Private roads

A private road refers to a road traffic route that primarily serves private traffic needs and is encumbered by a right of way for the benefit of at least one property. In general, rights of way for a private road have been granted in a transaction held by either a municipality or the National Land Survey. Private roads are regulated by law (560/2018). The owners of the properties that have been granted the right of way, i.e. road shareholders, are responsible for road maintenance on a private road. Road shareholders may have organized themselves into a road association, in which case matters concerning road maintenance are decided at a road association meeting. If there is no road association, the shareholders agree on road maintenance among themselves.

The current private law entered into force on 1 January 2019. After the law entered into force, the municipal technical committee, which acted as the road committee, will only handle private road matters that were initiated before 1 January 2019 during 2019. For example, the municipal road committee is no longer the authority handling appeals against decisions of road committee meetings, but appeals are handled by the district court, which acts as the regional court.

According to the new law, road municipalities are obliged to update their information in the National Land Survey of Finland's private road register (https://www.maanmittauslaitos.fi/asioi-verkossa/palveluiden-kayttoohjeet/kiinteistotietopalvelu/yksityistiet) and reports road information to the national road and street network information system (Digiroad service: https://vayla.fi/vaylista/aineistot/digiroad). Road municipalities must also report certain decisions they have made to the National Land Survey of Finland, which records them in the real estate information system.

If a road municipality has not been established, the road stakeholders must jointly ensure that, among other things, there are up-to-date information on certain weight restrictions and prohibitions or restrictions on the use of the road on private roads in the national road and street network information system (Digiroad service).