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Maine Alliance for Road Associations

Inherited a road association … now what

  • 29 Sep 2025 5:34 PM
    Message # 13547166

    Purchased a lot in a group of 12 lots sold, that already had a road association in place. All lots were sold. We are 3 years in and road needs to be maintained now. We’ve had elections, have a BOD, met with attorney, attorney asking us for retainer. Fine. But …. How do we get started paying for this? I feel like I’m in a bit of a circle, we need to get attorney to sort out our tasks and how we have the owners pay but we can’t pay the attorney until we collect funds from the owners. Is there some obvious way of doing this that I’m not seeing? Does the BOD usually put up the money until money starts coming in?

  • 29 Sep 2025 9:13 PM
    Reply # 13547260 on 13547166

    Welcome to the world of roads less traveled but beaten up along the path. I believe you are in Washington County.

    The question is what type of road is it? Is it a homeowner association, a condo, a private road, a discontinued road or a privateway/public easement?

    If it's a private road only, then maybe you may access the private road law 23:3121 but I wonder what's the definition of residential if it's an undeveloped lot? There are more discussions about this particular law, but the law is intended to help private roads with NO public easement to access their property and assure road maintenance is provided for fire and safety emergencies as well as for veterans and others to obtain a mortgages. 

    To collect any money to repair roads you must assure that the road association was created - legally correct. From the information you provided my first impression is that it was not formed correctly. 

    Technically an attorney isn't necessary if you follow the privateway law in detail. In the resource section of the website all the forms to create a road association are listed for the Town of Windham, Cumberland County, but note that some forms (notice of claim forms) are outdated by a couple of years due to changes in the law: PL 23:3101-3106. You may also find additional forms under the members only section (available only for MARA members like you), titled resources from the conference attorney's presentations.

    I hope you are enjoying your property and I hope you have cooperative paying neighbors. Good Luck!

  • 30 Sep 2025 2:42 PM
    Reply # 13547557 on 13547166
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    The previous reply raised some important questions.   The most important are what kind of road it is, and what kind of road association you already have.  From what you say, I'm guessing it is probably a private road laid out in a subdivision.  But do you have a Non-Profit, Statutory, or Informal road association?  Section 3121 only applies where there is NO road association already established.  That being said, if the one you have is not functioning, you may be better off dissolving it and starting over - but I would recommend a Statutory road association under 23 MRS sections 3101-3104, not a Non-Profit, and not using section 3121. 

    If you were under the impression an attorney was necessary, I'm guessing you may be in a situation similar to the one my daughter found herself in, where her deed said there was a road association, but it had not actually been formed yet.  After she bought the property, the developer brought in an attorney to start a Non-Profit road association, which fizzled within a few years due to lack of participation and inability to enforce payments.  They ended up dissolving the non-profit and starting off fresh with a Statutory road association.  They now have 50 out of 55 members paying!

    You absolutely do not need an attorney to start a Statutory Road Association under section 3101.  But you do need to follow the steps in the statutes precisely.  If you can possibly do so, I would highly recommend you attend MARA's Annual Conference, which takes place this Saturday, Oct 4th.  You can attend via zoom, but you would have to get your application in quickly, as I'm not sure how late they will accept registrations.  There will be two attorneys speaking on the formation and operation of a road association, and their advice is invaluable!  

    If you absolutely cannot attend, the next best thing would be to use the extensive materials on the Resources page of the MARA website.  And make good use of the Forum as more questions arise.

                            The Maine Alliance for Road Associations


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