<p>scualum - you may need to revisit your contract soon to adjust the money limit, or you won’t be able to fill the mower with gas without permission from your neighbor! :)</p>
<p>Lots more info to come but I’ve got to run to lunch. I will update later.</p>
<p>– VH</p>
<p>^^^ Oh, oh, oh!! You tease!!!</p>
<p>My advice is to get the legal view on all of this first and foremost. That can be important. Also didn’t you all notice that the road was being torn up, and didn’t you know that the neighbor may not have known about how you all dealt with the road issue? Someone just might have wanted to apprise him of the matter. Yes, he should have thought of all of this sooner, but he was the new kid on the block. Also remember since they have done so much to that house, they may be there for a while and that road or other things may need to be done where his cooperation may be important. If you tell him he is a jerk and to eat the bill, imagine his response when you want his share of the cost of some project. Better you get the legal situation straight so you all know where you stand in the eyes of the law if the thing goes to court which I sure hope it does not, and then have everyone decide how to handle this with neighbor. Should end the whole thing with a big cul de sac party with everyone friends and no hard feelings and if takes some ante from everyone, it’s well worth it, in my opinion.</p>
<p>It’s not necessary to tear up the entire road surface to lay water pipe, and it’s not necessary to repave the entire road surface after you lay water pipe.</p>
<p>Post #45 is correct. A water line can be installed or extended with little or no disturbance to an existing roadway. Is there more to the story here?</p>
<p>
The timeframe will vary considerably depending on weather conditions and use conditions (i.e. how much traffic and the weight of the vehicles).</p>
<p>The road on the back side of my property is a private paved road that’s actually partly an easement on my property. There are about 10 or so homes on that road and I also have access from that road to the back of my property. When it came time for them to resurface the road they hit me up for a share. However, since I only use that road 2 or 3 times per year to harvest my avocados and sometimes do a couple of other items in the back, I negotiated with them to pay less than a full share for the resurface. They accepted the negotiation - especially since it was either going to be that or nothing out of me (this was friendlier than it appears here).</p>
<p>In the 20 or so years I’ve been here that road’s only been resurfaced once (maybe 15 years or so ago) and it still appears to be in very good shape but it really doesn’t have much traffic and of course there are no snow plows, little rain, no freezing, etc.</p>
<p>Just how long IS this lunch? :)</p>
<p>Who contracted with the pavers to do the work? That is who should pay. If this was only done by one party on the street with no knowledge by the others…the party who signed the paving contract should pay. </p>
<p>Now…that being said…if the street was ready to be repaved anyway, you might want to have a neighborhood discussion. Where I am (in CT), common driveway owners MUST have some kind of document dealing with the maintenance of the common road as part of their application to planning and zoning…and included in their deed.</p>
<p>Re: paying only for a portion…if you only use the first section of the road and are paying for only that much…does that mean that you and all guests visiting your house never drive the remainder of that road (to turn around, for example, or to drive to a neighbor’s house)?</p>
<p>Seems like lunch has morphed into dinner …</p>
<p>Well, she “went to lunch;” she’s not “out to lunch.” Big difference. :)</p>
<p>Do you suppose she is actually working whilst at work?? :eek:</p>
<p>^^^^ HAHAHA. That’s a good one.</p>
<p>Inquiring minds want to know… is VH renting a steam roller to run down Mr & Mrs McMansion?</p>
<p>Your new neighbors are obnoxious, even if they did give you a plant!!!</p>
<p>But land ownership (and maintenance) rules can be weird and completely different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. And local rules or homeowner association rules can also be bizarre. You and the other homeowners should chip in for a consult with a local real estate attorney to to advise on exactly what your rights and responsibilities are.</p>
<p>I am not an attorney, but having bought and then sold a property with an easement, I have learned that the deed may refer to legal language about the responsibilities the homeowners on the road have with regards to the upkeep and maintanence of the road. Therer may be something recorded way back when about which lots pay how much for what. Even though the neighbors have handled it one way, there may be something written that applies. Maybe in purchasing the land and doing all the work required to rebuild, they came across something that made them think they really could send you a bill…</p>
<p>I agree that if the work was done for the benefit of the new owner, the owner ought to be responsible. But something tells me the owner somehow thinks he is able to bill the owners on the road. Sounds like you need to call and nicely inquire about why you are getting billed. And yes, I would find out if the neighbors all got the same bill or not.</p>
<p>And having lived on a nonpaved cul-de-sac that was paved at the expense of the landowners, I too live near the entrance and had to pay based on the size of my lot/the footage that fronted the road and it was MORE than the house way at the end of the road. Wish I had known that maybe it made more sense to pay based on how much of the road I used.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t jump to conclusions without more information. It’s possible that one of the other neighbors OKed this and you were just never told. It’s possible that something was lost in translation in conversations between the homeowners and the paving company. I agree that the first step would be to talk to the other neighbors to scope things out.</p>
<p>You know, while waiting for VH to come back from this endless lunch–is it in Atlanta??–I started thinking about the water line and the road. Surely they didn’t lay a water line UNDER the road all the way to the end! Normally, water lines are laid NEXT to the road. Which makes it hard to figure why the entire road needed to be ripped up and repaved. One would think that a communal road would have some footage on each side that “belongs” to the right of way, just as a town road does. If the McMansionites have a problem with their water line, is it gonig to require ripping up the entire road again, and will they expect the neighbors to pay for it?</p>
<p>Back when I lived in CT, like VH, I remember that periodically people would more to town from New York, and freak out because they didn’t have city water or sewer. They would agitate to get the line extended, Everyone along it would be assessed thousands of dollars whether they wanted to hook up or not–and then a few years later they would move. Some people should stay in the city.</p>
<p>Consolation, our street was ripped apart by the water district when they decided to change the old water pipes! Yes, they were buried under the asphalt. Luckily, only on one side, so the street was drivable throughout the entire ordeal, and the water district had to repair/repave only about a third of it. Now the road is smooth, but looks kind of ugly.</p>
<p>May be the McMansion owners do not think that $1000 would be a financial burden for some of their neighbors?</p>
<p>jym – I heard you call my name. Yup. Gotta say violadad is really hot. I know this for a fact, though of course, I’ve never seen him.</p>
<p>BTW: Violadad my little violinist has now given up the violin for the viola! He went to Florence to study and made the switch, but of course still has his violin which I think he plans to use for fiddlin’.</p>
<p>Hm. Back to VH. I have found the Columbo gambit very useful in many situations. After I fully acquainted myself with legal particulars as so many have advised so that I was definitely not a bumbling idiot, I would act like one.</p>
<p>My preferred take is to play innocent and dumb, and go to neighbors and say, “I don’t understand this bill. Could you explain it to me?” Then questions might be, “I don’t understand. I thought blah blah blah, could you explain your thinking?” And the answers when they explained it would be, “Oh, I see,” or “I don’t see, explain it again.”</p>
<p>Have to admit this disarms opponents instantly. And if these are the nice people VH says they are, she’ll find that out. If they’re not, gives time for strategy without getting hackles up or alerting an adversary.</p>
<p>Hm. Where is my trench coat anyway?</p>