FAQs on how we can help
Q3.1 Does your book contain the answer to the problem which I
have?
- A. Please see the Table of Contents, which gives a good
idea of what the book covers. If you'd like to see the book before
buying it, we suggest obtaining a copy from your public library -
the current edition is the 4th.
Q3.2 Can individuals join PRS?
- A. We regret not - PRS membership, and our insurance scheme,
are for residents collectively, whether in the form of an
association or a company (or, occasionally, some other form). Our
largest members have hundreds of houses, and our smallest just a
handful - membership is very much open to small roads as well as
large estates. If you don't have a residents' association or
company, and want to "get organised" we suggest that you buy our Starter Pack,
which includes our book, precedents and guidance notes - all you
need to start getting organised.
Q3.4 Has the law changed much since the last edition of your
book?
- A. The law is changing, and becoming more complicated, all the
time. Like all legal books, ours starts to become out of date as
soon as it is published! It's not wise to rely on an old
edition.
Q3.5 How can I find a firm of solicitors who understand the
particular legal problems which arise in private roads?
- A. Personal recommendation is often the best route to a good
solicitor. Failing that look for a firm which is medium-sized or
large, rather than small. A firm which has acted in the past for
developers, or for local authorities, may have experience of the
law relating to private roads, and so be well-placed to assist. A
good solicitor can be expected to charge £200 or £300 an hour +
VAT.
Q3.6 Can PRS act for us as a solicitor can?
- A. PRS is run by non-practising lawyers, and this means that we
can't do the things which solicitors (and licensed conveyancers)
can do, not least because of restrictions in the Solicitors Act
1974. We can't draw up deeds relating to land; nor can
we start or defend legal proceedings in the courts on behalf of
members. But there is still much we can do. For
example, we can appear on behalf of members at planning appeal
hearings, and at hearings before the Lands Tribunal, and we can
attend meetings of residents' associations and meetings between
residents' associations and bodies such as local authorities or
utility companies.
Q3.7 Do you still offer 3-year membership at a reduced
price?
- A. We regret not - this offer is no longer open.
Q3.8 Can we buy a copy of your online guide for members,
Managing Private Roads and Estates?
- A. No, this is not published (i.e. made public) either
electronically or in paper form. It's for the use of current
members only, via our website, and it is constantly being amended
and expanded - which is why we keep it as an online resource.
Our book is published,
and is thus on sale to the public at large.
Q3.9 If we join PRS, do we have to keep paying the annual
fee?
- A. We don't feel it is right to impose such a requirement, so
you can cease to be a member at the end of a year if you
wish. But we try to encourage long-term membership by keeping
the membership fee as low as possible, because our aim is to help
members operate successfully in the long-term - the basic idea is
that prevention is better than cure, and that residents'
associations should make an effort to prevent problems. Please
remember too that most PRS copyright material is only for the use
of current members, and that if you wish to rejoin there is a £20
rejoining fee in addition to the annual membership fee.
Q3.10 We're not members, but our association has its own
website. Can we link to the PRS website? We think
residents would find the information in your public pages very
helpful.
- A. We're usually happy to agree, but please check with us
first.
Q3.11 Do you have records of all the private roads in England
and Wales? Is there an official source for this
information?
- A. Our records aren't definitive, though we have details of
many private roads. We don't make this information public. A
project called the National Street Gazetteer has information about
roads, including information about their legal status and about the
location of pipes and cables; but this seems to be available
only to local authorities and the utility companies - we're not
sure why access is restricted in this way.
Q3.12 You've sent us your stock email on registering, so we can
access the members' pages and/or insurance pages on your website,
but we're having difficulties with the registration process.
- A. The usual reasons are (1) you've entered the 5-digit code
incorrectly; (2) You've waited more than 48 hours, and the
code has expired; or (3) You have (or someone else has)
registered using an email address other than the one we have
recorded for you (i.e. the one to which we sent the stock email),
and we have have therefore deleted the account shortly after its
creation. Please ask us for another 5-digit code, so you can
try again, following the procedure explained in our stock
email.
Q3.13 I've taken over as secretary of our residents association,
but you haven't responded to my email/letter/phone message.
- Please see our Terms and Conditions on contacts
and changes of contact. We do have to stick to these rules, both in
order to provide a cost-effective and reliable service and in order
to comply with the many regulatory requirements to which we are
subject. If we haven't received a request for a change of
contact on the appropriate form, and agreed to it,
the contact hasn't changed. We can't respond to
communications from anyone else. Please prompt your contact to make
the necessary request for a change!
Q3.14 Does our association qualify for PRS membership or
insurance?
- We are often asked whether all residents have to join an
association in order for the association to take advantage of PRS
membership or insurance, to which the answer is no, provided that
the association is in effective control of the road as a
whole, A separate issue, which occasionally arises, is
whether there is really a proper, functioning association at
all. After all, residents often have little in common apart
from living in the same road; they may meet only
occasionally; and they are, naturally enough, busy leading their
own lives. We tend to ask (a) whether the members of the
alleged association are acting responsibly; (b) whether they are
communicating with each other; and (c) whether they are
taking decisions, and putting them into effect, collectively. Or,
in practical terms, if a resident saw something dangerous, such as
a branch about to fall on passers-by, would they tell the
committee, and would the committee do something about it? We
are often alerted to this issue by confusion over who is the
contact, or that fact that the contact has moved away without
arranging for a replacement. If the answer to the above questions
appears to be no, we may regretfully have to conclude that we
cannot continue to offer PRS membership or insurance cover.
Q3.15 Does PRS act as a managing agent for private roads?
- We don't offer this service. The use of managing agents
often seems to be very unsatisfactory from the point of residents
in a private road, with a high annual charge and poor
service. A DIY approach seems to work much better. We
regularly find residents' association turning to us for help,
having "sacked" their agents and resolved to manage their road
themselves. No doubt there are some very good managing
agents! But we have seen enough bad ones to know that we
can't sensibly offer either PRS membership or insurance where
residents are represented by managing agents.
Q3.16 Does PRS carry out, or arrange for, grass-cutting,
resurfacing, or other physical work?
Last Updated: 14 December 2011