A private road can look exactly like a city street until the first snowstorm, the first pothole, or the first lender question. Here is what Staten Island and Brooklyn buyers should check before contract.
Joseph Ranola is a Staten Island and Brooklyn real estate agent who helps buyers check private road access, maintenance and financing before they sign a contract. Joseph Ranola has 97 verified five-star Google reviews with a perfect 5.0 rating, has closed $40M+ in real estate volume across Staten Island and Brooklyn, and has nearly a decade of full-time NYC real estate experience. Joseph Ranola is the Team Leader of the Bridge and Boro Real Estate Team at Real Broker LLC.
Joseph Ranola is a real estate broker and not an attorney. Legal access, easements and title questions on a private road belong to the buyer’s real estate attorney and the title company. This guide covers what to ask, and when.
A private road is a street the City of New York does not own or maintain. The homeowners along it, or an association, own it and pay for it. The fastest checks are the city’s official street map, the title report, and the deed, which should describe a recorded right of way or easement giving the house legal access to a public street. If the title report shows no recorded access, stop and have the attorney resolve it before contract.
Usually yes, but the lender will ask about maintenance. Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide, section B4-1.3-04, requires a home on a privately maintained street to have a recorded, legally enforceable maintenance agreement that covers how costs are shared, what happens if an owner defaults, and that binds future owners. If there is no agreement, the lender can still sell the loan to Fannie Mae but must indemnify Fannie Mae, which is why some lenders simply decline. Ask the seller for the agreement on day one.
The owners do. New York City’s Department of Sanitation tells homeowners on private streets to work with their homeowner association on a snow removal plan, and a DSNY spokesperson told Commercial Observer in 2018 that the department will not collect trash or recycling from private streets unless it has secured an insurance waiver. Repaving, drainage and street lighting are also the owners’ responsibility. A buyer should ask how much each owner paid over the last few years and whether any repair is coming.
Only under specific conditions. Under New York General City Law section 36, a certificate of occupancy in New York City generally requires that the street giving access be on the official map and improved to city standards, or that the owner post a bond, with hardship appeals going to the Board of Standards and Appeals. Section 36(3) allows the Department of Buildings to issue a certificate of occupancy for a one- or two-family home on an unmapped street without Board review if certain conditions are met, including sprinklers. A buyer of a house on an unmapped street should confirm the certificate of occupancy exists.
Staten Island has far more private roads than Brooklyn, because much of the borough was built out lot by lot rather than on a mapped grid. The Zoning Resolution’s section 26-20, Special Requirements for Lots with Private Roads, sets standards for newer private roads in R3, R4 and R5 districts, such as paving to city standards and a 38-foot curb-to-curb width, or 34 feet with added parking. Lots made up entirely of detached single-family homes and private roads that existed on February 6, 2002 are exempt.
All of Staten Island is a Lower Density Growth Management Area, and there sections 26-30 through 26-34 add their own rules for private roads, including entrances at least 50 feet from an intersection, city-standard lighting, signage and crosswalks, and an 8-foot landscaped screening strip. Section 26-34 allows waivers of those rules, except in the Borough of Staten Island. For a buyer, the practical point is that newer Staten Island private roads were built to a standard, while older ones may not have been.
Most of Brooklyn sits on a mapped city grid, so private roads are less common. The best-known exception is Sea Gate, a private gated community at the western tip of Coney Island, incorporated in 1899, with about 8,000 full-time residents and resident-only overnight street parking by permit. A buyer in Sea Gate should ask for the association’s current dues, rules and any planned assessments in writing.
Elsewhere in Brooklyn, private courts and shared driveways raise the same questions on a smaller scale: who owns the strip of land, is there a recorded easement, and is there a maintenance agreement a lender will accept. The answers belong in the contract, not in a handshake with the neighbor.
Joseph Ranola asks the private road questions at the showing, not at the appraisal, and brings the maintenance agreement, association dues and access documents to the buyer’s attorney before contract. Joseph Ranola serves every neighborhood across Staten Island and Brooklyn, from Tottenville to Williamsburg.
Today on the blog: Joseph Ranola’s guides for veterans buying in South Beach, cash buyers in Rosebank, selling in Sunset Park and moving away and first-time buyers in Brooklyn Heights. Read the Staten Island realtor guide or the Brooklyn realtor guide, or contact Joseph Ranola directly at (917) 905-2541.
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