Who 'owns' the alley in a residential neighborhood?

Started by MikeU • 9 replies • 1076 views

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MikeU (Texas)
Posts: 12

Posted:

Who 'owns' the alley in a residential neighborhood?

We have a massive pothole in one of our alleyways & the city is saying that they arne't going to pay for the repair.

Is it possible they aren't the responsible party?

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

Possibly - did you ask them why they wouldn't pay (might be a matter of money)? You should also ask your property manager (if the community has one) or the board (money might be a factor there as well).

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

RoyalP
Posts: 1,104

Posted:

Yes, it is possible that YOUR HOA is the owner.

What does the recorded plat state re: ownership ?

LetA (Nevada)
Posts: 2,679

Posted:

What does your governing docs say? Are your roads public or private?

AugustinD
Posts: 5,144

Posted:

Like Royal and LetA wrote, you can either: (1) check your governing documents for what they say about roads, alleys, et cetera and copies of the Plat; or (2) go to your County Clerk's and ask for help looking up the plat. The plat typically identifies in detail what belongs to whom. Where I am, the County Clerk has a staff to help members of the public with research like this.

WayneN (Florida)
Posts: 35

Posted:

In our Association, the City owns the alleyways and the maintenance is deeded to the Master Association

GeorgeS21 (Florida)
Posts: 3,808

Posted:

Mike,

As you can tell, you need to do some work to “know stuff” prior to posting.

MikeU (Texas)
Posts: 12

Posted:

Thanks everyone for the info. Per my manager, she said the City Manager's response was...

"they city does not repair any alley pot holes whatsoever"

I asked if that means they aren't responsible or if that means they just aren't going to pay for it.

I always thought that the city was responsible for alleyways, I just wanted to get a feel for how often they aren't.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Mike

In SC we can go online and look up local tax maps and they tell you who pays taxes on the property thus showing the owner of the property.

Regardless of what some think, who pays the taxes is probably the owner.

RoyalP
Posts: 1,104

Posted:

NOPE

The person RESPONSIBLE for the taxes is the property owner.

ANYONE may send in a check for the actual taxes, such as a bank's servicing co. or a secondary lien holder.

However, the property owner is GENERALLY available via an online search at the county web-site.

eg. https://www.horrycounty.org/apps/landrecords

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