of those neighbors to get to the main road. We have an offer on our house but need a maintenance agreement for their mortgage co. The neighbor will NOT sign any agreement. What can we do to placate the mortgage co. so the house can sell? I’d hate to make enemies by hiring a lawyer.
Thanks.
Michelle
Michelle; there is a sample of a Road Maintenance Agreement at the top of this page if you fill it out with all of the owners names and legl descriptions and tax id #’s who use the road and get whoever will sign it to sign it and then record it at the County Auditor it will show up on your title report and then there will be one of record. Obviously the lender isn’t going to see if people are maintaining their road they just want an agreement in place. This is probably the easisest and fastest solution and you won’t have to talk to those folks who don’t want to sign and it shouldn’t make them angry. Good luck! John
HELP!! We bought 15 acres at the dead end of a huge farm. To get to the main road you pass by 2 houses. The problem is that the first house we pass will NOT maintain his part of the road. Everytime my husband fixes the road in front of his house, he does more yard work which washes mud into the road and it get’s so bad it covers the gravel we bought to maintain the road and it’s only getting worse. HE has promised for over 9 months to put a pipe in so that this will not happen. NO we do not have a joint road maintenance in order. He will NOT agree. Our vehicles stay muddy and I have drug my car several times. I had to replace an oil pan due to dragging over a big rock that was washed up into the road from his property. What can I do??
Pam this is very unfortunate and outside of consulting an attorney maybe the only thing you can do is work with the owner on getting the pipe installed so when you fix up the road it doesn’t get messed up by the owner again. I know this isn’t fair but some people just don’t care about anyone but themselves; but you need to make the situation good for you and your husband. John
Help: I recently moved into my Dad’s home. It was built in 1949. Mom and Dad purchased more property from the neighbors behind us to build a garage. They always had a fence around their property. I guess my parents thought the fence was on their property line. Now I am in the house and the new owners were kind? enough to let is know that a small wall my Dad built is on their property. No matter who lived in that house, they never came over and cut the grass or maintained the property my Dad thought was his.So who’s property is it anyway?And should I move the wall?What a way to start a new life in my childhood home.We also have a similar problem on the other side of the house.
John,
What do we do if someone on the road states he simply cannot afford the road maintenance dues? If he signed an agreement years ago, is it fair to everyone else on the road to have to pay their dues & tell the person who says he can’t afford it that he doesn’t have to pay?
Linda I would go to the Assessors office at the county and get a copy of the plat map of what the County is assessing you on and review the legal description to see if it matches what you think you have. You may also consult an attorney as if you have been maintaining and using a property for an extended period of time you could have a case for adverse possesion. Thanks, John Wahl
Michele, i would continue to send the bills to the homeowner even if they say they can’t afford them and possibly set up a payment plan with the owner. You may have to record something against the property to show that they are delinquent on payment; this will help insure payment down the road if the owner has to sell or refinance the property then the bill will have to be dealt with. You may have to continue filing recordings so that the lien stays up to date; an attorney could give you the best advice on how to do this. Thanks, John Wahl
We are in escrow on a home that owns the land with an easment on it. (There are 4 other homes with the easement as well but they are not affected by the road or lack of maintenace thereof). The easement agreement was drawn up in 1967 with anther judgement in 2000. The nonexclusive easement is a driveway for our landlocked neighbors, and for the utility company. This is the neighbors only ingress/egress. We would access our home from a public street and not use this driveway at all. The driveway is approx 20 feet wide by 300 feet long. The neighbors only use what would be the length of our property to access their home. The road is in disrepair, ground/drainage water is surfacing and damaging some sections of the road, and also our slope that is adjacent to the road. The landlocked neighbors have been doing some repair, but they are elderly and the repair work is not great. We worry not only for their safety but for the integrity of our slope which is an issue. The neighbors need to put in drainage system, etc.. anything we can do?
Thank you,
Samantha
Samantha that is a good question! We do see easements that are granted to neighboring parcels that are not used by the burdened property all of the time but I guess if it is not spelled out in an agreement on how it is to be maintained or if the owner is just not able to maintain it what is to be done? It is unfortunate that he neighbor cannot maintain the easement but to protect your property you may have to do some work on that slope. I am not really sure what recourse you have if any. Good Luck, John
Hi John,
My sister is looking at a property in Mason County that is a foreclosure. The original owner owned this property and the one next to it and constructed a single driveway for both. The majority of the driveway is on the property that is for sale. I can’t say for sure how much, IF ANY, is on the other property without a survey. The property, other than this issue, is basically what my sister has been looking for but we’re leary of entering into the whole shared driveway agreement / maintenance agreement process as it seems like it opens her up for legal fees now and into the future.
What is the best approach to take on this? Do we just give in and draft an agreement? Or, if a survey uncovers the fact that the driveway is wholly on the sale property, do we decline access? The other property has frontage on the street and could easily be accessed from the street by cutting another driveway – the owner just chose not to. From what I can tell on the property assessors site, the access was cut in 2005 and was initially crushed rock (now paved).
Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Lori I can understand your sister’s concern as there can be some added expense and frustration with shared driveways and the maintenance agreements. I was going to say that it is illegal to landlock a property but since you say the adjacent property also abuts a public right of way and could easily put in their own driveway then that is great. You will as you mentioned need to verify that there is no easement for that property in place before you let the neighbor know your decision. Maybe you could grant a conditional use or a temporary easement for them while they have time to put in their own driveway. Good Luck and thanks for being our 100th comment on the post. John Wahl
My family owns about 75 acres and they live onthe land. There is a small gravel road that leads to the property, and it is maintained by the family. No agreement in place, they all just seem to get together when somthing needs t be done to the road. Recently one member of the family decides that he wants to sell 10 acres, and the buyer produces a road maintence agreement for all land/homeowmers to sign. The agreement has all this language in it about maint. cost and liens if you dont pay your portion. My question is why would any one other than the person who wants to sell the 10 acres sign this agreement. After all these years, they have maintained, this would place the remaining landowners in a position of having a lien if something came about and they did not agree with it, and decided not to pay.
Denise the only reason I could think of the new buyer wanting everyone to sign a road maintenance agreement is that their new lender on the property may be requiring that there be one in place. If family members are starting to sell off portions of the property it may be a good idea to have an agreement in place because as new owner’s enter the picture they may not be as agreeable to fixing the road as everyone has been in the past. Thanks, John Wahl
We own 5 acres to the left of it is an easement road to the owners behind us. They have easement rights. But to the left of this easement road is another 4 lots that is owned by a timber company. They came to me a few months ago and offered me $500 for “easement rights” to allow them to use our road to access their four properties (they don’t have any other way onto their properties. I have been surfing the internet to figure out:
1) how much is about 200ft of easement worth to a company trying to cut/sell their timber
2) should I sell them rights, rent them rights or sell them rights until they sell the land to someone else
3) where can I find a lawyer or someone that can tell me what should be in the contract.
I live in Kitsap County, WA
Adrienne
Adrienne, if they just want a temporary easement in order to log their property the $500 may be sufficent as long as you make sure they also restore the road back to the original condition once they are through with the work. If they want a permanant easement then the cost may be more as you have to consider their use of the road is for commercial use but probably not all of the time as they will need to replant after they log and then it will be some time until they use it again. You can contact Pacific NW Title in Kitsap County at 1-800-464-2823 and ask for a referral to a good land use attorney. For a fee they can also provide you a title report that outlines any easements on your property so you can have all of the accurate information. Thanks, John Wahl
John,
The private road that we live on (just bought property here last year) has a very brief list of restrictive covenants. The one (and only) thing listed about the road (which is dead end) is that the cost of road maintenance will be divided among the lot owners with frontage on said road. That’s it. There are 10 houses/properties on the road.
Sharing of cost for for work done has been handled through informal communications, but recently someone has refused to pay for regular maintenance because “they didn’t agree ahead of time and weren’t happy with the work”.
So some of us are considering an association to establish more formality. If we form an association and some of the owners on the road refuse to join, how would you suggest dealing with them with respect to voting rights and decision making?
You have made several several comments to earlier responses about the apparent value of going forward with the formalism, but I haven’t seen specific comments from you about how to deal with participation in the democratic process for the owners on the road that refuse to join the association.
I am a mortgage processor for a bank. I am doing a loan for a borrower who will be going FHA or USDA.Probably USDA. This house is on a private raod and I no I need a Private Road Maintenence Agrrement. My question is with all the forclosures going on. There are only 2 houses on this block that are occupied. Is that enough to have the 2 sign the agrrement and get it recorded. SO when the others houses seel they can be addes. Also ther is no agrrement now. SO I need to do…But if can not do qith the 2 occupant people the deal is dead. Can this be done…..
Roger I understand your concern; my road maintenance agreement says the same thing and we do deal with it very informally. Now you can draft an amendment to the original document outlining your association and how you intend to govern the association. Perhaps monthly or yearly dues that are put into an account and then those funds are used as needed for repair and maintenance. If you reference the example of the road maintenance agreement in the above PDF file it does state that those that do not pay or participate as written in the agreement a lien will be put on their property for payment and then you may have to foreclose on that lien to get a judgment against that owner. I don’t beleive you need all owner’s signatures to amend the agreement but a majority would be good but do make sure to include the names and legal description of all owner’s. Good luck, John
Karen I would have those 2 owner’s sign the agreement but also include all owner’s names and legal descriptions on the agreement so it will show up on their title; then as the houses are sold the new owner’s will be aware of the condition on the title. Hopefully everyone will want to participate to keep it nice. John
Hi John,
Thanks much for the response. If I understand you correctly, you don’t think that unanimous agreement is required to change covenants that say nothing about votes required to change the covenants? And then if the change includes the establishment of a road maintenance agreement or association, then all property owners are then members of the association and bound by the agreement (regardless of their agreement with the covenant change)?
Thanks again. Roger
Roger I would first refer to your loosely written agreement that you first mentioned and reference the procedure (if any) to amend the maintenance agreement. If it doesn’t specifically say; I would think a majority vote could put into effect new changes that the other owners would have to abide by; as long as all owner’s and their legal descriptions are referenced in the document. Obviously the best would be to get everyone to agree but if that doesn’t happen you still need to maintain the roadway and everyone who has the right to use it should contribute. John
Private road with 7 property owners, but 6 homes, the others are waiting till retirement to build. Private road, my title/deed did not declare a road maintenance agreement. I own a business, horse stables. Several trailers have been damaged due to a badly maintained ditch line. My husband and I did repairs on the road to fix the problem and are paying for the damaged trailers. This is the second time we have done repairs to the road and the second time that a neighbor complained – stating that we should get everyone’s permission. We found out there is a road maintenance agreement, but neighbors won’t provide a copy. I can get that through the county. My husband who has access to gravel and asphalt milling at cost and sometimes free with free delivery attempted to put milling on the road, only to have a verbal confrontation so bad that we had to file a complaint with the local policy department. We plowed the snow so everyone could get out (probably 3/4 mile private road) and we have mowed at least 4 times this year. We have not requested reimbursement and found out that the last time gravel was placed on the road was 7 years ago. Am I legally obligated to the terms of the road maintenance agreement even though I am making an attempt to keep the road in passable condition? Actually the road, except of the previous ditch line is very well maintained (b/c it is flat and great run off). Last night, I surprising received a bill for one load of gravel from my brother in law via email stating “mail check immediately” for the first load. I have been doing repairs on the road. Am I legally obligated to reimburse an expense that was not agreed upon by me and was not notified that this work/expense was going to be “assumed” on my behalf? I did email stating, we would take care of our part of the maintenance in other ways, such as bringing in gravel/milling as necessary and when it was economically feasible and possible with my husband’s companies schedule. If we have this perk do we have to reimburse the neighbor?
Tracy, it certainly sounds like you have done quite a bit to keep the road maintained. I can understand animosity from neighbors if a business is using the road if they don’t pay their fair share but it sounds like you are. You should be able to get a copy of the agreement from the County as you stated. I think the #1 thing for you and the other folks that are using the road is to have some open communication about the maintenance and decide on the cost. If someone is going to buy gravel they should approach everyone and let them know and collect some money. I am not sure if you are liable for costs if someone else just order’s gravel and then wants you to pay; you need to get a copy of the agreement and see how it is written and what it says about maintenance and how the costs are shared. You may be liable for a larger amount because you are using the road for a business to make money and your customers may put more wear on the road than the other people who use the road. I would start with getting the agreement and maybe getting together wuth your neighbors and coming up with a plan. It is certainly a lot easier than getting into a fight about the road. Good luck, John
Our HOA has an easement for ingress and egress in place with the adjoining parcel. The easement was recorded 1966. The owner of the parcel has maintained the road for years, with no cost to us, but too two or three of the other 7 to 10 HOA and other land owners. Now the Owner wants to turn over the plowing and maintenance to all the HOA’s and Property Owners on the road. I don’t think the other folks have any type of easement across the first parcel. Do we have to contribute (financially or otherwise) to the road plowing and maintenance agreements with this easement in place? We are worried that signing or agreeing to any maintenance agreement will result in even higher costs down the road (should they want to pave it, or put in sidewalks / storm drains, ect).
Jim I am not sure I understand your question. You are saying you and some other owner’s have an easement over a piece of property and you have not had to pay to maintain it over the years and now the owner of the easement wants all of you to sign a maintenance agreement. Is that correct? I think an agreement that is spelled out on what the regular maintenance is going to be and how the costs are going to be shared is good because it helps keep the road in a good passable condition to access your property. Make sure there is a clause in there for any major improvements that you somehow vote on those items and set up a budget so you avoid any large assessments that you would have to pay. Thanks, John
Our offer was accepted on a bank-owned property in an agriculturally zoned area of Florida. It’s on a private road, that is accessed from another private road. There are no maintenance agreements in place for either road. We’ve discovered it’s impossible to get a mortgage, even from the bank that owns the property. The want us to convince the other 16 property owners to sign an agreement. That seemed very unlikely and time-consuming, so we told the bank we would consider paying cash for the property, and enquired about rates for home-equity loans. They said they couldn’t even lend money until an agreement is in place. Our realtor had never come across this, and neither had our lawyer. We’re not sure what to do. All the properties we’ve considered in this area are on older private roads with no agreements.
HI! John-
It doesn’t look like the neighbors will sign a driveway maintenance agreement on the driveway we own. I’d like to know what legal liabilities there may be. For example, they get hurt some way while on the driveway – can we be held responsible? …can they sue us? Is there any other liabilities / risks that we should know of. Unfortunately our lawyer isn’t much help. Also, their fence in on quite a bit of the driveway/easement property – if the surveyor agrees – will we have to go to court or can we do it out of court?…it will be black and white I think. Thank you so much for all your help. Respectfully,
Dean
Hi David, I understand your dilema and know that it is very common for a lender to want to have the agreement in place. I suggest you download the agreement from this site and fill in all of the owner’s names and legal description along with the legal description of the road easement and just record it with the county auditor. If the people do or don’t sign it will still show of record on the title and that may be enouh to satisfy the lender. Good Luck, John Wahl
Dean, I am not sure what your liability is as far as injury. Your property is burdened by an easement for acess to another property; I don’t think you are liable but may want to look into the cost of an additional umbrella policy if you are worried about a lawsuit. The easement width is what ever is spelled out in the easement and the neighbors have no right to encroach their fence onto your property, if you are surveying the easement then show them the line and have them move their fence. If they do not agree you may have to go to court as you mentioned. You can still record an agreement for the road without their signatures and then if they move and the new people move in then they might start to comply. Good luck! John Wahl
Thanks John- I’ll pass that idea by my lawyer and see what he thinks. We’re getting cold feet as a number of lenders have told us the property is un-sellable, and we would eventually be living on a street of abandoned houses.
My husband I own 14+ acres of land in the middle of it is 2 acres owned by another person. The 2 acres was originally given and deeded to a family member to build their home, there were complications and the property (land and home) was sold. Access to the property has always been a previously created driveway extending through our property. In their deed is the wording 20’ easement for ingress, egress and regress to and from the above described property. They have on one occasion put gravel on this driveway but all other maintenance has been done by us. They have questioned in the past about concreting the driveway and we advised we did not want that. Our property comes off a part paved part dirt road. They are now in the process of refinancing the 2 acres property and have asked if we are aware of any kind of “Road Maintenance Agreement”. Am I correct that if they have the easement for ingress, egress and regress they are being granted access to their property but have no right to change our property (the easement)?
We have a HOA which recently had it’s covenants expire. They now wish to build a road maintenance association stating that the Bylaws which governed the HOA are still in effect. Does this sound right? Wouldn’t you have to get a 2/3 votr of property owners together first to make this legal? Hope someone has some insight.
Cyn, you are correct, your property is being burdened by an easement that you granted. The only way the easement can be modified is by you howevere it may be in your best interest to have an agreement in place so the road stays in a nice condition. John
Brad, I am not sure about covenants expiring I have not heard that before. I would certainly think that if everything was running smoothly that everyone would want to have covenants re-instated. I would re-visit the old laws to see what the voting process was and if it is not clear then a majority vote may be the way to go. Good Luck! John
John, we don’t use the easement except by tractor to the garden but we do maintain the surrounding grounds – mow, weed eat and cut trees when needed. We did this before the new owners bought the property and have continued. Note: the new owners do not have the equipment to do so and since the is a portion of our land we want it to remain clean and cut. The owner of the 2 acres put rocks on the drive way portion to their property (easement where the existing drive was), but my husband assists with the leveling by scraping when he does our drive. I have told the 2 acres owner to have the mtg co contact me if they have any question. I’m just afraid of getting into a legal agreement when we do the work anyway.
Dear John-
Again, thank you for taking your time to help us all!
We will follow your suggestions. I have yet one more quick question: Is there a statue of Limitations on “encroachment of property by a fence line”? We live in Indiana. I’m not having much luck searching on internet – am I looking in the wrong place?
Cyn, that is understandable; I don’t think most people realize that the maintenance is more than just the road it also includes the sides where the brush can grow in and make the road un-passable. Most Lenders however require a road maintenance agreement to be in place before doing a loan; now as I commented before that no one but you can grant any additional easements on your property there is nothing stopping those owners from recording an agreement on that property. It doesn’t necessarily make it legal and binding but they could still record something. You could make it really simple just saying that they agree to keep rock on the road and keep it in a passable manner for normal vehichle traffic, you could also put in a “hold harmless” phrase for yourself regarding any of the trimming. You really can tailor it any way you like and make it as simple or difficult as you like. Good Luck! John
Brad, I can understand that the owners want to try and keep some kind of order with the association even though the covenants have expired. I don’t think because the covenants have expired and you don’t have a majority vote to re-instate the covenants that you just stop now and do nothing. You probably should have a majority vote; requiring all owner’s to agree probably won’t happen because there is a certain amount of people who will do nothing on the road and don’t care about the road because the people who do will just take care of it for them. I have that going on with the road that my wife and I use. So I think it is everyone’s best interest to come up with something even if it is a road maintenance association because the road does need to be maintained. If there is something that they are suggesting that you don’t like then try to talk to them and make some suggestions I am sure that there is a solution and that road is your access to your property so it is very important to keep it in good condition. John
Dean I think that all states have different limitaions on encroachments and the norm is probably 7 years. The argument is that they have used and maintained that property over time and they are claiming it. It would have to go to court and a judge would have to rule on it; this is also called a “quiet title”. I think if you have the property surveyed and then tell the owner’s that you are moving their fence to the property line and then see what they have to say that is a good place to start. John
John, Thank you so much for your assistance with this. I have spoken to the 2 acres party and they have requested a letter to the mtg co advising there has never been a road maintenance agreement. Here is what I’m considering providing:
Please be advised there has been no Road Maintenance Agreement created or signed in connection to access to the property located at #### XXXXXX Rd, XXXXXXXXX, NC. To date the road sides have been maintained (grass cut, weed-eating and tree trimming) by property owners. Current driveway has been re-graveled by the XXXX family due to their usage of the driveway.
Please feel free to contact property owners for additional information or questions.
I feel all they are requesting at this time is to know if there is an agreement, which there isn’t. Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Cyn, I think that is a good approach and maybe that will be acceptable to that lender. My past experience has been that a lot of lenders do require an agreement before making a loan so it would not surprise me if they ask that one is recorded. You could record just what you submitted to that lender just formatted with the owner names and legal descriptions. As long as there is something in place the lender is happy; as far as I know they do not police the property to make sure that the road is maintained they just feel that they are protected if an agreement is in place. It sounds like you are on the right track and that you are able to work this out so you and your neighbor are happy. John
Brad, that is unfortunate that the association didn’t pass an amendment to the original declaration that would keep the bylaws in place. By what you are telling me the covenants are void and no longer good so I don’t see how the association can say they are still in good standing; maybe there is more to the story. If they are infact void I think that everyone needs to agree to some new covenants or re-instate the old ones with a vote. You can write them so that everyone agrees and let the current board members know that if they don’t try to be a more understanding they are not going to get the votes they need to get the new association up and going. It sounds like it wiil take some door knocking, meetings and a lot of patience to get things figured out. John
We have an easement road on the left side of our property. The owner’s to the left of the road want to access their property through my road. Since they are a timber company that wants to timber and then down the line build houses I would prefer to sale instead of giving them rights to the easement. We came to an agreement of 60×70 piece…..Can I sell this if I have a 1st and 2nd mortgage? I would be willing to give all money to the mortgage company. Thank you for your time.
Adrienne, in order to sell off a portion of your property it will more than likely need to be subdivided either with a short plat but more than likely with a boundary line adjustment. This will require your lenders to have to sign off on the subdivision and the modification of your deed of trust to change the legal description. This process can be lengthy and cause you some headache as well. You can in fact grant them the easement for the amount they would purcase the property for and that would be easier; sometimes a lender may not recognize the easement if it was created after their loan was put in place so they may have to acknowledge the easement. Good Luck, John
Hello John,
It seems you know something about easement situations and what problems that may occur over thier exsistance. This question may be lengthy but it is intended to explain a big problem. Okay, my friend found out that a property was being sold to a person known to be shady and also a contractor. We knew that this person would muck a path through his part of an easement steal his trees and say ” sue me”. The easement has a driveway that accesses two lots my friends is the second lot the driveway ends at his third gate. A county planner came through and said that a footprint of a road exsisted it was an old access and became a footpath trees grew on my friends part of the easement for some 40 years . My friend got a DNR permit to log his trees and the first tree he cut down on his part of the easement the new property owners of the parcel sold by the contractor freaked out! they called the cops lied said it was their road and they had a permit that said so… my friend found out that the permit was for his land not theirs the court put a restraining order on him to stay off the easement and 100 feet of his property. Then he got an injuction of enjoinment and found out that the parcel was sold again the new property owner said he had a court awarded road to his property. We found out that an easement road in the state of Washington can only be 200 feet in length beyond this it has to to become a public access and conform to county road standards. He has pointed all this out in court and the court seems to think they make the law… he asked the new property owner to conform to county standards he declined so my friend with his DNR permit had no choice but to close the “said” road that was actually an access to his logging. We also found out that if a maintance agreement never exsisted over his part of the easement there can be NO road… over his land. Pacific County here seems to give your property away… if you have money and a good lie laws do not exsist here. He is now being prosecuted for Milicious Mischief for damaging a “said” road belonging to the plaintiff.
Mark, that is quite a story and does sound like a big mess. I don’t know what to say it sounds like you have gone through the proper channels to no avail. I was not aware of the 200 foot law in Washington but it sounds a little unreasonable because there are a lot of access roads that could probably not conform to County standards because of various topograpghy issues and plus the amount of traffic that would use them. I am not sure what information I can give you to help but if you have a specific question I would be happy to look into it. Thanks, John
I own property in where there used to be covenants an an association to somewhat enforce them. The covenants stated they were to be for 25 years and then it would take a 2/3 vote of the owners to either keep, modify or let expire. The owners wished to let them expire. The old Board of Directors of the Association now want to keep the association stating that since they incorperated the association back 15 years ago all the by-laws still stand and now they want to re-write by-laws and make all owners become paying members and put liens on anyone who do not comply. I understand we need some type of a road maintenance agreement but I am not sure they can force owners to pay dues just because they incorperated the name of the association? My Warranty Deed states that the covenants applied to my land but once they expired I do not think they no longer have any legal standing? What is your opinion on this issue? Thanks for any response.
Brad, thanks for your comments; I agree with you that if the covenants were set to expire and then that is what happened then in order to start over a new majority vote would have to be done in order to re-instate new covenants. I am of the opinion that you should have something in place and pay some dues in order to keep the road maintained and in a good passable condition. My experience with associations is that there are always the people who want to run things or be involved and there are people who don’t want anything to do with it but want it to be nice. I would try to get all of the owner’s together and help put something in place so your access is protected. Most lenders require a road maintenance agreement and without one it may stop a home sale or refinance from happening. Good Luck, John Wahl
Mark what you are telling me about Pacific County is incredible and sounds absurd. I thing this is an issue for an appellate court or even the State Supreme Court. I do’t see how the county can take your land, force you to improve private property or throw you in jail. I would suggest your friend and his attorney take this to the next level. Good Luck, John
Hey John, I am trying to purchase a home on a private dirt road & there is no road maintenance agreement. We want to try to get one established, but we are unsure as to what to do. If I am at the start of the road do I only have to get the property owners before me to sign? or does it have to be the entire road? there are 15 houses on the road & we are within the first 8 houses, does the agreement have to be for the entire road or just up to my driveway? & will an agreement work w/o the entire road signing or can it just be more than half? Any help with this will be great!
I live on a private road. when the HO association was created, they stipulated that the membership continued as long as properties across the road from each other EACH joined. Well the majority did, but one said no which stopped the road maintenance for the last four houses. I am the house just before that. The maintained road is great, but unfortunately the other four HO have not maintained the gravel road themselves and it is a mine field of pot holes. big and deep. It is my nearest access out of my neighborhood and to my mailbox. It is in terrible shape. What can I do to get them to fix it? Do I have any rights? The pot holes are so bad I was told by the fire captain that although they could get to my house, a fully loaded fire truck would have to slow down at each one so they didn’t break an axle…. what are my rights?
The situation is as follows:
A mile long gravel road with service to 11 homes and the last 7 homes have been sold/erected within the last 4 years. We live at the very end of the road at the cul de sac which is entirely on our property and is the only part of our property that adjoins the road. Each of us signed a road maintenance agreement that states: “the responsibility for the maintenance and or repair of the private road serving the adjoining property shall solely be that of the property owner. Such duties include maintaining the roadway sufficient for vehicular travel… in the sole discretion of the owners of the parcels serviced by said road.”
I have one neighbor that has just moved out of her house (hasn’t sold yet) and another that is being difficult about maintaining their part of the road. They both have major issues on the road adjoining their property that I must cross to access mine. The difficult one is saying that an easement means that “I” am responsible for maintaining it too. (which i have no problem with since I do use the road) but she is using that argument to say that she doesn’t have to pay anything! The road adjoining neighbor that moved out has just about washed out becoming a slurry of mud that is nearly impossible to drive through with all the rain that we have been having.
My question is this: Can we ‘force’ the neighbor that just left to pay to maintain the road? Or the future owner? (who is going to say: it was a mess when I moved in and not my problem). And is the difficult neighbor mistaken and that the road maintenance agreement trumps “what everyone knows about easements?”
We just had to pay $200 to have a truckload of gravel put on a part of the road that isn’t even ours and are looking at probably $2000-$3000 to fix the road just so we can drive across it. Oh and its a private road, not a county maintained one.
I have a couple of question. Currently I live on a private road along with two other families. We do have a road mainteance agreement attached to our deeds that was put in place by previous owners. Up until the last several years no one had an issue paying their third of the maintenance. I myself out of my own pocket have made repairs to the road over the past 10 years, but it had never been an issue. The problem I have now is that the newer neighbors on the road do not want to pay for anything, the road is actually owned by the last house on our road. My questions are can I enforce the maintenance agreement myself by repairing the road and billing the other two or can the actual owner of the property be the only one that can enforce the maintenance?
Thank you,
Ken
I recently purchased a home on acreage. After the purchase, I was informed that I would now need to begin making $600.00 per year payments to the road maintenance association.
I asked the previous owners if they had signed an agreement, they stated they had not. I then requested that the association provide documentation of the property membership.
They mailed an agreement that had the previous owner’s signatures on it, but was not notarized. The previous owners looked at the document and stated that the signatures were not theirs.
Now, the association has placed a lien on the property for non payment of the annual dues.
My question is, does such an agreement need to be notarized to be legal in Washington State?
I want to be as informed as possible before I approach them and insist they remove the lien.
Can I be forced into this association? There is only one way into our property – without access to the existing road, we are land locked.
Thank you,
Chris
I live in a subdivision in Mason County. When we bought our home, we had a road maintenance agreement. Recently a new board took over and now they are trying to make a lot of changes. The original contract says roads to be manitained as good as original (dirt and gravel) . The new board is trying to change the terms to paved. And they are wanting to put in a clause that says if the property owner is not present at a meeting where votes are needed, then the property owner gets no vote! They also want in the agreement that if the roads require more money because of shortfall, then the board has a right to raise the amount and bill the owners payable in 30 days. This is in addition to the regular fees. They set no limit in the agreement to how much. Can they get by with this action?
Thanks for listening!
Sarah
My husband and I own a house on a private gravel road. There are 8 people that use the road. Two have land just to hunt on and don’t use it very often. We do not have a road maintenance agreement. Our road is now in horrible shape due to snow. We have gotten an estimate approximately $3500. My husband thinks we should get each one to pay according to how far they live on the road. We feel that at least two will not want to pay anything. What do I need to do? We don’t feel that just a couple of us should pay this. Which is probably going to be the case. Should it be an even amount for everyone and is it too late to do a maintenance agreement.
Thank you,
Melissa
When we bought our home, there was a road maintenance agreement to keep the roads in the same condition (dirt). Now, some uppity folks have moved in & want to change everything. The new pres. wants to have them paved, so he wants to form a corporation and one of the by laws is that if an owner is not at a meeting where votes are needed, then they cannot vote. A lot of owners live out of state. Instead of a yearly fee for maintenance, he wants to just bill you in which you have 30 days to pay up and no less he is getting bids for chip sealing! We all have 1+ acre. I must add that even this new corporation or by laws have been voted on yet. However, it is obvious that owners that are not there to vote, will not have a say. if I would have thought taht someone could change the agreement to which I signed, I would have never bought out here (Mason County). Does anyone have an oppinion on this? Someone said it was not legal, but I don’t know where to look for answer to my questions.
Thanks for listening to my long post.
Sarah
We live on a 1/4 mile paved 1 lane private road. There are apprx. 8 houses on it. No one wants to maintain it. So I have been cutting the briers and kutzo along the road on the opposite side of their houses. Now one of them said I was ruining their property value and for me to stop. I am to my opion making it better because if you don’t trim it back it will go over the road. We have no maintaince agreement and all I am trying to do is make the road passable without scratch my vehicals. Any advice?
Thanks
John Wahl, I read your comments and those of the others who have a private road situation with much interest. We also live on a private road(four homes)with no road agreement. Our situation is further complicated by having a local water company that has access through the road to its dead end conclusion at their water tank (even though they cannot provide any agreements that give them access). Also there are four lots that extent from the top of the hill to the bottom that have their access at the top of the hill and “claim” they have access through our private road to the bottom of their properties (even though none of them have ever paid for maintenance). I would like to offer all who want access to sign a road agreement and deny those of refuse to sign by not giving them access to the road by constructing a gate. Four homes on the road and the water company recently repaved the road and we are very sensitive to the other four homes using our new road without paying for its maintenance.
Please give me your input. thx
I own property in a community in which the roads are owned and maintained by the Homeowners Association. They have on file with the county a Road Maintenance Agreement(RMA) spelling out their responsibility. The only qualitative standard in the RMA is that the roads shall be kept “passable.” There have been instances during the winter when a certain road remained unplowed for some time, or otherwise became unsafe to drive because of ice. Owners were thereby blocked from getting to their property. Is the HOA breaching the RMA by claiming it could not safely plow this one road. Or must they do whatever it takes to ensure that the road is, in fact, capable of being traveled on, i.e., passable? Further wouldn’t such a situation become a disclosure matter in a real estate transaction and thereby create a potential obstacle?