12/20/2021
Maintenance and Repair of Private Roads
Wisconsin Realtors Association December 2021
Wisconsin now has a new law that provides for the allocation of maintenance costs for private roads in those instances where the adjoining property owners do not have a recorded maintenance agreement.
Gov. Evers recently signed the new Wis. Stat. § 710.20 into law in 2021 Wis. Act 99. The new law does not require property owners on private roads to create a maintenance agreement. However, if there is no recorded maintenance agreement, a new statutory formula requires each adjoining property owner to contribute an equitable share based on the amount and intensity of their actual use in proportion to the amount and intensity of all other property owners’ actual use. The bill lists four factors to consider when determining whether costs are reasonable and necessary.
Further, this new law is valuable because it helps address issues regarding secondary mortgage market underwriting. Fannie Mae requires if a property is on a private road, then there must be: 1) a maintenance agreement between the property owners on the private road, or 2) a state statute that provides a default framework to address the maintenance costs of the private road. Section 710.20 provides that default framework.
The WRA worked together with other interested parties such as the Wisconsin Land Title Association and the State Bar of Wisconsin to help pass this new law.
