Originally posted September 2018; edited March 2024
What do you mean, the town isn’t required to fix the huge pothole in my street?!? Just the other day, I ran into the second person within a month who told me they had bought a house on a private road without knowing it. The woman in this case lived on a steep road, and only learned that it was private after calling the town during a snowstorm to ask when it would be plowed. The words “Ma’am, we’re not required to plow your street, but sometimes we do it as a courtesy if we have time” came as quite a surprise to say the least! And no, the seller doesn’t have to tell you about it before you buy a house in Massachusetts.
Basically, living on a private (or “unaccepted”) road means that you pay as much taxes as the rest of the homeowners in your town, but those taxes are not spent on maintaining the street in front of your house. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Before declaring that your town government is a bunch of penny-pinching fill-in-the-blanks, consider that many New England towns and their networks of roadways have been evolving since they were cow paths in the seventeenth century. When sections of towns were developed years ago, many builders got their projects approved by declaring that the streets would be maintained by the homeowners rather than the town, and unsuspecting home buyers had no idea how long their road would last, nor how much it would cost to maintain it. That detail is not required to be disclosed when homes are sold, so homes have often changed hands multiple times before owners notice potholes emerging. Factor in the adoption of building codes and their added requirements and cost, and you start to get a feel for why some towns aren’t jumping at the chance to start maintaining (and bringing up to code) roads that have been neglected for years.
Private roadways are more common than you might imagine. Many towns don’t post lists online, but some of the towns that do list over 30% of their roadways as private. For instance, check out Medford’s list and Boston’s list. If you’re interested in a house and that town doesn’t post a list online, it’s best to call their engineering department to verify whether it’s on a public road or not. The house may still be worth it, and at least you’ll know what you’re signing up for! 🏠