Who maintains a shared driveway or private road in BC?
Whoever the registered easement or a written agreement says; where they say nothing, no BC statute we read decides it, so a buyer should settle it in writing before buying.
Opens the report at this answer. A PID always finds the lot; an address needs an exact match.
What the answer means
Many rural lots reach the road over a driveway shared with a neighbour, or a private road several owners use. The way is only as secure as the right behind it, and the upkeep only as settled as what someone wrote down.
- The right to cross
- A way over a neighbour's land holds for the next owner only as an easement or right of way registered on title. A buyer who relies on the register in good faith isn't bound by interests left off it (Land Title Act s. 29 (2)), so a driveway used on an old handshake can end with a sale (our reading; ask your lawyer). Long use doesn't create one: easements by prescription are abolished (s. 24).
- Who maintains it
- No BC statute we read sets who repairs, grades or ploughs a shared driveway or private road. What the registered easement says governs, and many say nothing, which leaves it to the owners to agree or to a court (our reading, not a rule we quote). Terms written into the registered easement pass with the land; a side agreement between neighbours may bind only those who signed it (our reading).
- Changing or ending it
- An easement stays on title until it's discharged or a court modifies or cancels it, for example because it is obsolete or the people it benefits agree; the court can order compensation (Property Law Act s. 35).
- Across Crown land
- Using or occupying Crown land, or building works on it, without the Province's authorization is an offence (Land Act s. 60 (a), (b), (e)), so a private road across untitled Crown land needs a tenure from the Province (our reading; see Crown land next door).
- Strata roads and resource roads
- A road on a bare land strata's common property is the strata's to maintain (see bare land strata). A Forest Service Road or permit road is kept, or not, under the Forest Act by the Ministry of Forests or its permit holders, not by the lots along it (see road access).
- Winter and lenders
- No one is bound to plough a private road unless the easement or an agreement says so (our reading). CMHC insures a homeowner mortgage only on a home with year-round access, so a road no one keeps open in winter can matter to a lender (see a mortgage on rural land).
- What it means for a buyer
- Ask for the easement and its plan, walk the route against it, and get the upkeep, snow clearing and cost sharing in writing before you remove subjects. A gate, a sign or a neighbour who blocks the way is a question for your lawyer before you buy, not after.
Our summary of the Land Title Act (RSBC 1996, c. 250, ss. 24, 29), the Property Law Act (RSBC 1996, c. 377, s. 35) and the Land Act (RSBC 1996, c. 245, s. 60) on BC Laws, read 2026-10-21. Upkeep where the documents are silent is our reading, not a rule; whether an easement covers a given use is for a lawyer to say.
Sources, read 2026-10-21 and summarised in our words unless marked otherwise: Land Title Act, RSBC 1996, c. 250 (ss. 24, 29); Property Law Act, RSBC 1996, c. 377 (s. 35); Land Act, RSBC 1996, c. 245 (s. 60).
Before you buy: who to ask
- The seller or their agent
- Who repairs, grades and ploughs the driveway or road today, who pays, and is any of it written down? Has a neighbour ever blocked it or asked for more?
- Your lawyer or notary
- Is the way registered on both titles as an easement or right of way, does its plan match the road on the ground, and what does it say about upkeep and use?
- The neighbours who share it
- Would you sign a maintenance agreement, and how has the cost been split so far?
- Your lender
- Does a private road with this upkeep meet your access rules?
Look up the lot above: its report says which mapped roads run along the lot, whose they are, and any rights of way drawn on it.
See also road access, rights of way and easements, driveway permits, road allowances, bare land strata and a mortgage on rural land.
Buying rural land? Before you buy rural land in BC: the nine questions that decide an offer, on one printable page.