Q:Hi
We've just bought a house and as part of that we had a Homebuyers Survey carried out. It raised a couple of points but nothing much and so we went ahead and bought it. The first day we went to park our car in the driveway we realised that there's not actually a drop kerb to allow access and we have to drive up over the kerb. This has come about as they sold a load of land at the back of their house to build a bungalow and the left hand side of the driveway (with the drop kerb) is now part of the bungalow and we're left with no access.
You just don't notice these things when you park on the street! Surely this is something that even a homebuyers survey should have picked up? We've now got to pay the council to give us access – ￡82 just to have a look and then I'm guessing about ￡1000 to carry it out. Before I phone them, does anyone think the surveyors are liable to pay some of the costs?
I was fully aware when i bought it, but when i sold the agent said they could advertise it as a drive, but instead described it as "hard standing to front" and put a big picture of the front of the house with my car parked on said "hard standing" to sell the impression..
as mentioned above, I was warned its technically illegal to drive across a non-dropped kerb, although had no trouble for 3 years.
I think I might get a bike…..
Hope there's not a BT junction box under your bit of pavement – the existence of these puts up the price a lot as you have to pay for its relocation which involves someone sitting in a hole for hours manually putting all the bits of wire back together!
guy – yes, I must appear like a muppet for not noticing it myself. In my defence he always had his car parked in the drive when we came round so we had to park in the street (I now know why) If you've never bought a house before it's just not one of those things that you notice.
Which is exactly why you have a survey in the first place – surely these guys are meant to notice these things. After all – i'm not an expert which is why I paid them ￡500 in the first place!
But, if you have the dropped kerb put in place correctly it is 'adopted' by the council and you can scream across it to your hearts content.
You don't have to pay the council to do it though, you can get a private contractor to do the work but it must comply with the councils regs. It's not just the kerb that has to be dropped but also the path between the kerb and the drive has to conform to regs.
The council will need to be informed prior to the work, and they will want to see copies of the builders PI/PL insurance.
Well, at least that's where I've got to with North Tyneside Council who wanted ￡1400 to drop my drive. They sent real nasty letters saying that all the cracked paving is due to using illegal crossings. The pattern of ware is always the slabs next to the kerb, so I've been taking pictures of council transit vans illegally parked with their wheels on the path – usually on the wrong side of the road too. OK that sounds obsessive.
To be honest mate i don't think you will have much luck with the solicitor and will just have to sort it yourself.
You will need to make an application to the council and then use either the council or one of their approved contractors to carry out the works.(￡5-600 all in)
You appear to have missed the next sentence…
'You can only cross a pavement via a made up 'crossover' (dropped kerb).'
Everything you need to know is here…
http://www.directgov.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/WhereYouLive/StreetsParkingCleaningAndLighting/DG_10026223
Insurers only insure against accidents- not knackered wheels, unless you accidently knacker them.
Actually it is illegal. You are effectively driving on the pavement. You can only cross a pavement via a made up 'crossover' (dropped kerb). In some areas the council actually put bollards on the pavement in front of people's 'drives' to stop them doing this.
There are two issues here – protecting the pavement from damage and considering road and street users safety.
In the short term, you can have a suitably shaped piece(s) of wood that "fits" in the gutter to smooth the bump up the curb. Ordinary council paving slabs are meant to be able to take the weight of a car, if laid correctly.
In the long term, you need to regularise the situation; even if its only so you can sell the property hassle free.
The web site "gardenlaw" probably has discussions posted by people in a similar situation, covering topics such as the "status" of the highway, nearness to junctions etc. Obviously the better you are informed before you approach the council, the better you can understand their recommendation. Might be an idea to use a friends similar situation initially, while you find out about the high expensive specification demanded by the council. (The result can remind one of a mororway slip road and I get people parking across it, thinking it is some sort of lay-by)
Sharing next door's drive might be a technical possibility, but I cannot see that being agreed now you have bought the place, unless next door seriously need your money.
Good luck.
Mary.
For what it is worth, I bought a house, many years ago, where it was obvious that two neighbours had got together, built a shared drive way and put concrete garages in their gardens some time in the past.
The surveyor made quite a issue of advising me to make sure all the legal points had been covered.
Plus it's going to knacker the wheels on my car very quickly and you just know that insurers won't pay out if they come round and see the situation!
I'm sure I saw a news story the other week about a guy who didn't have a dropped kerb and the council stuck a bollard in his driveway!
I'm feeling slightly cynical today….
I'll check whether it states 'off road parking' or 'street parking'.
It just riles me that I can pay almost ￡500 quid for someone to tell me, and I quote, "kitchen decor may not be to your tastes" yet they miss the fact it's illegal to park my car in my own driveway!
I should have converted my ￡500 quid into 10p coins and built my own ramp!
We've just bought a house and as part of that we had a Homebuyers Survey carried out. It raised a couple of points but nothing much and so we went ahead and bought it. The first day we went to park our car in the driveway we realised that there's not actually a drop kerb to allow access and we have to drive up over the kerb. This has come about as they sold a load of land at the back of their house to build a bungalow and the left hand side of the driveway (with the drop kerb) is now part of the bungalow and we're left with no access.
You just don't notice these things when you park on the street! Surely this is something that even a homebuyers survey should have picked up? We've now got to pay the council to give us access – ￡82 just to have a look and then I'm guessing about ￡1000 to carry it out. Before I phone them, does anyone think the surveyors are liable to pay some of the costs?
Nope…..they are not responsible for drop kerbing.