Bill Text - SB39 (2019)

Relative to the repair of roads not maintained by a municipality.


Revision: July 3, 2019, 10:34 a.m.

SB 39 - VERSION ADOPTED BY BOTH BODIES

 

02/14/2019   0201s

6Jun2019... 2161h

06/27/2019   2632EBA

 

2019 SESSION

19-0962

05/06

 

SENATE BILL 39

 

AN ACT relative to the repair of roads not maintained by a municipality.

 

SPONSORS: Sen. Cavanaugh, Dist 16; Rep. Chirichiello, Rock. 6

 

COMMITTEE: Transportation

 

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ANALYSIS

 

This bill provides that, in the absence of an express agreement or requirement governing maintenance of a private road, each residential owner who enjoys a common benefit from the road shall contribute to the cost of its maintenance.

 

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

02/14/2019   0201s

6Jun2019... 2161h

06/27/2019   2632EBA 19-0962

05/06

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

 

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nineteen

 

AN ACT relative to the repair of roads not maintained by a municipality.

 

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 

1  Statement of Purpose.  The purpose of this act is to codify the common law of easements, as stated in the New Hampshire supreme court decision in Village Green Condominium Assn. v. Hodges, 167 N.H. 497 (2015), as it applies to residences on private roads, in order to facilitate the transactions of owners and buyers who apply for certain federally-backed mortgages that require such a statute in the absence of an agreement among the owners.  It is not intended to extend or restrict the common law as applied to residences on private roads, nor to affect the rights and obligations of non-residential owners on private roads.

2  New Subdivision; Repair of Roads Not Maintained by a Municipality.  Amend RSA 231 by inserting after section 81 the following new subdivision:

Repair of Roads Not Maintained by a Municipality

231:81-a  Repair of Roads Not Maintained by a Municipality.

I.  In the absence of an express agreement or requirement governing maintenance of a private road, when more than one residential owner enjoys a common benefit from a private road, each residential owner shall contribute equitably to the reasonable cost of maintaining the private road, and shall have the right to bring a civil action to enforce the requirement of this paragraph.  This paragraph shall not apply to any highway defined in RSA 229:5.  

II.  Any owner of a residential property abutting a private road who directly or indirectly damages any portion of such road shall be solely responsible for repairing or restoring the portion

damaged by such owner.

III.  Nothing in this section is intended to extend or restrict the common law as applied to residences on private roads, nor to affect the rights and obligations of non-residential property owners on private roads as they exist under the New Hampshire common law on easements.

3  Effective Date.  This act shall take effect upon its passage.