Private Roads?

[American girl]

Originally Posted by ihufnagle

Can a Road Maintenance Association exist if they are not incorporated and do not file tax returns. We have one that is not doing either and sued for payment; won and now we cannot pay them because they do not have a checking account in the association name. They are using a member of the associations personal account to pay for our maintenance costs. Does any one know if this is legal. Does your title insurance make sure the association is properly documented?

RoadAssociation (http://www.maine.gov/mdot/community-programs/csd/roadassoc.php - broken link)

[tcrackly]

Yessuh!!!

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Most road associations are not that complicated and it is important to remember that the link above is not law. It is a suggested "guideline". Some associations are unnecessarily complicated, written into subdivision approvals and seriously handicap members who wish to improve roads to address needs not anticipated by the original subdivision applicant. It is unrealistic to expect the developer to imagine what the needs of future owners may be decades into the future. Bylaws of road associations should be much easier to amend than they are.

[ribbets]

try
www.maine.gov/dep/land/watershed/roadassociation.htm

[DNHNANA]

Hi. My husband and I built on a dirt private road but we are not included in the covenance. Our closest neighbor is about 1 mile away. Can we request from our county to tar and chip from our home to the main road? (Which is about 1500 ft). The people who live on top the mountain fly by our house giving us a dust bath. Thanks

[Northern Maine Land Man]

The county will not perform your road maintenance. It is private property. The sheriff will respond to a report of a crime as they would on any private property, but the maintenance of the private road is up to the users of that road as long as the owner is not further burdened by that maintenance or use.

The private road you use is written permission for you to cross the land of Farmer Jones or Sam Logger, for example. Each own that land. In the case of a subdivision, the road often belongs to the developer in the beginning. At some point, usually when half the lots are sold, the lot owners form a road association to maintain the roads. The original owner continues to be a member until he sells the last lot or repossesses a lot he has owner financed.

Many road associations are complexly informal. The guy with the biggest truck ends up hauling gravel and plowing the snow. Other owners contribute fuel money on a volunteer basis. As with everything else in life there are freeloaders who make demands on their neighbors for services they do not purchase. They are nuisances without rights.