{NY} Am I responsible for road maintenance?

[maceia]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY
I purchased my fixer upper home, on 1.5 acres 36 years ago. We had a 400 ft. right of way driveway that we had to maintain up until about 6 years ago. The development co. we purchased our house from could not remove the right of way until they provided a town road we could access. About six years ago, they put in a cul-de-sac we hooked up to and they began building and selling approx. 8 homes. (we were the only house up to that point) The new homeowners signed a maintenance agreement with the development co. making the homeowners on the cul-de-sac responsible for the road's snow removal, and landscaping and sent me a notice of what I'm responsible for. Am I required to contribute to this maintenance? I've never signed an agreement now nor 36 years ago.

 

[FarmerJ]

You wrote > until they provided a town road we could access. < so it is not a town road or a road whose ownership has been taken over by a governmental unit such as city or township or county? It sounds as if they just gave you access to another private road. SO is there anywhere in the title of your home any mention of you having to join a HOA when one was finally established OR any language that granted to a HOA the ability to force you to pay a share of road maintenance cost ? If your thinking that you wont be paying then it certainly would help you to make sure that there is no language anywhere in the title of your home that grants to a HOA the ability to force you to pay or impose any other issues onto your property. OR if you feel the amount they ask is reasonable you could choose to pay BUT one more thing to look into is if the road meets your city/ township/ county rules /regulations for private roads when it comes to issues such as being able to accommodate a school bus or fire engine or other emergency vehicles .