A great many properties out here are reached by a private road or a shared easement. Who maintains it, and who answers when somebody is hurt on it, is rarely written down anywhere.
A private road is somebody’s responsibility. If it is partly yours, so is the liability.
Three things about the ground between the highway and your gate.
Private roads and shared easements are maintained by the owners they serve, and liability for their condition follows the same logic. An injury or a collision caused by the state of the road can produce a claim against the people responsible for it, which in a shared arrangement means several households at once.
Where several properties share access, a road maintenance agreement sets out who pays for what and who is responsible. Many shared roads have none, which means the question gets answered after an incident rather than before it.
Whether your policy covers an easement that is not part of your described premises is a specific question. An umbrella above it inherits whatever the underlying answer is, so both layers need checking against how the access is actually held.
Access as an exposure.
Public road, private road or easement are three different answers.
Most shared roads have none and should.
An easement outside the described premises is a live question.
Tell us how the property is reached and whether the road is shared.
We check whether your policies describe the road you drive in on.
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