Why you should join PRS
To protect the interests of residents, private roads and estates need to be properly managed. They therefore need an organisation, in the form of a residents' association or management company, which can:

Enhance amenity, by maintaining the road, and so safeguard property values
 Regulate the use of the road, and resist encroachment such as unauthorised use for parking or access
 Manage risk, by taking out insurance and reducing the potential for accidents - important in these litigious times
 Preserve security, and so make sure that residents are safer and less at risk from crime.

Residents' associations and management companies usually depend on the efforts of unpaid volunteers, working in their spare time to run the organisation smoothly, collect annual subscriptions from residents, and grapple with legal issues which can be complicated.

Private Roads Services Ltd is the key to success. Our annual subscription is currently a modest £75 (£50 for roads with less than 20 houses). (For more information see our fees page.) We provide a unique source of support - a "one-stop shop" for residents' associations and management companies in private roads in England and Wales. Our activities fall under three main headings:
First, we act as a bank of expertise and knowledge for our members on a whole range of issues, including, among many others:

Public and private rights of way
 Maintenance of roads, trees, verges, etc
 Insurance
 Ownership of the road
 Coping with new development
 Dealing with local authorities and other third parties
 Responsibility for services
 Parking problems
 Forming and operating an association or company

These issues can appear obscure and complicated - to many lawyers as well as to residents themselves! But we have had years of experience in explaining how the law works and what can and cannot be done. Our book, Private Roads: The Legal Framework, now in its 4th edition, together with the resources in the members' pages on our website (including our online practical guide, Managing Private Roads and Estates, which is exclusive to members) and our advice service, allow private roads to get to grips with these issues swiftly and effectively. We can also help in other ways - for example with model rules for an association, and model company documents.

Secondly, we source the other services which residents' associations and companies need, and we make them available as cheaply as possible. Our unique insurance scheme, underwritten by Norwich Union, is perhaps the prime example. This provides an unbeatable "package" of insurance: public liability cover (£2M - £5M) + property damage cover (£25,000) + legal expenses cover (£25,000). Directors' and officers' ("D&O") cover is also available. Other services include advice and assistance from a firm of solicitors with expertise in dealing with private roads, who will carry out work at a discount for PRS members.

Thirdly, we act as a representative body, dealing with a number of government departments and other organisations, to make sure that the position of residents in private roads is understood, and their interests taken into account; and we report back to PRS members, in our regular newsletters, with information and advice on changes to the law and new policy initiatives.
Private Roads Services Ltd is the complete solution for private roads. Membership is open to residents' associations and management companies responsible for private roads in England and Wales. Join us now!
© PRS Ltd 2008