setting up management company for unadopted road

I’d shy away - esp from any legally binding responsibility (*or financial).

I live on a equally shared private road.

Why ?

While ago - reputable builder - if everybody puts in £2k then I can bring all the drains up to date , about a 20% take up rate - so it didn’t happen.

More recently - road is getting a bit potholed, we can get a few bags of scalping between us and put some effort in we could sort it out - very few prepared to chip in/help. (*it’s always been the same 3 or 4 houses out of 14 who provide bags of scalping and do the filling of big holes over the last 15 years)

And from a discussion with a contractor, “whenever I work on private roads I only deal with one person, otherwise it’s a right pita chasing lots of people to get paid, got caught out on this before, never again.”

I’d shy away – esp from any legally binding responsibility (*or financial).

its better if its in teh deeds of sale for all properties affected then everyone is legally responsible for teh shared bits. This stops people shirking their duties and why planners seem to like to see a formal setup over an 'ad hock' self run system. normally its an annual payment made to a management company account.

Obviously there is no reason why this cant be set up by a group of sensible residents on an informal basis - but we all know that, sadly, this will never happen as there is always one or two that take the piss.

Back when I lived in a leasehold flat there was a management company that did all the shared ownership stuff and for a while I was a director.

As long as it's set up as a limited company the financial liabilities stay with the company, there are other responsibilities you have a director but as you're not likely to have any employees etc there isn't too much to worry about. The biggest gripes I had were the meetings and the paperwork.

If it's all new then it should be in the deeds about paying an annual fee into a management company, if it's voluntary then you'll find not many people do, but if they legally have to pay in you'll find them more accommodating especially when they should already know about it before buying their property. Then it's a case of who does all the running around in a pipe bursts etc, we always had issues with the sewage pumps.
Day-to-day it's just then about balancing the books and making sure there's a build up of cash to pay for the really expensive stuff like resurfacing the road as no-one likes it when you land them with a massive bill to pay.

road is getting a bit potholed, we can get a few bags of scalping between us and put some effort in we could sort it out – very few prepared to chip in/help. (*it’s always been the same 3 or 4 houses out of 14 who provide bags of scalping and do the filling of big holes over the last 15 years)

Yep - been there. I spent a long few days in the middle of winter with scalpings and a whacker plate. Got lots of thanks and most people chipped in but had others that said they would and never did, moaned that they couldn't park their car in front of their house whilst I was doing it etc. I would never do it again (buy a house on an unadopted road).

As above, it needs to be formal and part of deeds or whatever. There needs to be a monthly charge.
You will get no thanks, lots of moans and those least likely to help will be first to complain.

I think this is a different scenario than you are alluding to, but I moved into a new build smallish estate a few years ago, and after a certain amount of time the developer sent a letter to all residents informing them that they would be transferring the responsibility of the upkeep and repairs of Common/ communal areas to a property management company, and a yearly fee would be payable. 

One resident sent out a note through everyone's letterboxes saying they were concerned that they had heard bad things about this management company and he would like to form a resident association in case of problems. 
Sure enough we then received a letter from the new property management company stating a fee of (I think around £50) would be payable to them for each installation of a satellite dish and we would need their permission to erect buildings such as conservatories and lay paving (on both freehold and leasehold properties). 

This prompted another note from concerned resident which led to a meeting, a residents association being formed, and a meeting between residents association and said Property Management company. This meeting got quite heated with the management company defending their position, but they did concede if residents could get a written response from the original developers stating that their intention when they built their property was a resident could install a satellite dish and erect buildings such as conservatories and lay paving, then those that receive that letter would not be charged or need permission from them (for satellite dish or building work). cue a letter/ email template sent around to all residents and letters sent out from the developer. 

I was probably less affected than most as I live in a shared ownership property which has service charges and permissions dictated by a housing association (that's a whole other story).

Everything has gone quiet now, with a yearly service charge being paid by all, and the Property management company name being changed about three times.

So in conclusion you may be better off being your own Property management company rather than having one forced on you.

I found out the management company has already been set up in the name of the director of the building company. That now needs to pass onto the people that live here or those that want to be a director. All residents will need to pay into a fund to manage the road. The building company has already selected a company to look after the management of the estate: road, drainage etc but we'r enot legally obliged to go with them

ideally i'd like to get the road adopted but can't see that happening

Some people are just wasters. We have a leylandi hedge on a strip of land which is shared ownership between the houses. Left to it's own devices it would be 40 feet high and completely cover a street lamp.

I cut it to keep it at 7 feet. Another neighbour lets me use her green bin along my 3 to dispose of the clippings. Not a huge task. A few hours twice a year. No big deal.

The only help I've had from other neighbours was one who complained to our councillor that I hadn't completly cleared every last twig. As I told the councillor I didn't notice them down lending a hand.

Luckily the street/drains/lights are adopted.

was one who complained to our councillor that I hadn’t completly cleared every last twig

You're not far wrong with "Some people are just wasters" except that the word you want is probably roasters 😆

On the 20 year old estate where my mother lives there is a management company controlled by the residents. The two directors pay half the fees of everyone else, this is incentive to be director. It works well.

Our estate of over 100 houses is still unadopted. Council keep dragging their feet, finding excuses. Can't see 100 odd households working together. Main road is now breaking up badly but can't see it getting repaired any time soon.

Edit estate is over 20 years old now.

I lived in a close that had 4 houses and about 20 yards of road that needed upkeep. It was simple enough to set up and off-the-shelf Ltd company, 4 shares, annual meetings, and it made up it's own mind about what needed doing and split the cost 4 ways. It helped that all the residents were reasonable folks, and we didn't really need to spend that much money on it.

You’re not far wrong with “Some people are just wasters” except that the word you want is probably roasters

Indeed.
We had a freehold flat with shared responsibility for roof, drains, garden etc. Every single time something needed doing, one of the owners would avoid, object, not pay etc. She argued that she should not contribute to a new roof as she was ground floor....She also refused to contribute to paint and materials for me to paint front door - and then let her dog scratch the heck out the door.