Academy/Parking, Roads & Vehicles
Public vs private streets
A developer platting a road for the city does not make it the city's problem.
A street becomes public only when a government body accepts a developer's dedication of it, not merely because it appears on a recorded plat. Until that happens, or if it never happens, the street stays private, and either the owners collectively or the association is responsible for it. Check your declaration to see which applies to your community.
How a street becomes public
A developer can record a road on the subdivision plat and label it for public use. That labeling is called a dedication, and it is only an offer. The road stays private until a city, county, or other government body takes a separate, affirmative step to accept it. Acceptance standards are set locally, so there is no single state-level rule to point to here; contact your local public works department if you need to know what your municipality requires.
"Dedication is the giving of land to public use with the intention that it be accepted and used for such public use... Dedication alone does not burden the municipality with the duty of maintenance unless the municipality accepts the dedication."
Source: Dedication and Acceptance, Alfano Law Office
This is why so many streets inside a common-interest community stay private forever: the developer offered the road, and the municipality declined to take on the maintenance burden. No acceptance, no transfer.
Who owns a private street
There is no single national model for who holds title to a private road, it depends on whether your community is legally a condominium or a planned community, and on your specific state statute. Two different approaches show up across the states researched for this Course.
| Approach | What it means |
|---|---|
| Owners as tenants in common | Every owner holds an undivided fractional interest in the road; no single owner, and not even the association, holds separate title. No owner can force a partition. |
| Association as owner or lessee | The association itself holds or leases the road as its own asset, distinct from any single owner's interest. |
"The common elements of a condominium property are owned by the unit owners as tenants in common, and the ownership shall remain undivided."
Source: Ohio Revised Code §5311.04, State of Ohio
Florida adds a third wrinkle: the association's duty to maintain a road does not depend on who holds title to it. A road can be a "common area" the association must maintain even while the developer still holds record title. Do not assume any one of these models applies to your street. Read your declaration, and check your own state's statute.
What private status means for your board
A private street is generally the community's to regulate, subject to the layers above it: federal law, state statute, local ordinance, then your declaration and board rules. But private does not mean unlimited. In Nevada, a non-gated, non-access-controlled community cannot regulate a through-road once the state or a local government has accepted it for public dedication, even though the road sits inside the community and the association may otherwise be responsible for it.
"In a common-interest community which is not gated or enclosed and the access to which is not restricted or controlled by a person or device, the executive board shall not and the governing documents must not provide for the regulation of any road, street, alley or other thoroughfare the right-of-way of which is accepted by the State or a local government for dedication as a road, street, alley or other thoroughfare for public use."
Source: Nevada Revised Statutes §116.350, State of Nevada
Being private also does not give the board police power. A board generally cannot write a real traffic citation or use radar on its own streets; at most it can fine a violation as an internal covenant matter, or, where state law allows, vote to invite local police to enforce state traffic law. Public or private status changes who owns and maintains the road, it does not by itself change who can enforce traffic law on it.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
A developer recorded a road on the plat for public use twenty years ago, but the city never voted to accept it. Who is responsible for it today?
A neighbor insists the HOA owns every street in the community, so the board can ban his boat trailer from it. What should the board check first?
A non-gated Nevada community includes a through-road the county accepted for public dedication years ago. Can the board still restrict parking on it?
Sources
- Ohio Revised Code §5311.04, State of Ohio
- Nevada Revised Statutes §116.017, State of Nevada
- Florida Statutes §720.301(3), The Florida Senate
- Dedication and Acceptance, Alfano Law Office
- Nevada Revised Statutes §116.350, State of Nevada
Parking, Roads & Vehicles
Curious what "owning" a private road actually entitles your association to do? Read Who owns the roads? next.
Whether a street is public or private depends on your municipality's own dedication and acceptance records, and if private, the ownership model, the board's authority over it, and any state-specific limits on regulating a through-road all vary by state and by your declaration.