Insights

Shared Driveways Without an HOA: Easements and Maintenance Agreements in SB 684 Projects

Oliver Thornton · October 24, 2026

General information only. This article is educational and is not legal, tax, financial, lending or investment advice. Do your own due diligence and confirm everything with your own qualified professionals before relying on it. Read the full disclaimer.

Six to ten homes on one former lot usually share something: a driveway, a walkway, a utility trench, a trash area. Buyers reasonably ask who owns those spaces and who pays to maintain them. In a fee-simple SB 684 project, the answer is usually easements and a maintenance agreement, not a traditional HOA.

Easements: Who Can Use What

An easement is a recorded right to use part of someone else’s property for a specific purpose. In a small-lot project, the shared driveway often runs across several lots, and recorded access easements give every owner the right to drive and walk over it. Utility easements do the same for sewer, water and power lines that cross lot lines.

Maintenance Agreements: Who Pays for What

A recorded maintenance agreement sets out how owners share the cost of keeping shared features in good shape. Typical provisions cover:

Which features are shared, such as the driveway, gates, lighting, trash enclosure and landscaping
How costs are split, often equally or by lot
How decisions are made and how repairs are scheduled
What happens if an owner doesn’t pay
Insurance and liability for shared areas

Why Not an HOA?

A homeowners association that owns common areas changes what the project is. Commonly owned areas can make a project a planned development, a type of common-interest development with its own rules, documents and, typically, a DRE public report requirement. Keeping each lot separately owned, with shared use handled by easements, is one of the conditions that lets fee-simple homes in a city avoid a public report; see do SB 684 homes need a DRE public report?

What Buyers Should Review

The recorded easements, and which lots they burden and benefit
The maintenance agreement and any expected annual costs
Parking assignments and guest access
Rules for trash pickup, deliveries and gates

For a buyer, the result is simple: you own your home and the land under it, share a few features with neighbors on clear written terms, and avoid the monthly dues and shared-building decisions that come with a condominium.

General information, not legal advice. Each project’s easements and agreements depend on its site plan and local requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do SB 684 homes have an HOA?
Usually not in the condominium sense. Fee-simple small-lot homes typically share access and utilities through recorded easements and a maintenance agreement rather than a homeowners association that owns common property.

Who owns the shared driveway in an SB 684 project?
Often the driveway sits on the individual lots, with recorded easements giving each owner the right to use it. The exact approach depends on the site plan and local requirements.

How are shared costs split?
A recorded maintenance agreement typically sets out how owners share the cost of maintaining shared driveways, utilities, trash areas and landscaping.

Why not just create an HOA?
A commonly owned area can turn the project into a planned development, which brings additional rules and can require a DRE public report.

Important Disclaimer

This article is published by Assemble Capital for general informational and educational purposes only. It is not legal, tax, accounting, lending, appraisal, real estate brokerage or investment advice, and it is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Laws, regulations, government programs, lending practices, market conditions and local procedures change often and vary by jurisdiction and by property. The information here may be incomplete, out of date or not applicable to your situation, and we have no obligation to update it.

No one, including investors, lenders, property owners, buyers, sellers, agents, brokers, wholesalers or developers, should rely on this article in making any decision. Before acting on any topic discussed here, independently verify the information and conduct your own due diligence with qualified legal, tax, financial, lending, appraisal and real estate professionals and the applicable government agencies.

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