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
Absent an agreement, can one owner force another owner into a road maintenance 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?
I purchased a property in 2001 with an easement to allow access along a gravel road. The seller asked for $200.00/yr for road maintenance(gravel)and it is recorded in the original deed. I agreed and have paid it every year. The seller has never put one single piece of gravel or done any maintenance on the back 2/3 of his road, only the 1/3 that he drives on. He says he doesn’t have to maintain the 2/3 that he doesn’t use, but he wants me to continue paying the $200.00, AND maintain the other 2/3 at my expense. It has become very muddy and erosion has gotten bad. What are my rights? thanks,Tony
I am looking to purchase a home on a private road, however the road does not have a maintenance agreement. My realtor and the sellers realtor are working to have the neighbors sign the agreement. Do I have any rights if the neighbors do not decide to sign the agreement. I am qualified to purchase this home we have already signed a contract for the purchase but cant go any further until they all sign. I would hate to lose a house because someone thinks they might have to pay money on a road.
Hi Andrew, that is a pickle. Unfortunately there are nto any methods to get adjoining property owners to sign a RMA if they choose not to. One item to discuss with your agent is: is the purchase & sale offer ‘contingent’ on a RMA. If so, then you will be able to file a recension on the contact prior to closing or you can proceed to purchase without a RMA in place if you so choose.
We live in a rural community, four houses on a private road with a road maintenance agreement in the deed. Three of us are contributing to the $100 p/year fund. One is not, and hasn’t for the past six years. We have approached him and he says he can’t afford to pay. Do we have the right to put up a gate denying him access to his property from the road? There is also another home, that is not in our subdivision, who was given permission several years ago to use the road by a previous owner. We have asked them to contribute to the road fund but they won’t because they don’t have the road maintenance provision in their deed. Do we have the right to tell them they must start contributing to the road maintenance fund or we will block their access to our road? Thanks
Hi Debbie, if there is a RMA in place with the 4 homes then the only recourse maybe court action but if the homeowner has no money to pay it could further compound the problem – I highly doubt accessed can be block access due to non payment since the homeowner probably has easement rights to use the road. I recommend trying to work out the differences and maybe instead of contributing money the homeowner could contribute man hours as compensation.
With regards to homeowner outside the subdivision, I would check and see if the easement granted to him by the previous homeowner was ever recorded with the county (or whoever records title documents in your state). If the easement is recorded then there is probably no way to get him to contribute towards maintenance and he will be able to use the easement at will. If the easement hasn’t been recorded, by the previous owner, then the rights to use the road would terminate once the grantor sold the property. If there are no recorded rights then access could be blocked or denied.
THE PRIOR OWNERS OF THE TWO PROPERTIES WERE FATHER AND DAUGHTER WITH DAUGHTER HAVING AN ADJACENT PROPERTY. FATHER GAVE DAUGHTER A SIMPLE EASEMENT (NO STIPULATIONS)TO THE REAR ACREAGE NEXT TO HER HOME ACREAGE WHICH HAS IT’S OWN ROAD. SHE SOLD BOTH PROPERTIES. I BOUGHT THE PROPERTY FROM THE FATHER.I MAINTAIN THE 300′ TO MY HOME, BUT DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THE BACK 900′. THE TOTAL ROAD IS 2400′. NOW A CULVERT THAT THE FATHER PUT IN ON THE REAR 900′ HAS FAILED. WHAT SHOULD BE DONE AT THIS POINT. I HAVE NO DESIRE AT THIS TIME TO REPAIR THE CULVERT TILL NEXT YEAR, BUT THEY HAVE SOMEONE LIVING ON THE PROPERTY WITH HORSES, BUT NOW HAVE NO ACCESS TO THE RENTER’S HOME OR STABLES. I THINK THEY SHOULD JUST CUT A SHORT ROAD ACROSS THEIR PROPERTY AND RELEASE THE EASEMENT. I ASSUME I HAVE NO RESPONCIBILITY TO FIX OR REPAIR THE ROAD SINCE THERE IS NO STIPULATIONS ON THE EASEMENT.
I live in a housing addition where we have a limited road maintenance agreement for a road with 8 current property owners, but not all have ownership on the roads. Prior owners of homes have not transferred their ownership of the road to the new owners. Thus we have a (RMA) with home owners, (RMA)with home owners who have no ownership in the roads and owners of roads with with no property in this addition. This is a mess. Plus, we have a owner who claims the road-right-of-way as their property they own only 2/30th and the ajoining owner owns 6/30th with this limited road agreement they must maintain the road in front of their developed property but they claim all of the road as their personal property and try to keep others off and place stuff on the (ROW)to limit use for others and to keep the road from being in the center. How strong is this (RMA)and what can we do to stop a neighbor from claiming the road as theirs?
Hi Lyle, the situation is complex with ownership and the easement rights. In your case it would be best to have an real estate attorney review the situation and all filed documentation. But from my experience it would be difficult for people to block access because it could hinder someone accessing their property.
We’ve lived on a private road for 11 years. We and 4 other property owners have used access on one road, which goes across 2 other properties, as did the previous owners of all these properties. That one road joins with another private road, on which are all of our homes. This access was never recorded with the county, but it is the only access to our properties, because the “legal” access is another private road that is impassable. Fast-forward to 2008, when new owners of those 2 properties across which we all access our homes decided that we should have no access. The other residents went to court for permanent access. We participated for awhile, but had to pull out because lawyer fees became too expensive for us. Legal access was granted for those other 4. Our property is not listed on the legal access. The others formed a Road Maintenance Association for just the easement road, and want us to “buy in” for $4,000, plus yearly dues of $360. We have no problem with paying a donation for maintenance (the dues), but do not want to become part of the association because the bylaws are rather vague and there is no monetary cap to what they can vote on to do. It could become very costly! The “buy-in” fee is not stated in the bylaws. Also, we do not want to become part of any type of homeowners association–there was none in place when we bought our property, just a statement that “property owners will maintain road” (our road, not the access road). Two questions: #1: Can they force us to join by filing a lien against us? #2: If we give a donation, are we then committing ourselves to the RMA? #3: If we sell, can they enforce a buy-in either to us as sellers, or to the new purchasers?
Must a grant of easement have a successors and assigns clause for the easement to pass with title in WA state?
The easement for ingress/egress/utilities was granted in 1976 to the grantee: “Said easement shall be appurtenant to and shall serve as the dominant tenement the following described premises … ” and then the legal description of the grantee’s land.
I purchased the grantee’s land on contract in 1990 and took title the following year. The contract included a provision noting that I had an absolute right to the easement, but the statutory warranty deed simply stated that my title is subject to the 1976 easement grant.
That 1976 grant not having a successors and assigns clause, I wonder if easement passed with title or if I hold an easement by adverse possession? It’s not a point of contention, just wondering.
We live at the end of a private road shared by three houses. When we bought our house 23 years ago, we were told that there was no written maintenance agreement for the road and that the neighbors would not sign one. They said that they just shared the cost of repairs as needed. It has been a 23 year fight to get any help with maintenance and repair of this road. The one neighbor lives at the bottom of the hill and only uses a portion of the road so he thinks he doesn’t really have to do anything, even though he would not have any access to his driveway without this road. The other neighbor never had any money for road repairs (probably because he used it to buy new cars,additions to his house, etc.) He sold his house five years ago, so we were hopeful when the new neighbors moved in. However, they also “have no money” to fix the road. The road consists of a black top paved hill shared by all three houses and a gravel road at the top of the hill shared by the neighbors and us. The pavement on the hill is crumbling and in extremely bad shape. We spent $1000 last fall just to try to patch it up because the potholes were so big it was becoming impassable. Every time we get a heavy rain half of the gravel road washes down the hill and ends up at the bottom. I don’t understand why people are not willing to take responsibility for their share. Is there anything that we can do to get them to pay their share to get the road fixed?
Joan, I understand where you are coming from; my Wife and I share a road with about 6 other properties and we do the majority of the work on the road. Unless you have an agreement there really is no way to enforce the maintenance, I think you may have to consult an attorney and maybe file legal action to get any results. The neighbors can say they have no funds to fix the road but they obviously need to access their home and it sounds like that might not be able to happen with the current condition of the road. The guy at the bottom isn’t going to care about your hill but still should contribute towards the portion they use. Good Luck! John Wahl
Are these agreements easy to dissolve if you the parties want to change or have a change of heart about the agreement? Assuming all parties want to dissolve.
Alan, if all of the parties involved are willing to change the agreement you can draft an amendment to the original road maintenance agreement. The amendment should reference the original agreement, recording numbers, owners and legal descriptions. You can then draft your changes and have all parties sign and notarize the document and then record it at the auditor’s office. This will post your changes to your title and the agreement will always be there. The same goes if you want to disolve an agreemnt entirely then you would draft an extinguishment of agreement and reference all of the same items I stated above and also have all owner’s sign and notarize and record. I hope this helps. Thanks, John Wahl
If you have a road maintenance agreement and one of your neighbors drives faster than the posted speed limit past your house(and you do day care), can you refuse to pay your road dues on those grounds?
Paying dues and driving have fast on a road have nothing in common. I recommend reporting the driving to local law enforcement and posting ‘kids present” signs on the road. The worst thing would be to have a young one hurt.
My husband signed a road agreement on a lot he bought quite a few years back.
There was no road how ever.
He married me and we decided to build a house on the lot. There are other lots but we were the first to build as there was no road. We put a half mile gravel road to our lot.
Course than the owner of the other lots was able to sell all existing lots, he kept one for himself. The road was tore up with all the building and than the previous owner has decided to build so did road maintances at the tune of over $6,000.00.
These past 6 years since we put the road in my husband repaired a bridge getting ready to wash out (we put in), snow plowed the road every year and mowed. We are the only ones with a large tractor as we farm and we plowed it in the 2 worse blizzards of last winter.
The previous owner shows up at our door with a $1,500.00 bill because he decide to split the bill 4 ways because the other guy doesn’t use the road much (friend) which is a lie because he does.
We have all FIVE signed the agreement so I know that is a no-no, very vague agreement, not on use but just we all split cost 5 ways.
But we did not agree on the top of the line expenseive maintance (we would have done it cheaper) and he told us to pay in 30 days. We never agree to that either. So here we have an unexpected $1,500 bill and no one has offered to pay us for our maintance and especially to cost of plowing the 3/4 mile road (house occupied at end last 5 years but owner drove the road as soon as we put it in)
I don’t want to pay the bill, this was not agreed on!! Do we have to? Why were we not given a chance to come up with lower estimates? One neighbor loss their job and mentioned they have a realative in the gravel business and could have gotten discounts which would have really helped at this time.
UUGH!!
It sounds like you and your Husband are trying to do the right thing by implementing the road maintenance agreement and were never compensated for the initial building of the road. It is good however that the other owners have also signed the agreement. The agreement is kind of like an association so there should be timelines, rules and procedures spelled out in the agreement and maybe dues collected so you have a fund to work off of. You could refuse to pay the $1,500 and hash it out with attorneys or try to work it out with the other owner’s. Tell them they owe you money for building the road, clearing the snow and fixing the bridge. That may just cause a big fight but there must be a solution you can work out. Good luck! John Wahl
Our Condo Association has a huge dilemma..The owner that developed it, is a local oil company (which has been sold over the Years) the roads are legally still owned by this company . our neighbors, another separate condo association which we share road maintenance. snow plowing divided in by 2. However we have a camp road(which is a dead end) at the end of parking lot, owners of those camps access their camps through our parking lot. one those owners is a phone company who plows this camp road for them. The beginning of this camp road is breaking down and is decaying into our parking lot. HOw do we communicate with these camp owners to help with plowing and road repairs and they also dispose trash in our dumpsters. Do we stand a chance with asking them to help with road/parking lot plowing/maintenance issues? Whats the next step? Or is the road/parking lot still the responsibility of the OIL Company?
Mary-Beth,
I assume that everyone that is using the road has a legal easement to use the roads and there might be a roadmaintenance agreement. If there isn’t a recorded road maintenance agreement then you may want to research the easements that the other owners have to use the road and see if there are any maintenance provisions in those easements. If not then you should be able to contact those owner’s and discuss your concerns with them and see if you can come to some agreemnet. It would be in everyone’s best interest to keep the road in good condition so it remains passable and nice. Please let me know if I can help with any other questions. Thanks, John Wahl
The original subdivision plat that includes five lots crosssed by a road labeled on the plat as a right-of-way easement, also contained a clause reserving “right, title and interest” of roadbeds shown on the plat to the Grantor. Without any changes whatsoever to this clause, the local HOA now “owns” other platted roads, but denies “ownership” of this one road because it is not distinctly separate from the properties it crosses. Separately, the HOA has a recorded RMA that covers “all rights-of-way” in the subdivision, but continues to view that document as not applicable to this one roadway. Two questions: (1) Can an easement’s roadbed be “owned” by an entity separate from the property burdened by the easement? (2) What legal mechanism exists to force the HOA to provide maintenance to such a roadway?
30 years ago, we built our home. To get to our home, we had to drive 100 yards on a dirt “right of way” and then built another 100 yards of our private driveway. (The first year of winter, we couldn’t get to our house because we “sunk” our vehicles in the mud; that is the description of this right of way.) Several camps were built (one a trailer) at the same time. During these 30 years, we are the ONLY ONE who have put $10,000 worth of stone on this right of way in addition to paying for ditching, snowplowing, cindering, maintenance, etc. Can we legally declare this as a private road?
RoseAnn, if the road you are crossing is a right-of-way it sounds like it is a public road that has not been upgraded to City or County standards and is being maintained by you? You can possibly file to have the road vacated by the jurisdiction that owns it and then take it over as a private road. The only catch would be that everyone that has legal access to this right of way to access their property would have to participate in the right of way vacation. You would then need to have a road maintenance agreement drafted and signed by all owners so the expectations of maintenance is agreed by all owner’s. The other option would to be to see if the City or County would consider improving the right of way to their standards and they would maintain that road. Good Luck! John Wahl
Hi John,
I live on a private road with 19 other homeowners. All of us except for 2 have road maintenance agreements attached to our property. Until this year, nothing has been enforced. We now have a road maintenance committee and a name and bank account with non profit status.
My questions:
1. How do we amend the ancient original agreement? Can we just vote on it and sign it? Do we need to file anything with the county?
2. Two of the homeowners do not have agreements because their property originally tied into the main road and they added a driveway to our road. How do we get them added to the RMA? If they refuse, can we deny them access?
Thank you!
Hi Renee’ you just need to draft an amendment to the original RMA with the legal descriptions, tax numbers and the original recording number of the original RMA and you should file it with the County Auditor so that it attaches to the title.
If the 2 properties that are not tied to the RMA do not have a legal easement to use your road then you can deny them access if they refuse to sign the agreement. If they do have legal access and refuse you may not have a lot of recourse other than consulting an attorney.
I hope this helps, Good Luck! John
I am aRealtor and have a client that is attempting to purchase a home a private road. The lender is requiring a road maintenanace agreement to be recorded. Can they do that? What are my options? I was under the impression that “In the absence of an agreement, the cost shall be shared proportionately to the use made of the easement by each owner.” per California Civil Code Section 845.
Erik, the lender unfortunately can put any conditions on the loan that they want and it is common to ask for a road maintenance agreement on properties that access off of a private road. The easiest option would be to draft a basic agreement like the one at the top of this post and fill it out with the appropriate legal descriptions and tax numbers and then record it at the Auditors office. You can attemt to have the other owner’s sign the agreement but even if they don’t sign it and it is recorded it will still show up on title and should satisfy your clients lender. Thanks, John Wahl
I am a Realtor in FL working on they same type situation as Erik from post 11/24. We have been told by the underwriter that we need all signatures from owners up to the purchase property. One owner right at the beginning of the street is concerned that this is a start of an HOA and doesn’t want to sign. I have revised the form above to be very basic and hope he will reconsider, however, it sounds like from your comment to Erik that if only a couple sign we might be ok? Do you know how that pertains to the state of Florida? Thanks, Lainy
Lainy, I think in a perfect world it would be great to have the signatures of all owners who access the road but unfortunately if people have used a road for years and years and all of the sudden they are asked to sign a document regarding maintenance there can be some resistance. Those owner’s really have no obligation to sign a Road Maintenance Agreement document since there has never been one but one day when they refinance or sell their home a new lender may ask for one and the tables will be turned. I am not up to speed with Florida law but do know if you record a document signed by all owner’s or not it will still show up on the title. I would try to keep it as simple as possible to satisfy the lender ad try for all signatures but if you are unable to obtain them, some are better than none. Good Luck! John Wahl
Does a private road that has a road agreement need to carry liability insurance to cover its board members?
Diane, I don’t know what the liability is for the board members on maintenance of a road but it may not hurt. An attorney would have a better idea and it may not hurt to get a quick consultation from one. Good Luck! John Wahl
John,
I’m looking into buying a house on a private road of probably less than 300 feet. From the sellers disclosure there is no road maintanence agreement in place and I can’t assertain as to if there has ever been any communication. I do know that one of the owners on the road handles plowing it after snow storms, but i think the road itself is in significant disrepair.
From what I can tell from reading your blog is that there is nothing an owner can do to ensure the other owners occupying the road, so is there any suggested recourse for either petitioning the road to become public? It’s in a very suburban setting and is a pass through from a major county road to a subdivision…so what I mean is that it seems odd to be a situation for a private road.
Also, what or where could I find costs that would be associated with living on a private road? Annual average maintenance costs, cost to re-pave, etc.
Thank you
Brian
MY WIFE IS PRESIDENT OF OUR ROAD COMMITTEE AND WE HAD ROAD DUES AT $150.00,BUT WE DID A VOTE TO RAISE IT TO $300.00 SO WE COULD RAISE MONEY TO CHIP-N-SEAL. NOW ONE OF THE RESIDENTS SAID THAT IN THE ROAD AGGREEMENT IT DID NOT STATE RAISING DUES WITHOUT AN AMENDMENT CHANGE.THE SAME PERSON IN QUESTION HAS PAID THE NEW $300.00 TWICE ,BUT HAS NOT PAID FOR THE LAST 2 YEARS. HES TALKING ABOUT SEEKING THE HELP OF A LAWYER,BECAUSE LEINS WERE PLACED ON HIS PROPETY. I WOULD THINK THAT ONCE HE PAID THE $300.00 THAT HE HAD AGRREED UPON THE MAJORITY VOTE. WHAT IS YOUR THOUGHTS AND ADVICE ? THANK YOU. ED
Ed
Thanks for the comment. To really answer the question I would need to see the original agreement. But if you took a vote of the people in the association and had enough people present to satisfy the quorum required, I think you could use that as evidence of an “amendment”. However, it is always advised to seek the advice of your associations attorney to make sure everything was done correctly.
Brian
Thanks for the question. The best place to start looking for a road maintence agreement is the preliminary title report. Either your agent or the listing agent should be able to provide you with a copy or order one for you. It is customarily free of charge until closing. If one is not shown and you are serious about buying the property you could think about making it a requirement in your PSA that the seller complete one with the neighboring owners before closing. Or you can have your agent direct you to a local real estate attorney that can help you draft one after purchasing the property.
If you want to pursue making the road public, the best place to start is the County planning department. They can give you the requirements and if it’s possible, but you would most likely need every benefiting neighbor to agree on that.
In terms of cost, it depends on the road material (dirt, gravel or asphalt). If the seller is not able to provide the maintence cost for you, you can always do some measurements and call a local contractor to give you some idea of what the cost to repair the road is and how often they recommend “fixing it up”. Then divide that cost by the number of homes benefiting from the road and you will have a ball park figure.
In case you are wondering why I am replying to questions that were directed to John Wahl…it’s because he recently retired! I have been working with John Wahl for many years and will still be able to answer all of your questions on the subject.
Thank You
Mr.Anthony Schulz
IM SORRY BUT ONE MORE QUESTION PLEASE. MY WIFE WAS ELECTED,BY MAJORITY,TO BE OUR ROAD COMMITTEE PRESIDENT. SO BACK IN 1990 THEY STARTED THIS ROAD COMMITTEE AND HAD AN AGREEMENT DRAWN UP. EVERYTHING HAS GONE THE SAME SINCE THAT TIME,BUT WHAT WE UNDERSTAND THERE IS RULES.WE VOTED AND THE MAJORITY RAISED THE ROAD DUES TO $300.00 FROM $150.00,BUT IT WASN’T AMENDED AT THE OFFICIAL OFFICE AND WE’RE STILL NOT SURE WHERE THIS IS DONE. SO THE ONE RESIDENT THAT I MENTION PREVIOUSLY PAID THE $300.00 FOR 3YRS AND THE LAST 2YRS HE HASNT PAID. NOW HE WANTS TO REFINANCE AND HE CANT BECAUSE OF THE LEINS PLACED ON HIS PROPERTY. HE CLAIMS THE ROAD DUES AND THE LEINS ARE NOT VALID AND HE WANTS TO TAKE THE COMMITTEE TO COURT AND ALSO SUE. CAN HE DO THIS AND SINCE HE PAID THE $300.00 3YRS IN A ROW DOESNT THAT MEAN THAT HE AGREED UPON THE INCREASE? WHAT IS YOUR VIEWS ON THIS ? ALSO ANY ADVICE WOULD BE WELL APPRECIATED.THANKS AND GOD BLESS,ED
A question – We sure could use your help. Our HOA maintains roads in our community. All roads are on private property via access or utility easements. Who is responsible for cleaning up dirt slides on the road? Who is responsible for repairs to private property to prevent dirt slide from reoccurring and falling on HOA roads, i.e., retaining wall costs. This would be assuming the private property owner did noting above the slide area to cause said slide. Again, thank you sooo much for your insight.
Ed
I am not sure what county/state you are in, but in Washington all of the information that you are referencing needs to be recorded in the County which the property resides. The homeowner may have a valid claim if the increase was not recorded correctly and not properly presented to him. Additionally, depending on the type of liens you recorded they may have an expiration date. I would really seek the advice of a local attorney to help you sort this out.
Teresa
Are you saying that the dirt came from some one else’s property and fell on your road? Or did dirt from the HOA property fall on a HOA road? In scenario one, you might have a claim with the property owner who might be negligible for not maintaining his/her property. I would consult with your associations legal counsel to find out more details on that scenario.
In scenario two, I would say that you, the association has to pay for it. I have not read your communities documents, but if you are maintaining them that is part of the job.
Hopefully this helps!
I have read many of the comments here but have failed to find anything related to civil code. I don’t know about other states but California has a civil code that covers private roads Maintenance. The question is does civil code have any authority. for those that believe it does look at California code appendix E 845. Depending how you read the code it says that owners of easements on a private road will maintaine there portion to certain standards. Failing to do that other owners that use the road can force the issue. failing to get all the owners to agree on how much each must pay could result in bring in an arbitrater to decide how much each property has to pay. Still failing to get an agreement a court would decide.
Lauren
Thank you for giving us insight into how California works!
We are the servient property to a 180′ driveway easement. There is a maintenance agreement in place that states the dominant property is responsible for all maintenace but it does not state to what extent. He purchased in 2001 and it was a nice asphalt road. We purchased in 2006 and it was ok. He has not maintained it and it has become a broken-up, pot-holed ashphalt road because the dominant property prefers it return to a dirt road. Alsom this year he refused to snowplow so we sent him a bill prorated on usage. Could we notify his lender that the ashphalt road will become dirt? What are the chances we pay to fix the road and he has to pay us for his share of usage?
Thank you for the question. In my opinion, it really won’t matter if you notify his lender or not. Their Deed of Trust is secured on the property and the condiditon of the road will have little impact on overall value. The best thing to do is try and have a neighborly conversation about the road and express your concerns and desire to have it fixed. You might be able to work out paying for only the portion that serves your property if you desire. If that doesn’t work, and you want to pursue further action, I would consult a local real estate attorney about taking action on lack of performance.
We have a home with a deeded easment for access across the neighbors back pasture. The neighbors use our road to access their livestock (no problems). Now they have put a gravel pit on the property and semi trucks are using our easement and tearing it up. The owner of the property ignores the damage because he only uses it periodically but we now have ruts and bumps and mud bogs that dont drain. We have tried to nicely request that the owner asks the pit company to maintain the road but that fell on deaf ears. As long as they are getting the $ from the pit they dont care what happens to the road. Do we have any rights to demand the pit company or owner keep the road condition in repair? We spent our own money resurfacing it last year and now that spring is coming the traffic will start again.
Very frustrated!
North Dakota
We live on a private road with a bridge where the original plat map has a section titled “Private Roads” where it states that owners shall pay for maintenance of the roads on a pro-rated share, and that in the event of failure to pay, other owners have the right to bring action to collect the pro-rated share.
There has been a road association attempting to operate for several years with little support or involvement. They are now trying to collect “road dues” in the amount of $100/yr back to 2004 ($800 per owner) but only from about 45 or so owners (those that have to cross the bridge).
They have placed liens on properties up for sale and threatened to place liens on all properties (across the bridge) where the owners do not pay this amount. They claim that the association was registered but no one can produce any proof of that. They also claim that the association changed the dues to $100/yr in the 1990′s. The only evidence is a letter from the association (5 owners) stating they changed it. There have only been 3 to 6 owners at meetings in the past. Even with their threats of liens the best turnout at a meeting was 17 owners.
Also, meeting notices are posted on a sign by the bridge as the only notification.
There are 114 property owners with 425 acres total.
Does the “association” have any legal ground for charging “back dues” and/or does any action have to revert back to the original plat map and a pro-rated share charged to ALL the owners for maintenance expenses? Or are they even a “legal entity”? Nothing they have done for several years has been in line with RCW 64.38.
What would need to be done to form a legal road association now? The roads and the bridge are in bad shape.
Very Frustrated from ND,
Thank you for your post. I can see where this would be frustrating! Since I have not seen the documents securing your access, I would look for a couple of things. (1) Does the easement limit the amount or type of vehicles that can use it? i.e. is it to be used for only non-commercial purposes? (2) Does it contain a maintenance provision? i.e. who is reponsible for maintaining the road? Once you know the answers to these two questions you will know if you can pursue further action. As always if you believe the neighbor is being negligent based on the criteria above, I would consult a local real estate attorney on how to best proceed within North Dakota law.
Thank you for your question.
I don’t think the question of whether there is a legal “association” or not really matters. I have not seem the documents, but from what you are telling me everyone is subject the original plat map which says that they are all subject to paying equal shares of road maintenance whether they know it or not.
The challenge is that this association now needs capital to fund the improvements but is having a hard time collecting. You can place liens on all of the property owners homes, but it won’t really effect them until they try to refinance or sell their homes. In that case you might be waiting a long time to collect the necessary funds.
I would suggest the following: Obtain three bids from different contractors concerning the desired improvements. Then bring the bids, plat map etc to a local attorney. They can then confirm whether or not everyone is subject to the private road provisions. If they are, the attorney can then draft a letter on behalf of the assocation detailing the work that needs to be done, everyone’s prorata share and what will happen if they don’t pay. You might also want to talk to a few local banks and see if anyone would offer financing for something like this, or even let people take out a line of credit if necessary and present those options with the letter. To pay for the attorney you could use the money that you have already collected for the road as it is part of the process. Just make sure someone is accounting for everything along the way.
Good Luck
Thank you for your prompt reply. (1) Does the easement limit the amount or type of vehicles that can use it? i.e. is it to be used for only non-commercial purposes? —-NO—
(2) Does it contain a maintenance provision?
—No—
The property was originally one ranch that was split and sold into parcels. The only access to the original buildings/home (what we purchased) was by this easement. The other property had no buildings prior to the new owner building on it 3 years ago and no commercial traffic until 2 years ago when the pit was opened and the road was ruined the first time. We tried to approach the land owner to have them request road upkeep by the mining company and it fell on deaf ears. Then they closed the pit (the company pulled out) and the pit has been empty until two days ago when a NEW company is now hauling payloaders and machinery up to the pit. So now this time we are trying to do our homework so we dont get stuck with road repairs like the first time. Good fences make good neighbors and we really dont want to upset them but since they dont seem to care we have no choice but to cover our a$$ets this time.
Again Thank you for your time and advice.
ND
Just an update we contacted a Real Estate Lawyer today and they are reviewing the deeds to see where we stand. Now we are wondering if we choose to close the road who owns the cattle guard at our main entrance? Can we take the topsoil and base to make a new road if we decide to go that route?
Will let you know the outcome.
I am currently trying to purchase a house at the end of a long mountain road. And although I qualify for the loan and even agreed to take personal responsibility for maintenance of the entire road, no bank is whiling to finance the property without a maintenance agreement in place. The agreement needs to be with everyone on the road, about 14 individuals. Not going to happen. The bank is concerned about a single individual holding all the liability. Is there another way to address this? Is there insurance, like homeowners coverage, which I can obtain to cover the catastrophic event that they are concerned about occurring?
Thanks,
James
ND Land Owner,
You are welcome for the answer! In regards to the topsoil, base and cattle guard, that is a little out of my relm of expertise. I would ask the attorney who is reviewing your deeds.
Thank You
James
That is a great question. Unfortuantley when buying a home that is on a private road the lender’s guidelines make them account for the yearly road maintenance costs in your debt ratio’s. Without that agreement in place you may qualify personally, but the property doesn’t. Forming an agreement can be difficult like you mention because the other 14 homeowners might not want to take responsibility if they don’t have it already. One suggestion would be to have the Title Company run all of the other 14 lots to see if a maintanence agreement was recorded on someone else’s property. This “problem” would pop off if any of them have refinanced recently and they may have done something to solve the problem.
Another option is to do an addendum to your Purchase Agreement which states that the current owner must provide an agreement before the closing date. This would put the responsibilty on them and not you, as I am sure if you are having problems others buyers would as well. This might provide the proper motivation to reach an agreement with the current neighbors.
You can ask your homeowner’s insurance about possible coverage, but I have not heard of such a policy.
If my neighbors will not sign a road maintenance agreement, can my wife and I sign one that says we will maintain the road and then collect from the neighbors the cost of doing so. If they refuse to pay can I send them a yearly fee for using the road since I am the one maintaining?
Hey Thomas, I’m not an attorney. With that said, it’s my understanding, if only you and your wife sign the contract and the rest of the neighbors do not sign, all you would is a unenforceable document. There would be no contract binding the adjoining properties and their owners to have to pay a maintenance fee since it was not agreed upon by all parties. It would be best to seek a solution that all parties can agree on and then have the document recorded at the county so it would bind all future owners as well.
I live on a land locked parcel (20 acres) at the End of a 1/4 mile private road. One person owns the first 1/2, then another owns the next 400 feet and then I own a very short portion.
I recieved estimates of fixing the entire private road and requested help from my immediate neighbors, or at a minimum approval to have the work done. The note I gave them described the work – adding 4-5″ of Class 7 gravel, adding a culvert and fabric in a very bad section which is not on my property.
The neighbor who owns the area where the culvert would be placed stated it was illegal to put in a culvert there (I assume without his approval) stating it would flood his property (which was on the high side of the road).
The road was upgraded totally by me on my expense and then we recieved over 5″ of rain which of course flooded his property and caused a 1 foot crevace in the road where the culvert would have been placed.
There is no maintenance agreement, and the city states this is totally a private road. Is there anything that can be done to force my neighbor into fixing or allowing the culvert?
Hi Page, I don’t think there is anything you can do to force the neighbor to install a culvert. I would advise to consult an attorney to see if your property is effected by the lack of a culvert could that constitute a forced installation.
We have a driveway easement through two properties (15 feet on both sides of centerline) as our only means of ingress/egress. We are the only one to use this driveway as other property owner has his own driveway and other parcel not yet improved with home.
Do we have the “right” to maintain (grade[and add gravel as needed], snow removal, and weed abatement to preserve usability? We have not asked for any repayment and do the labor ourselves.
This is the opposite of most posts, since we are willing and ant to maintain, but our neighbor seems to just want to cause trouble.
Thank you for the question! Do you have the “right” to maintain the easement? I am inclined to answer yes, but remember that I have not seen any of your documents. Also remember that you don’t own the driveway, you are only allowed to use it. I would start by finding a copy of the title policy that you recieved when you purchased the property. If you do have an easement, their might also be some description of the maintenance on it as well. If you don’t have any maintenance provisions, then I would create one and have it signed and recorded. If you are willing to pay all the costs, your neighbor should be willing to agree.
Thank you so much for your answer. No maintenance provisions are recorded, only the fact of the ingress/egress driveway easement. He is not inclined to sign anything let alone talk with us.
Absent the “maintenance” provision in writing, do we have the right to maintain? In seems absurb that we can use it but not maintain the ability to drive on it, let alone emergency and delivery vehicles.
Additional information: We do have CCR’s which require maintenance of all exterior including yard/driveways. If not properly maintained they can be charged for such maintenance. But this is as specific as it gets. But, of course, one man’s “maintenance” is another man’s “unsightly”. Ugghh, why can’t he just be reasonable?
Mary Ann
This sounds like a very frustrating situation! The only issue with properly maintaining it yourself is that the neighbor may feel like you don’t have the right to or that you aren’t doing it correctly. Unfortunately at this point it would be best to contact a local attorney to help you draft the proper paperwork and get the ball rolling. Good Luck!
We bought a farm of 57 acres. The neighbor has 85 acres. There is ONE common easement rd. Running up the center of the properties. We Sold 20 acres of our 57 to some friends, however we were smart enough to put in a ton of restrictive covenants, including that they help in caring for the common rd. NOW 5 yrs later,.. the neighbor with the 85 acres, has created a 1 ac lot to their daughter and son in law, and found out it was pretty lucrative to buy junk doublewides and put them on the farm and rent them. There are now 2 doublewides, the owners home and the daughters home – for a total of FOUR houses. He is basically creating a subdivision, however they are “rentals”,and the land was not “split”. As far as I can tell our county ordinances only apply to splitting and selling LOTS. There are now 8 people- each with their own car, and the neighbor runs his business ( logging ) off the property too, so big machinery is coming in and out constantly. I HAVE an agreement with the person we sold to.. we do NOT have one with the ajoining owner. We have tried several times to rectify this, however they only want to split the costs 3 ways, yet they have EIGHT people and construction equip. tearing up the road. Not to mention – that they basically charge the tenants- so they end up getting off scott free as far as cost.. any idea on what we can do about this short of selling and moving away ? Thanks.
Susan
I am sorry to hear about your frustration! Without the neighbor technically splitting the lots, he does make a good arguement that the cost should only be split 3 ways. If you believe that the neighbor is not allowed to park mobiles on the property or run a commercial business on it, I would check with a local title company to see if any such restrictions were recorded against the property. If they are, you can present that information to the neighbor or have your attorney do it. I would also try going to the county personally and asking the same questions. After exploring both of those you should have a pretty good idea of what your options are.
I purchased a lot that was developed as a site condomimum. The site condomium includes six other lots on one side of a paved (asphalt) road. The other side of the road which also contains 7 lots was parceled and sold first under a different type of arrangment. The builder’s intent was to complete the road to county specifications and turn it over to the county as a county road, but before he could complete this action the economy tanked, and he declared bankrupcy.
In reading the site condomium agreement it seems the site condomium owned the road and the first lots (on the other side of the road) have deeded access. Since the road was never completed to county specifications the county does not want it and the cost to bring it up to specs is extimated to be about $18,000. For various reasons, most of the current lot owners (there are 8 or so homes already built) wish to maintian the road as a private road. This includes homeowners on the other side of the road.
My concern is for the long term care and maintenance of the road. Right now there has been discussion of creating a “road association” to achieve this goal, but nothing has been formally decided. My concern is that the folks on the deeded acess site of the road will not feel responsible to fund road maintenance since they have deeded acess and do not actually own the road.
If the site condomium owns the road can they assess and access fee for use?
I’m am hopeful that an equitable agreement can be reached and formalized between all 14 lot owners, but if not I’d just like some ideas on what can possibly be done to have all users contribute to a road fund in a fair manner.
Thank you for your question! This is actually a scenario that is occurring quite a bit right now. If the homes on the other side of the road have “deeded” ownership as well as the condo, then all parties will need to agree on a maintenance provision. The condo association would be able to assess the condo owners for their portion, but not the other 7 seperate owners. The first step would be to try and arrange a meeting with all parties to go over the situation, and then have an attorney draft a mutually agreed upon maintanence contract.
Anthony,
Thank you for your input. Do you have a suggestion on how I might find out if the properties on the other side of the street have deeded ownership of the road short of asking the property owners? I’m assuing this would show up in their titles, but is this publically available information and where would one find this?
Joanne
Joanne
Depending on the county you live in, the information might be available to you in the county records. If you can’t find it, you would need to contact a local title company to look it up for you. It’s always best to start with the customer service department if they have one.
We live in an addition with a Home Owners Association. There is a small strip of land
between us and our neighbor which is county owned and is considered a proposed road which was never brought up to specifications. Our neighbor wants to put in a new driveway which wil run into part of that county (path). The County Commishinors and the Road Commishinors both have given him permission to put the drivein. This road all so runs into Army corps of enginers and they gave him permission to fix the area on the property so it would drain right. Some in the Association are giving us aots of trouble about this project. We have heard that if a proposed road after 30 yrs had not been brought up to secification it revers to the home owners on either side of the property.
Can you tell me if this is true?
I live in a large HOA community with private roads. Some of these roads are feeders to another community. Our HOA has repeatedly asked their HOA to chip in on maintenance for these feeder roads and they have refused. What recourse do we have?
Janet
Thank you for your question. The first step is to look at your HOA and CCR documents to see what the road maintenance provisions are. I would also check the same documents for the other community. This would let you know if they are responsible to help out. Your local title company can help you find these documents!
Ruby
Thank you for your question. It sounds like you have gotten permission from all of the local municipalities to go forward with your project. My only suggestion would be to contact a local attorney to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything. I know it will cost a little money, but it could save you a lot later! In regards to road not being built after 30 years, that really varies based on the municipalities. I do know that does happen here in Snohomish County. When a road or alley is never constructed the land is split in half and evenly divided among the adjoining property owners.
Good Luck!
We live on a Private Road in Texas, It was deeded prior to an Oilfield Co. Who assumes the majority of repairs to the road. There are also 5 families on the road and share in the grading and general up keep. Yesterday, I got home and found that the newest member to the neighborhood has removed all tree’s and shrubs on the easement. Claimed he was cleaning it up! Does he have the right to infringe his opinion of cleaning up on the rest of the neighbors or is there a recourse for this type of actions. I wouldn’t have minded so much had he not cut down our Plum thickett and all the evergreen tree’s.
Dear Cleaning Up
I am sorry to hear about your plums! My initial response to your question would be no he can’t . That would most likely have to be a joint decision among all the owners. However, to best answer your question I would need to see a copy of the easement and any maintenance agreement that has been draw up. If you don’t have copies of these documents or don’t know if they exist, I would recommend calling your local title company to see if they can find them for you. Most times they should do it at no charge.
We live on a private road with with four homes and an existing road maintence agreement that states each owner to pay 25% of all maintenance costs. We use the shortest section of the road as our driveway is closest to the county road. For years we have felt this an unfair arrangement because the road is quite long and we use such a small portion of it. Two of our other neighbors feel the same way, and are interested in changing the agreement so that cost is based on percentage of the road used. Can the agreement be changed if the majority of property owners want it changed, or does everyone have to agree to change it? By the way, none of the current property owners were the original signers of the agreement. The agreement was drawn up by the original owner who owned three of the parcels. As an aside, the owner at the very end of the road is building another dwelling for his extended family, which will bring the total number of drivers in his family to 7. The rest of us only have two drivers per family. Thanks
Kim
Thank you for your question. Traditionally these agreements have been based on the number of homes and not the percentage’s used. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t do it. I haven’t seen you current agreement to know whether a majority can change the cost structure or if it has to be all owners. I would be willing to bet however, that it would need to be all the owners. If it doesn’t say anything about the topic, then you would most likely have to get everyone’s signature to make it enforceable. I would start by getting a copy of the document and looking it over. Then take it to a local real estate attorney to explore any more options.
I own 3 acres and share a 500 foot “lane” with my neighbor (to allow access to fields behind my property). The property line runs down the middle of the lane. My neighbor is building a new house at the back of his property and I asked him if he was putting his driveway down the center of his field. He, at that time informed me he is going to use the lane as the driveway.
A) what rights do I have, now that he intends to use the lane as a driveway? Can he even do that?
B) can I require him to plant a visual barrier?
C) can I plant a visual barrier (such as olive trees) on the first 4 feet of the lane which would still allow him about 8 feet of width of driveway?
D) Is he now required to maintain the driveway?
Note: He has access to the back field on the far side of his property
Janelle
Thank you for the questions. Several factors will go into the answers. First it depends on how long you and your neighbor have been mutually using the lane, is there a written agreement concerning the lane, are any easements written concerning the lane, etc? If you don’t have any of these answers, I would start with your local title company to see if they can research both properties for you. From there, I would take the information to a local attorney and have them go over your options. Without seeing all of the information I can’t say one way or the other. Good Luck!
I am in Texas. We have an HOA and a Road Maintenance agreement however, we are having problems getting help with maintaining our private road. We have eight homes sharing the Road along with a Gas Well drilling company that uses the road daily, with small and large trucks. My question is, Is there anything we can do to get the drilling company to help maintain the road in our subdivision? Can we deny access to them? In our HOA agreement it states the road shall be maintained by the owners.
We live on a “U” shaped private road with 2 entrances/exits. Our home is in the back/bottom corner. There are 3 other homes, one more on the bottom and 2 on the right side of the “U”. We are in the process of refinancing and the mortgage co is looking for a private road agreement. We have never had a problem with road maintenance. All neighbors have maintained their stretch of road. We have attempted to get the neighbors to sign an ‘equally responsible’ for all maintenance agreement. However, the neighbors at the top of the “U”, those who use the least amount of the road, are unwilling to sign. They do not want to be responsible for more than what they use. Another consideration is that their deed only gives them right of way to the portion they use. There are actually two right of ways pertaining the “U” shaped lane, the left side and the right side. Is it possible to exclude them from the private road agreement and the agreement will only cover the right of way that they don’t use? All other homeowners are willing to sign and use the same side…
OT
Thank you for the question. Does the Gas Well company have an easement to use the road? Does the road maintenance agreement let them use it? These are questions you would want to answer before proceeding. In regards to getting help from your neighbors, it the association agrees to make some improvements and some people don’t pay you could file a lien on their property. Of course, I would consult with a local attorney to see if there is any other course of action available to you.
Kris
Thank you for the question. What the mortgage company is asking for is pretty standard. They know that the private road will take some money to maintain, so they count that cost on your balance sheet as a liability. I have seen that the agreement can really say whatever you want, and people can be responsible for as much as they want. The important thing to the lender is just that an agreement is in place. So the suggestion that you are offering are possible. I would try to explain to the other homeowners that this needs to be done before any of them refi or sell as the problem will continue to arise unless it is taken care of.
Please Help – I have lived down a private road for the past 17 years with an 8′ easement recorded on my deed. New owners have purchased the properties in the front ingress and egress only one entrance and exit along side of their homes where the private road exists. The new owners are claiming their part of the road and fencing it in, which is leaving a very tight fit at 8′ exactly in some places making it impossible for the garbage men, ambulance or fire truck to get to our homes. Their are kids that reside down the road also. The property owners also have 8′ easements on their deeds. The new owners have put logs with sharp sticks sticking out of them along the road edge of 8′ leaving it very dangerous until yesterday I had enough when the garbage men couldn’t get down without him getting out of the truck and guiding him through it. I removed the logs. An hour later the owner of the logs showed up and replaced them with 4′ stakes and caution tape and drove them into the ground so deep that you could never manually remove them. His first attempt was a 7ft. Steel gate, which I had to write a certified letter directly to him stating that I do not agree with this. What can I do to widen this road so that an ambulance etc. could get down here, The 8′ easement took place a very long time ago even before my time. My concern is the health and well being of everyone who lives here.
Catherine
Thank you for your question. Without seeing the document, it sounds like you are only limited to the 8′. While your new neighbors actions may seem a little drastic, he obviously became very familiar with the property boundaries before he bought the property. Now is he is either trying to properly establish the boundaries or limit any exposure he has to an adverse possession claim. If you are truly worried about police and fire trucks accessing your property, I would call them and ask what the local guidelines are. They could then direct you through the steps for you local jurisdiction.
We have 4 property owners on a long right of way which is only accessible by the ritht of way. We are just in the process of making a joint road agreement and I know one of the homeowners will not participate. I have downloaded your form at the top of the page and hope it is all we need to get this process going. Do we need a lawyer to record the agreement on our deeds? How do you put a lien on a property when they won’t pay their share? We have a private party plow in the winter and 3 out of 4 pay. The homeowner hasn’t been billed for plowing for 3 years now because they just don’t want to deal with them. Should we have a bill sent to them anyway for plowing since the rest of us are paying our share, even though they aren’t billed? We also want to purchase our right of way but noone seems to know who the owner is or where they are. We were told to let it go up for auction and purchase it then which will be in 3 yrs. Should we try to purchase it now if we can find the owner? My neighbor has been paying the taxes on it even though he doesn’t own it and his lawyer told him not to because he doesn’t own it.
Maryal
Thank you for the question. Is the right of way owned by someone other than one of the 4 homeowners? That scenario is a lot different than if it is owned by one of the four of you.
Hello If your deed or deed agreement has provisions for you to pay a road maintance
Do you have to pay it?
If you have officers to collect the mony do you have to file any thing with the county where you live?
Jean
Those are great questions. If your deed says that you are to pay maintenance provisions, and there is nothing else recorded to say to the otherwise, then yes. However, collection and management also needs to conform to the specifications laid out as well.
Ok I have a doozey here. We live on a private road that became washed out after the Huricane and Tropical Storms hit the east coast this year. The road along with the parcels before they were sold were transferred into this lot owners assoc, which was never organized. The person who later purchased this property is dead. Our deeds clearly state we own our parcel of land only. FEMA has offered us $985 for repairs of the road, and the last estimate was more than $100,000 to fix it. We cannot access our home. The Township says they don’t own the road & won’t fix it! So as far as the law is concerned who owns this private road now? Or is that a really vague, undefined area of the law? Also if we have been plowing the road in the winter, legally does that mean we have accepted responsibility of the road? Any help will be appreciated, thanks.
Hi, and thanks in advance.
In the easement I signed when purchasing my home, there was a clause stating:
SAID DRIVEWAY ACCESS EASEMENT SHALL INCLUDE THE RIGHT TO INSTALL UTILITY
SERVICES AND THE RIGHT TO PAVE WITH ASPHALT AND OTHER SIMILAR HARD SURFACE
MATERIALS. SAID EASEMENT IS NOT INTENDED TO BENEFIT OR EXTEND TO ANY OTHER
LAND.
Is it true that my neighbor can improve my property (“paving”) without my consent? And then I’m responsible for maintenance? No RMA in place.
#1 Is there a legal simple way to have an account or use a cashbox safe to collect fees for an agreement or do you have to form a legal nonprofit corporation for each road? we have spurs of ingress egress easmants off of a main series of ingress egress easements. How is it done without starting and paying for a corporation??(the cost of which would take years to pay for and still not get the road fixed)
#2. How does proposed Title 64 WAC (HB 1349) change all of this? for instance It appears in the wording that someone could subdivide, build the road to standard then bill everyone else. It doesnt follow our current code of the subdivider being wholy responsible to pay for the road upgrade.
Thank You
We share a 30′ wide easement with 4 other owners. Our RMA states that the owners are “equally entitled to the use and enjoyment of said easement, and are equally obligated to keep said easement maintained.” It further states that “The said easement shall be maintained in good passable condition, and that financing and maintenance thereof shall be shared by all property owners equally.” Also, it states that “when a majority of the parcels decide that repairs are needed… a cost estimate shall be obtained, submitted to all parties hereto and that an assessment shall be levied on all parties hereto, to complete said repair or resurfacing.”
One of the parties has created a separate access to their property and do not use the easement for access. The other day I was trimming the trees and shrubs within the easement so the cars don’t get scratched as they use the paved road. Part of the trimming took place within the easement on his property. The owner became very upset and aggressive. He stated that I’m never to touch any of the plants on his property, nor come on his property (even the portion within the easement). He told me that he would call the Sheriff and sue me and “slap a restraining order on me”. I was completely blown away.
Was I within the law? In a few months the brush and trees will encroach onto the pavement again making a less than “good passable condition”. The owner was quite threatening. What would you suggest?
We are one of 14 owners who live on a private dirt road with culverts (some are blocked up) at various places but with no road base material. Eleven of the 14 owners want to form an association and sign an RMA and repair the roads by using a professional contractor.
The development was created about 40 years ago and some owners did routine maintenance. We now want to have it regraded and apply 4 inches of red rock base.
One of the owners is saying that he can’t be forced to pay because it’s an “improvement” because there was no road base applied when the road was put in 40 years ago. We say we are only “repairing” the road after years of neglect. Paving the road, making it wider, redirecting the road or otherwise changing its shape would be “improvements,” non of which we are doing.
So who is right?
Any recorded subdivision of record, should hold a clause as to “easements” granted for ingress and egress. Private roads on a subdivision plat, should be constructed to local county zoning codes, providing about 15 feet on either side of the roadway for utilities ROW.
Without a formal written agreement in place prior to purchase, it is up to the property owners who hold the “easements”, to maintain the roadways and pay for said maintenance. In our subdivision, we simply divide up the cost of yearly gravel…and we do so voluntarily. Some signed an agreement, but by doing so it may lead to liability risks, if those who signed implied “safety” of the roads. In our case, one of the property owners, allows a local farmer to access his property through our roads on a daily basis, causing the most usage and damages with heavy farm equipment. We have never seen any fees contributed for t his usage, and that is frustrating and unfair. So, with little to no recourse, except filing an expensive “stop order”, it is unlikely that we will ever see any contributions from them. Thus, we are all at the mercy of the nuisance farming on our not so “private” residential roads.
I may have an opportunity to buy a home that’s on a private lane in a neighborhood with nine homes. According to a Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions made 9/30/1999, the Builder is responsible for road maintenance and repair unless and until he deems it desirable to permit the homeowners to create an association. The convenants therein are binding until October 2009. Neighbors say that the builder has not been maintaining the condition of the road and the wear and tear is evident.
I refused to sign the disclosure documents until I had clarification on where maintenance stands now that the aformentioned is expired. The seller had to retain an attorney who said, “Declarant (builder)is the owner of the property. In said document he is to “provide for the maintenance of common areas and other community facilities.” He is to do this until he has deemed it “desirable . . . to create an organization to which should be delegated and assigned the powers of owning, maintaining and administering all common and community properties . . .” Pursuant to #12 “ Common Area” as described in the Declaration, the common areas include streets, walkways and parking areas as well as other items.
Since no association has been created, the streets remain the Declarant’s responsibility.”
The reality is, however, the builder has not been taking care of the maintenance and no homeowners association has been formed. In fact, the builder is in the process of liquidating assets and, rumor has it, is on his way to bankruptcy. Another rumor is that he intends to charge all homeowners in the plan $5,000 for repairs that are currently needed.
About a week ago, knowing that all of this was being scrutinized, the builder rushed to the local notary and filed a document saying that he desires everything to fall to the association. In response to the new document, the seller’s attorney reminds that in the original declaration, the builder dictates that the restrictions shall run as covenants with the land. These restrictions continued until the first day of October, 2009, “at which time they shall terminate . . .” The restrictions/covenants were not revived, extended or modified prior to that date. So its the position of the seller’s attorney that any attempt at this time to record such a document is untimely filed. Only the restrictions have been terminated by the language of the original document. The declarations are still valid. In addition, he does not believe that any document filed by the buidler affects the agreement of sale made by your clients. Ultimately, and until such time as the builder carries out his stated purpose as the Declarant of the original document, and then turns responsibility over to the proper organization, he cannot exploit any owner in the plan. He cannot submit an amended document in an attempt to fix common and community properties and facilities at the expense of the individual property owners. The expense to maintain the common and community property and facilities remain builder’s responsibility.
I’m trying to figure out what I may be getting myself into when the inevitable time comes that something has to be done. Do I have any rights? Am I facing a requirement to write a blank check? The biggest repair issues are currently further into the lane than the home I want to buy.
Our private road shared with 11 residents has no private road agreement, however one of the neighbors described a verbal agreement whereby the cost of any repairs would be split 50/50 between the two homes on that section of the private road impacted. A large pothole has developed leading into our neighbors driveway on a section at the rear of our property where we never drive (our driveway is at the front of our property). The erotion starts at their driveway and has now crept past the mid-point of the road. The property went into foreclosure with the previous owners not interested in paying for the repair. The new owner is aware of the situation but has not made any attempt to make repairs in almost 12 months. How would we ensure that the road is repaired and who is responsible for the cost? Thanks for any advice you can share.
Our neighbor is building a driveway roadway (will carry over 250 cars pickup trucks every sunday) 14 feet from our property line in the town bylaws it says can not build closer then 25 feet, How can the town board change this we have had a meeting on it.
Hi JD, don’t believe they can just change it without some formal process. Either voting to change the town’s bylaws – there maybe a nuisance law you can reference yet I would probably speak to a real estate attorney that is familiar with your towns laws.
Hi Lisa, the best way to ensure the shared driveways are maintained by parties using the driveway is to have a formal road maintenance agreement in place – see the example download at the top of the page. Then have the formal agreement ratified by all parties and recorded at the county so it is legally biding all current and future parties.
my husband and i are wondering if we can grade a road that we share with three others. Our deed that we have says that we have the right to use the road in common with others and the right to use and maintain utility poles and wires to the lot herein described with others.Then it says granting also to the grantees herein, their heirs and assigns forever, all rights, privileges,appurtenances and easements belonging to the granted estate as intended. So r we in the right or wrong on grading, plowing, or whatever needs to be done to the road?
There also is no road agreement
the owner of the road will not do a raod agreement so its hard for the rest just wanted to say this also.
From the information provided it doesn’t mention anything about maintenance and who is responsible for it though I doubt, if cost was out of your pocket, would the property owner granting the easement care if the road was improved. It sounds that the owner doesn’t want to have to pay anything for it and feels a RMA would make them liable. How many properties use the easement?
We own an access road as part of a commercial property but we have to give access to the surrounding commercial properties. The road is in desperate need of repairing but I wondered whether this is just our responsibility as the owners so should the cost be shared among the other users. I am not aware of there being any agreement and I am not sure how I would find out about one if there was. The property register states, ‘grant access at all times and for all purposes the user contributing a proportionate part (according to its use) of the cost of repairs and maintenance…’
We live on a private road along with 5 other owners. The road needs repaving and all agree to have it done. Some want the costs to be split 6 equal ways, while some that only use a small part want it to be divided by amount used.
The agreement was written up by previous owners and none of us understand the meaning.
The road maintenance states: The expenses for said maintenance and upkeep to be shared equally on a pro-rata bais by each property owner.
This agreement to contribute towards the maintenance and upkeep of said road and right of way shall be appurtenant to and run with the lands of the undersigned parties.
What is the correct way this is to be spit?
Thanks for your help
Hi Ken, there are two parts to your question and it doesn’t help that the legaleeze is confusing. I think it done for job stability yet that is neither here or there.
1). The expenses for said maintenance and upkeep to be shared equally on a pro-rata bais by each property owner.
2). This agreement to contribute towards the maintenance and upkeep of said road and right of way shall be appurtenant to and run with the lands of the undersigned parties.
Also, a local title company would be a good resource. Where do you live? I could put you in touch with someone if you like.
We bought 2 acres,half way up the mountain from the man who owns the mountain. The driveway was unuseable so we paid to have it graded and rocked. Now he is logging his mountain and tearing up the driveway. He states he owns the road and we just have right of way, so he can do what he wants with it. What rights do we have?
REQUEST OF INFO-
Purchased 3 acres in 1987 on a non-county dirt road without a Road Maintenance Agreement (RMA). Husband was appointed road maintenance coordinator in (2001-2006) and held road meetings several times a year. All lot owners agreed and paid $200 per year towards road maintenance. The new coordinator voted in 11/06, raised road fees to $400 a year, per lot and drafted a Road Maintenance Agreement which all (12) lot owners signed 11/12/2006 and was recorded with the county. This signed agreement was for all lot owners to share equally said cost ($400 a year). In 2008, 5 out of 12 at a meeting voted and passed that the active coordinator only pay half yearly dues ($200). Then the coordinator elected three other officers (4 total), only pay half road fees per year. Since RMA was signed 11/06 there has been 3 properties exchanged ownership, another new coordinator, and five agreement rules have been violated. All these changes but NO UPDATES WERE NOR HAVE BEEN RECORDED/FILED WITH THE ORIGINAL RMA.
In 2008, the active coordinator contracted lot owners relative to do some road maintenance work which again was voted by 5 lot owners out of 12. The contractor was to build up sides, create ditches, widen and build up the 90 degree corner which runs at our property point and 500 feet along our property/road side. The contractor took our property marker as he cut down below the road level towards our property a foot and a half at the corner and extended 500 foot long down the side of our property. As a result, we lost our property marker, which had to be replaced and we have incurred many damages to our property due to run-off from the road and other properties onto our property. We tried several times bringing this matter up to the coordinator and lot owners, but were told it was not a part of the road maintenance. We dug a 300-foot trench across our front yard to help in keeping the run-off from flooding our yard and causing more damages. The fees we have been paying twice a year to keep the trench cleaned out are $900, and we’re still paying the road fees of $400 too.
In the fall of 2009, we stopped paying the road fees, for we had no say at any of the road meetings we attended, no one cared about the damages to our property due to the coordinator and the contractor’s negligence and still are incurring property damages. We have received several nasty e-mails from the coordinator about not paying the road fees and these e-mails were and are being sent to all lot owners too. We have been belittled, harassed, beggared from the coordinator and others. These are just some of the reasons we do not attend any meetings. We had golf balls flying over our 6 foot high fence from 2009 until I confronted the owner in 06/2011. The golf balls stopped but a few weeks later, our chimney was shoot-up on one side that faces the same adjoining neighbor. We spoke to a lawyer and were told to file a police report, which we did, but not the peace order yet.
On 12/2011, the new active coordinator filed court papers against us for not paying road due for the past 3 years. On the day of court, none of our documents, receipts, pictures, or witnesses was presented to the court in our behalf, due to our paid lawyer not representing us to the best of his ability. We have 30 days to appeal the judgment and we do not want the same lawyer involved. Within 3 hours after court we received an e-mail stating “we won the case and that a new meeting on 06/09/12, in making changes to the RMA”. We will not attend anymore meeting due to their behavior towards us and not having any say about anything, just wanting our road fees.
Questions:
Is this not a breach of the 2006 Original Signed Road Maintenance Agreement that the past and present coordinators along with those appointed/voted-in officers have only been paying half the road fees per year and RMA was not updated of this?
Doesn’t this make the RMA non-void due to breaching the original agreement?
If a signed and filed RMA has been breached, how is it right to enforce the RMA upon another, as to what was done in our case?
Do we still have to comply with whatever others say and vote on since they have already breached this agreement in more ways than just the amount of road fees?
Who do we sue for the damages to our property, the coordinator or the contractor, or both?
Do we file a peace order with the police in protecting our property and ourselves from the vindictive behavior, in hoping to prevent any further harassment and damages? If so, who do you file the order on, all the neighbors?
We feel that we should appeal this matter so we can present all our evidence and counter sue for the property damages. We believe the court should know how our neighbors have been very vindictive towards us in their behavior. That we are not reasonable for the run-off from the road and other properties which has and still is causing use property damages.
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You Sunflower
Hello,
I am wondering if anyone has an answer to my situation. I recently inherited a home that is on a private dirt road. My house is the only house on this road and the only one with an official address on this road. This unpaved road currently dead ends about 20 feet after my driveway. There is, however, another house whose property is located on the other side of my road and its access and official address is on the cross street, which is not a private road. Before the house came into my possession the owners of the property across the road decided to build another driveway off of the private road, across from my driveway, for guest access to their rental cottage on their property.
When they have lots of guest over, they instruct their friends to park in the road, at the dead end just past my driveway. This makes it impossible for me to back out of my driveway due to their cars which are now technically in the middle of the road, using the road as parking spaces. Do I have the right to tell them they cannot park there?
Also, if I have to pay someone to plow this road so that I can get in and out of my home in the winter, are they obligated in any way to contribute to this cost?
Thank you very much for any input,
Lynda
I’m not an attorney, however, it does sounds suspect that the neighboring parcel could access their property with out a recorded easement. Also, may want to check and see if an easement was terminated when the neighboring parcel’s official access was created.
I live in a semi-rural area and about 300 feet from a railroad. The road in front of my house is owned by the railroad. The township uses that excuse whenever I ask them if they can plow it in winter, thus they won’t. I am the only home that uses it for access, although in summer time other vehicles use it to get to another road adjacent to it, but it is not necessary as there is public road access from behind, so other than me, the mailman and the railway itself do not need to use the road, ever. Would it be ok to post “private property” signs on this road? Or is it obvious that I should contact the rail company about this. I have talked to them before about plowing the road, etc and they are to say the least, are less than agreeable to be so neighborly about any of my requests.
Hey John. That is unfortunate, yet, the railroad should have sort of obligation to bordering property’s owner’s safety (especially during the winter months) whom evidently have legal right to use the road. Other people’s access seems tough to mitigate since it doesn’t appear that access is restricted by the railroad for other people’s use. Have you spoken to a right-of-way expert on the matter?
We live in a non HOA rural area and without a formal road maint. agreement. Everyone pitched in $100 year, lot owners half and businesses more. No one ever told us when we purchased we would also have to maintain our lane. The other neighbor was a part timer and did not help. Along comes a hurricane and we were required to file individually to get FEMA funds to repair the road as it was not passible. We have lived here 15 plus years (NC).
Fast forward, a culvert was failing that served our road, utility easements, lot for sale next door and other owner. We contacted the owners of the land that we have the deeded easement from, and they were up in arms about repairing. Our attorney advised us that since the culvert was on their land and drained onto their land, they were responsible. This caused owners to send letters to other landowners that the days of informal agreements are over, due to us. So the majority voted to increase the fees to $300 a year.
A formal agreement came in the mail, which we declined to sign. Our reason is the agreement and work orders will be controlled by the owner of the easement. They do not maintain their property of dead trees and we get the short end of the gravel. Nice big holes. We don’t want a formal agreement without more say to ensure the funds are used correctly.
All this to ask the question(s), isn’t the property owner of the easement responsible for maintaining the areas outside the road easement such as culverts and trees that could affect passability? The weeds are so high in their field that we can not turn off our road without risking an accident. We weed wacked, but previously received a no trespass letter from them.
We also rec’d a letter from an attorney to remove our mailbox (retaliation), even though it’s been one foot over the easement on their property 20 plus years. Did we really have to move it?? Bye the way, we did move it because we don’t want to play games.
Lynne
What are the easement regulations, width, mainanance of required easement and who decides where fence or gate can be place. In our case there is an exciting gate and neighbors are threatening to tear it down. Can they?
If there is a RMA attached to your property’s title then it will determine the rules and regs of upkeep, set backs, maintenance, fencing (look at set backs), and ingress/outgress of the easement. At very beginning, I would look at my property’s title report for the easement. To get a title report contact your local title company. Need a recommendation?
We own a cabin on 20 acres that is accessed by a private road. There is no maintenance agreement; as a result we have lost 2 potential buyers because the lender would not finance without such an agreement in place. The titles on the 6 other properties say each owner has right of ingress and egress, and each owner is responsible for maintaining only that part of the road which is within their property boundaries. It has been this way for a long time. There are a couple of neighbors who have had serious disagreements with each other, and who we doubt would be willing to sign an agreement. Could some sort of an agreement be drafted that would not require any more of the neighbors than what they are already doing ( basically not asking them to do any more than what is in the title) that would satisfy a lender’s requirements? We can’t see them agreeing to jointly share costs or put anyone in charge of administering the agreement. In the meantime, it looks like we won’t be able to sell our property unless we find a cash buyer(not likely) or finance a mortgage ourselves. Thank you for any advice you might offer.
The proposed solution, drafting a RMA that just goes along with title, may work and I would talk to an attorney to find out. However, it still may not satisfy the lending requirement of “maintenance”. Lender like it, as you know, in the event an owner defaults there are protections in place to make sure an property with an easement doesn’t deteriorate. My guess is the agreement would still have to have some verbiage addressing maintenance.
Hi, I’m an agent with a listing that has no RMA in place…there is a recorded easement so that the house I am selling can access their property. The neighboring house who granted the easement will not sign a RMA that makes him liable for any maintanence of the road as he says the owner of the house (my listing) who has the easement across his property should be soley responsible for any and all maintanence. The lender has required for a RMA be in place. Do you have any idea if there is truth to that. SHouldn’t he have to be jointly responsible, afterall his property uses the road as well to access his property?
thanks!
Hi Ann, I don’t think grantor has to be jointly responsible to the grantee for use. Yes, a suggestion would be to put a RMA in place that defines responsibility and which states the grantee is solely responsible for the maintenance of the easement which would appear to satisfy the grantor and a lender at the same time. I would talk to a local attorney to see if that would be a viable solution.
I live on a street that turns into a private road at the end (county maintenence stops just before my house), so I am at the beginning of this private road with four other owners beyond me. About half way down this road is trail access through a field to an elementary school. Kids that live on my street walk to school this way and many walkers take this route for exercise which is no problem. But now, parents have figured out that it’s easier to drive their kids to the trail than to the school. These are parents that do not live on my street. It causes several problems, the worst being safety. We have free roaming dogs on our private road, kids walking to school, plus the extra wear and tear on the road that is maintained by the homeowners. What are our rights regarding these drivers? Are they trespassing?
I would say they are trespassing as they don’t have legal right to use the private road. I would recommend to post signs: private road no tresspassing. If it gets that bad I would seek legal recourse. Because as many have said in the comments, and you mention, the wear and tear on a road is costly. Also, have you considered installing a gate?
Sunflower says:
May 24, 2012 at 11:19 am
REQUEST OF INFO-
Purchased 3 acres in 1987 on a non-county dirt road without a Road Maintenance Agreement (RMA). Husband was appointed road maintenance coordinator in (2001-2006) and held road meetings several times a year. All lot owners agreed and paid $200 per year towards road maintenance. The new coordinator voted in 11/06, raised road fees to $400 a year, per lot and drafted a Road Maintenance Agreement which all (12) lot owners signed 11/12/2006 and was recorded with the county. This signed agreement was for all lot owners to share equally said cost ($400 a year). In 2008, 5 out of 12 at a meeting voted and passed that the active coordinator only pay half yearly dues ($200). Then the coordinator elected three other officers (4 total), only pay half road fees per year. Since RMA was signed 11/06 there has been 3 properties exchanged ownership, another new coordinator, and five agreement rules have been violated. All these changes but NO UPDATES WERE NOR HAVE BEEN RECORDED/FILED WITH THE ORIGINAL RMA.
In 2008, the active coordinator contracted lot owners relative to do some road maintenance work which again was voted by 5 lot owners out of 12. The contractor was to build up sides, create ditches, widen and build up the 90 degree corner which runs at our property point and 500 feet along our property/road side. The contractor took our property marker as he cut down below the road level towards our property a foot and a half at the corner and extended 500 foot long down the side of our property. As a result, we lost our property marker, which had to be replaced and we have incurred many damages to our property due to run-off from the road and other properties onto our property. We tried several times bringing this matter up to the coordinator and lot owners, but were told it was not a part of the road maintenance. We dug a 300-foot trench across our front yard to help in keeping the run-off from flooding our yard and causing more damages. The fees we have been paying twice a year to keep the trench cleaned out are $900, and we’re still paying the road fees of $400 too.
In the fall of 2009, we stopped paying the road fees, for we had no say at any of the road meetings we attended, no one cared about the damages to our property due to the coordinator and the contractor’s negligence and still are incurring property damages. We have received several nasty e-mails from the coordinator about not paying the road fees and these e-mails were and are being sent to all lot owners too. We have been belittled, harassed, beggared from the coordinator and others. These are just some of the reasons we do not attend any meetings. We had golf balls flying over our 6 foot high fence from 2009 until I confronted the owner in 06/2011. The golf balls stopped but a few weeks later, our chimney was shoot-up on one side that faces the same adjoining neighbor. We spoke to a lawyer and were told to file a police report, which we did, but not the peace order yet.
On 12/2011, the new active coordinator filed court papers against us for not paying road due for the past 3 years. On the day of court, none of our documents, receipts, pictures, or witnesses was presented to the court in our behalf, due to our paid lawyer not representing us to the best of his ability. We have 30 days to appeal the judgment and we do not want the same lawyer involved. Within 3 hours after court we received an e-mail stating “we won the case and that a new meeting on 06/09/12, in making changes to the RMA”. We will not attend anymore meeting due to their behavior towards us and not having any say about anything, just wanting our road fees.
Questions:
Is this not a breach of the 2006 Original Signed Road Maintenance Agreement that the past and present coordinators along with those appointed/voted-in officers have only been paying half the road fees per year and RMA was not updated of this?
Doesn’t this make the RMA non-void due to breaching the original agreement?
If a signed and filed RMA has been breached, how is it right to enforce the RMA upon another, as to what was done in our case?
Do we still have to comply with whatever others say and vote on since they have already breached this agreement in more ways than just the amount of road fees?
Who do we sue for the damages to our property, the coordinator or the contractor, or both?
Do we file a peace order with the police in protecting our property and ourselves from the vindictive behavior, in hoping to prevent any further harassment and damages? If so, who do you file the order on, all the neighbors?
We feel that we should appeal this matter so we can present all our evidence and counter sue for the property damages. We believe the court should know how our neighbors have been very vindictive towards us in their behavior. That we are not reasonable for the run-off from the road and other properties which has and still is causing use property damages.
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You Sunflower
My fiancee and I are under contract to purchase a home and we just found out there is no road maintenance agreement. We are using a USDA loan which requires us to have one in place. We were told we could personally sign a maintenance agreement ourselves. What exactly would this mean for us?
Hi Sunflower, the complexity of your situation would require a lot of documentation as well as a skilled attorney. Did you hire a real estate attorney who would be familiar with RMA’s and the rules set forth by the RMA counsel? As a real estate broker I cannot give legal advice nor would I want too.
Hi Jaimi, are thir more parcels served by the road USDA is requiring a RMA for?
We have a RMA on our section of a private road. A developer has a right of way over our road to get to his subdivision past our road his subdivision also has another access road. Does this developer have the right to upgrade our road if we do not want it upgraded?
I live at the end of a dirt road with only one other neighbor. I have an easement on the neighbor’s land to access my home. We don’t have a formal road maintenance agreement. We have had an informal agreement for us to maintain the road from our house to theirs (even though a large portion of that section of road is their property) and they were responsible to maintain the road from their house to the gate. The neighbor is now insisting that we pay all the road maintenance for some reason. With no RMA, who is legally responsible for the maintence of the road, specifically is there any legal requirement for me to maintain the section of road on their property simply because I have an easement to use it? Thanks so much!
I live in the state of Louisiana,parish of Avoyelles.I live in a subdivision along with 15 other homes and our road is owned by the person that sold the lots to which the houses are built on.The guy does not maintain the road well and it is build out of dirt/mud with very little limestone.It is called Yellow Rose Lane in Hessmer,La.On this road it is traveled every day by school buses,mail delivery,UPS delivery,garbage truck every week, and the children ride 4 wheelers every day without adult supervision.The road is horrible to pass on due to excessive pot holes and deep mud.We ask the guy to fix it and nothing gets done.The law has been called and the wildlife and fishers about the 4 wheeler riding and they won’t come out because it’s a private road.Is there anything that can be done or any laws to enforce to have the road fix to some standard,but mostly stop the 4 wheeler riding of 6-10 year old kids before somone gets hurt riding?
Hello,
We recently moved into our grandparents house. They always had problems with the town & the neighbors for years about property lines Ect. They had the property surveyed and it came out correct except for the 8 foot foot space from the end of our garage to the property behind us. There are five properties on my block (22-26) The neighbors to the north of us is 22, they bought 23 to make it a yard, we are 24. The city plat shows they own the 8 foot peice of land behind our garage. They had always parked their cars in front of our garage and put up a fence at the end of the alley to the street, so we can’t get out even if easement was granted. Digging around though the grandparents things we came across a document (a.d. 1911) that states 22-26 is subdivided and that 8 foot space is actually suppose to be a private alley for all 5 properties to use. I checked the county and city plat books for all properties 22-26 and the only one that is correct is ours, all other property plats show their properties go all the way to the property behind each house, lot 25 has no access to the street same problem pretty much, cars are parked in the “private alley” that we discovered. Even though the plats state that 22/23 25 & 26 own the property which our document clearly states the 8 foot is to be use as a private alley for all 5 properties. Who can I take to court? Surveyor, bank or financial institutions that sold the fraudulent properties, town, county or the lawyer or the lawyer listed on our deed? Our house in the only one holding a deed, our neighbor’s still owe a mortgage. Any help is appreciated!
@Gloria, I do not know but if someone else is willing to upgrade the road at their expense why not. It is a cheap way for you to get a nicer road.
@Curly, most RMA’s have a section in their on the financial responsiblity for each owner of each parcel. In your case, there is no formal RMA in place and know way to force a subservient parcel’s owner into paying for maintenance. A person just can’t be forced into paying – that is extortion.
@Patrick, check with the county and see if there are records filed that restrict the use of ATV’s on the private road and outlines who is responsible for the upkeep of said road. If there is nothing on file to the contrary, all the parcel owners could get together to form a coalition of change to help push new rules for the private road.
@Gary, I would first try to find a solution outside of court just due to costs and people can get pretty bent out of shape and you have to live next to them. In Washington State, a parcel of property has to have access to it – there is no such thing as a landlocked property and I would assume your State has something similar. Also, you may want to talk to a real estate attorney as the new evidence discovered could work in your favor – I won’t speculate on which documents are the correct ones.
We recently built a house that has a private road that runs behind. Our house does not access this private road, but the other homeowners are insisting we are responsible for road mainenance as well because our property line is actually to the center of said road. There is no road maintenance agreement or home owners association the homeowners have just agreed to split the cost when maintenance is require. There are alos covenances that were established when this old farm was divided but there is no clear documenation as to which properites they cover. There are houses on each side of us that also do not access this private road and other homeowners don’t make them pay because they were there previous. Can they force us into a road maintenance agreement and to follow these covenances?
If CC&Rs are not equally enforced then they become nonenforceable CC&Rs. I would talk to a real estate attorney and see if they are enforceable, how are they to be enforced, and what’s the repercussion if no one abides by the enforceable CC&Rs. As I understand it, if there is no RMA in place then a party can’t be forced into an agreement or paying for maintenance.
I live on an extention of a private road. I’ve been paying road maintenance fees for the past 4 years. Recently the town formally named my road Oak Hill Extention and now the road maintenance commitee has stopped plowing and grading my section of the road. They tell me that I still have to pay their maintenance fee because I drive on their road (Oak Hill) to get to my road but that I need to start my own maintenance agreement with the 3 houses on the extention to maintain our section. Does that sound right?
HELP!!! There are six children in the 7 1/2 acres of land my parents have divided between us equally. My husband and I built a home first (there are six lots and mine is # 4) and after the first load of gravel was used, we paid for the other load from bottom of land to the end. These are all my siblings. A sibling is building on the lot behind me(lot 5) and the road is wearing thin due to trucks, wear and tear from contractors, etc. There is no agreement on road maintenance signed by any of us. I informed my sibling that she would be responsible for the next load of gravel (HER TURN) to which I received no response. To make a long story short, she is mad at the world and all of us siblings. My question is if we get the opportunity to share a right of way with a relative living beside us (5 parcels of land were divided between children from their parents) which would easily lead us to our house, are we still responsible for upkeep on the right of way road leading to my house? This sibling and their family is very hard to deal with I would just rather let her have the access and maintenance to the road as no other member is planning on building, they are going to sell or leave land to their children.
I sure hope you can help me! i will make this quick- I live on a 1/2 mile or so long road that is a right of way to my property. I have been here a few years. 6 others live up here on the mountain. Since I have been here I have plowed every storm and done a little road maintenance. there is one neighbor up here who used to always do all this and charged everybody up here a fee, I believe it is 375. He keeps the road nice, to a higher standard then I prob would. I have a tractor and can plow etc. and will do all these things. he is still trying to charge me. I am not a member of an association and don’t want to be. there is nothing in my deed about this either… is there anything he can do? how should I handle this? thanks alot…
Hello, my great grandmother owned hundreds of acres in Mason County, giving most of it away to family, and selling the remaining parcels to friends (for $1) out of generosity. Family have used this acreage for camping since the 1970′s, and during that time the remaining parcels have been sold off to others who now reside there full time. This is a private road and there has never been a road maintenance agreement. Over the past few years, we’ve lost two bridges when the season creek has flooded. Very few property owners (including several family members) have been willing to assist with the situation, leaving the full-time residents and some of us family members to pick up the $$$ cost. The property deeds indicate that “all property owners will share equally in maintaining the road.” Given the deed requirements, can the current property owners be forced into a RMA to alleviate the confusion and frustration once and for all? To add frustration, there are two-bridges on the road. Those who live south of the second bridge feel that they should not be obligated to assist with the second as they have no need to cross. …Tired of replacing bridges and fighting with family! Thank you, ~Danielle
Hi Debra, that sounds suspect because a RMA just can’t be revoked as its filed with against the properties. I would speak to a locate real estate attorney because laws vary from state to state.
Hi Pat, if there is no written agreement then no maintenance can be forced or required. Being that the siblings we operating in good faith, it goes to shows to when money comes involved and what people’s thoughts often change. It sucks especially when folks are a pain to deal with and can’t seem to be reasonable – seeking the advice of a local real estate attorney would be a good idea.
Hi Ron, if nothing is in writing then to me, I’m not attorney and one should be consulted, then you’re not bound to any contract that you haven’t agreed to.
Hi Danielle, if you have read some of these comments most of mirror what you’re saying and the feeling of other property owners. Personally, I think many people just won’t buck up and pay for something because they don’t use a portion of the road due to principal. If the deed states all properties share in road responsibility then it should be so – talk to a real estate attorney and one that is familiar with RMA’s.
I own a piece of property that’s landlocked and only accessed by a 1/4 mile long dirt road. I have one neighbor in the same situation. He does not maintain the road and he owns a portion of our common driveway he says he “has no money”. Another property owner owns half of the road and tells me I have to maintain it, he has access to his property from the main highway, but does use the easement road sometimes. Maintenance of this road is mentioned in one deed of current owner who owns the other half of the road, he contributes. The other owner of the other half of the road this paragraph was left out of his deed. It appeared when the original two owners agreed to maintain their road, but was left out when the one owner sold his property. It seems this can be done at will if your an owner of an easement road and you sell your half. I imagine it would make it easier to sell, no maintenance right? Does an owner of an easement road have any maintenance responsibility to the users? In the event of needing fire or rescue trucks what if the road isn’t wide enough? This is a privately owned road. Does widening and preventing vegetation growth fall to the users as well? Now I’m landscaping, filling in holes, grading, etc. a road that does not belong to me. Water is another problem, it’s going to need some drainage pipe, does that fall to me as well? Any insight you can offer would be great.
We have a neighbor operating a business which he built on the end of a private road.
That private road is in reality a maintenance easement which had a little rock dumped on it by ALL of the property owners in the area so they could get in to feed their cattle.
This business owner has now been photographed digging up the telephone lines
(AT&T) serving the homes in the area along the road. (2010) He also has been photographed breaking the water main serving the homes in the area (2011,2012). The water line and telephone lines happened to be in his way when he started trying to widen the “road” – really a cattle path – up to his place. He also broke open the leech field for the neighbors home (2011)… causing them to get a fine from the Environmental Agency for our county.
Today, May 14 2013 he has now started scraping rock off of the county road leading up to other homes in the area. He is using the same bobcat in the pictures from his prior misdeeds. That ‘road’ (the maintenance easement) he built his business at the end of crosses a couple of other pieces of property , and has NO easements signed on it, so the COUNTY WILL NOT ROCK IT. Mr Business man is now taking a bucket loader up and down the couty road, and scraping up rock to rock ‘his’ road. He started out doing it on a 4-wheeler with a drag until he ‘blurred the line’ between what was rockedc and what wan’t (photographe a couple of time this past winter) … now he’s blatantly stealing material. He claims if he does this the county will have to start maintaining his road.
The man is doing this because he built a LARGE motocross facility here. None of the neighbors have anything good to say about the facility or it’s clientele SO they won’t work with him when he puts banners up all over the state highway rights of way until the county or the state have to come take them down, or leaves 500 lbs of beer cans and trash all over their lawns after every big race night… or runs it until 2 or 3 am or plays his loud freakin speakers until they can be heard 5-7 miles away in the nearest town,.. (actually, he is the kind of person who is all smiles and lies and half truths when you meet him in person… the kind of guy who will love you and rob you blind and pretend he didn’t know he was taking anything)…
The guy thinks we are all STOOPID when really we are just PATIENT and are about out of PATIENCE with him.
I live in a cul-de-sac shared by 4 homes. Two of the homes are owned by one owner and are being currently rented. We need to repave the road and the owner of the two homes has been dragging his feet for 2 years. We are not getting anywhere and the holes in the road are so big they now could be a liability. Do we have a leg to stand on regarding pushing this repaving forward? We don’t have any CC&R’s or anything else in writing for procedure. 2 owners are ready to go ahead with a bid we received, however the one who owns two of the homes is not. What can we do?