We also live on a private road. It is essentially as you describe it. My wife and I did a lot of research on who "owned the road" because we were concerned about liability if an accident occurred. We did find the original deed created back in the 1950's. It is a separate tax lot on the town maps for the entire road but no tax bills have ever been issued. The original owner sold all the lots along the road and we were also told by an attorney we owned half way like you described. The original owner has long since died and the road was never moved to anyone else in probate proceedings.
Our concern with the half way ownership "standard" was who would be liable if there was an accident on our half....since we cannot insure the half as we don't "own it" and we do not have a formal association to handle the road. Our insurance agent advised that if our homeowners policy did not cover things, our personal excess liability policy would step in, but hope we never have to test that angle.
All the owners contribute equally to maintain the road surface, culverts, tree trimming, etc. and our road "committee" tries to keep things in good shape.
|