Private road

[Tony gustafson]

Private road issue western pa

Surprise private road problem Bought a house back in October of 15 was told by the realtor it was a township road only to find out it was not it was private I checked the sellers discl and the deed found nothing about it. Payed for title insurance to make sure nothing was funny about it that came back clean. Any suggestions

 

[justalayman]

Suggestions for what? There are millions of parcels of property served by private roads. In itself it is not an issue. Is there an issue with your situation?

 

[Tony gustafson]

Well I was under the assumption that in pa the property had to have been marked having a private road or easement there are about 15 houses on this 1/2 mile road with no maintance agreement

 

[LdiJ]

Well I was under the assumption that in pa the property had to have been marked having a private road or easement there are about 15 houses on this 1/2 mile road with no maintance agreement

I am not trying to be difficult here but you are not being very clear about what your problem is. Is the road in bad condition? Does it need maintenance? Or, are you just upset because some day it will need maintenance?

 

[quincy]

Private road issue western pa

Surprise private road problem Bought a house back in October of 15 was told by the realtor it was a township road only to find out it was not it was private I checked the sellers discl and the deed found nothing about it. Payed for title insurance to make sure nothing was funny about it that came back clean. Any suggestions

From the Local Government Commission of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, Road Law Basics: "If a dedicated road loses its public character, the abutting landowners typically take title to the centerline of the road, subject to a private easement of other abutting landowners to travel the road. The private easement, however, may be extinguished by adverse possession."




See Ferko v. Spisak, 541 A.2d 327 (Pa Super 1998), aff'd 522 Pa 503 (1989): http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2449064480499100610&q=Ferko+v.+Spisak,+54+A.2d+327&hl=en&as_sdt=4,39

 

[Tony gustafson]

Sorry I must not have been asking the question properly. What I was tring to ask if the deed,title was in error since it had no mention of the private road, What it comes down to is ivnever would have bought this property if I would have known it was a private road

 

[LdiJ]

Sorry I must not have been asking the question properly. What I was tring to ask if the deed,title was in error since it had no mention of the private road, What it comes down to is ivnever would have bought this property if I would have known it was a private road

Does the deed mention a road at all? That would seem odd to me.

 

[Tony gustafson]

Only mentions the avenue

 

[quincy]

Only mentions the avenue

I am still not quite understanding your concern but - you are saying that there was no "use clause," no deed of dedication recorded, nothing to indicate the road was a private road subject to easement rights.

You are concerned that there is no road maintenance agreement between the homeowners on the private road? Who has been maintaining the road to date?

 

[justalayman]

Sorry I must not have been asking the question properly. What I was tring to ask if the deed,title was in error since it had no mention of the private road, What it comes down to is ivnever would have bought this property if I would have known it was a private road

While I'm surprised your lender allowed a mortgage on the property without clarification, in itself I don't see an issue in your situation unless

1. The seller provided incorrect information on the sellers disclosure form

2. Somebody is giving you grief about using the road

3. You relied on statements directly from the seller regarding the status of the road


Depending on what the agent said, you might (and saying might very weakly here) have some action against the agent.

 

[Dave1952]

You have title insurance. Call them and discuss your difficulty with the road that you are using every day.

 

[justalayman]

You have title insurance. Call them and discuss your difficulty with the road that you are using every day.

Unless there is a recorded easement title insurance won't do a thing.

We still don't know if the problem is that it is a simply a private road or something else. If it's just that it's a private road, unless there is an issue with misleading disclosure, it is simply what it is.

 

[Zigner]

Let me ask the question of the OP in what is, perhaps, a more simple and direct way.

Who cares? (Rhetorical, the answer is that YOU care.)

The real question is this: Why do you care?

After you answer that one simple question, we can hopefully provide more information.

 

[FarmerJ]

Tony was there a recent survey that was done to show exactly where the properties boundary lines are ? If not were you planning on getting one so you know exactly whose land this so private road goes over ?

 

[John Se]

Get a copy of the subdivision plat, that is where the road will be described.