Bob do you have HOA's in Canada? Not much different really where the streets are common area and rules and restrictions are set by the governing documents of the BOD of the association which is a corporation.
It's hard to believe that each property on the street was not deeded a part of the street. You would think that the property owners would be aware of the situation and had legal counsel involved long ago. A big mistake by those affected. A injunction would be filed I'm sure as the owners could claim a right to access because of the time involved.
Roger I would think that we might have something similar, but I just don't know for sure; I would need to search on that.
In this case here we're talking about a wealthy neighborhood:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/08/us/couple-buys-san-francisco-street/
And that neighborhood is asking questions now. They don't seem to be too happy that they were kept in the dark and that their private street was put on the block (auction) on eBay, lol | And they sure don't feel to have a cup of tea with the new owners of their street, lol
This is all just too funny. You can have a mansion valued @ say $15 million in a rich US neighborhood and yet someone from Mexico or Canada or India or Nepal or Iceland or Russia or China owns your private street and they have the right to charge you for parking your car in front of your mansion, big lol
They probably can charge you for even driving on it, they can install a gate that activates only after you pay say $1,000 each time you go through it, lol
The couple buyers, I think, should have remain anonymous. Everyone have seen them now in the news, and we have heard the comments of the woman owner, very strange. What was their intention to do something like that publicly? I bet it's not them who came forward, but the city to announce the done deal, or some' like that.
Beachfront properties (ocean) are public (15 feet I believe), and there are trails, driveways, pathways leading to lakes and oceans that are for everyone, the public. But some people act as if they have the right to stop you, as if they own public access.
Anyway, good for people who look @ the maps and check what's public and what's private. Privacy is very important; we have to respect that. And public access is also very important. I think we haven't heard the last of this story yet...and true, the residents of that neighborhood are looking @ all the legal recourse they have. They will hire some top lawyers you can bet on it.
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Gary, I agree with you, with what you just said above. I think that there's going to be some adjustment here, in this particular situation.
And yet it's funny because according to everything I've read about it so far, it's all legit. Lol
This is funny news; there are other news going on right now that are less funny. ...News that we all read about but cannot talk about.
On another note; the smoke covering the sky above my head right now is from two fires nearby, and man-made (deliberate) by some sick young punks. One was catched on video, the other was seen by a witness. This is extremely dangerous during this hot and dry summer across many parts of North America right now. It affects me, it affects many of us. ...No lives lost around here, and no homes burned out, on the Island.