Hi good Perth people, I have had a good look at many forums and spoken to third party electricians, subdivision experts etc, but I am yet to get a straight answer to my question, which I find a little strange- but I am new to the building game. Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere but I simply could not find the info and am hoping to be enlightened. I am currently building my first house, on a strata title, and there has been some confusion with our electrical connection to the subdivision. To save time (hopefully) I have included a diagram that shows roughly how the power was at the beginning. Basically, there was no power run from the existing pillar (bottom left) to the top of our driveway, and so we were invoiced for over 3k to bore under the footpath and get the power to the top of our driveway. There is an easement along the front of the property. Our builder also informed us that the developer had run electricity down the left hand side boundary - but that is another issue I think, as there is no easement there. The confusion is around what should or should not have been set up initially in terms of power. The answers that I have gotten are conflicting and vague. Should the developer have run power to the top of our driveway, or is it my responsibility to pay? thanking you
Cant directly answer for wa, but in vic where i live and work as a surveyor, if the developer has provided an connection to your property boundary, and the power company has consented to the subdivision, then the developer has done what they need to. If you or your builder has decided to place a new connection (up the driveway) then that is your choice, i dont think you have any recourse against the developer. In vic, for most building subdivisions, implied easement rights are added, which means the services have similar rights as if there was an expressed easement. So while there may not be an easement shown on your plan, i would investigate if there are implied easements which give rights to the power connection the developer put in. I know most of my comments arent specific to wa, but noone else was answering so its a starting point for you.
Hi lixas, thanks for responding because your comment is helpful. I really don't mind paying if it is my responsibility, it has been coming up with the correct info that has been challenging for some reason. Even though you are not in WA, this gives me a good idea, thanks
Sorry I didn't see this until @lixas4 replied. This is my 2 cents which is hopefully correct from a Perth point of view. My assumptions are that this is survey strata and not green title and that the driveway is common property? With survey strata you can run utility services across blocks with an implied easement. The developer in this case supplied the electrical services up to your block down the side of the front block. Can I ask why you chose not to use that existing/new electrical services connection down the left and decided to create a new one by going along the front boundary and up the driveway? It seems of little benefit and cost you money you didn't need to spend.
Hi Westminster, thanks for your input. Yes, you are right in your assumption that it is a strata. We were told by our builder that there was no easement down the left side, and so what had been put there was illegal. Also, we were told from a practical standpoint, having electrical lines going through someones' backyard meant that if they did any digging, there was the issue of them interfering with the power. On the basis of this advice, we went ahead and agreed to run the power down the driveway, as it seemed like that was the only option. Thanks
Sounds like the builder was wrong in one sense, that there was no easement, when in fact there was. But they are right in the sense that having your electrical connection along a side boundary, with no express easement shown on the plan, is a risk for you and for anyone doing digging in the front house. In vic, the power companies wouldnt allow this setup, all electrical connections for private lots must be within common property or within the private land of the benefitting lot, ie not allowed through another lots land, even with an easement. But each states power companies have there own rules. @Westminster, what are your thoughts on this? Is it standard practice to have implied easements cover electical connections?
Can't say that I've ever seen any implied easement for power (in NSW), Ausgrid doesn't even allow overhead wires to pass over any adjoining block (or a common pole if on TT subdivision), plenty of cases of two poles beside each other on boundary line or a point of attachment on one side and pole for the other.
Hi @Talula there looks like there could be a few scenarios for this. I'm a NSW Surveyor and our ways can be a little different, so let me add to the confusion, BUT, assuming it is a private line to provide connection to your house at the rear, and you will be responsible for the cost and maintenance in the future. For NSW, in most cases private lines servicing multiple lots or travelling through other lots within the strata scheme can be covered by implied easements provided by the NSW Strata Act. All service lines are considered common property. However in NSW we can also have a variant to the strata to minimise common property areas namely "No Common Property Scheme". this way services are set up individually and contained within their respective lots. A bit like Torrens Title (or your Green Title) In this scenario if your private electricity line was passing through another lot then an easement will need to be created to provide this right. By the sounds of it your Strata setup sounds a lot like our "No Common Property Scheme" ( @Westminster ) ? as for your specific case in WA, if your Strata scheme setup does not have a provision to allow service lines to cross other lots (which it would appear as an easement was originally created to gain access to your driveway strip) then laying the of new cable was required. I'm not sure what recourse you have in claiming reimbursement. If the developer had laid the electricity cable down the side to the rear lot, but then created an easement across the front, then i suggest that someone has stuffed up. I assume the plan has been registered at Land Titles Office. if it wasn't you possibly could have amended the plan to create the easement over the existing cable. Even though it passed through the yard of the front lot. (unlucky for them i guess) I think running it across the front was a better idea and if the plans were already registered then you didn't have much choice.
Hi bmc, thanks for your input. Yes, it has been confusing, as I am getting different information from different sources, but its all good The developer, who was the previous owner and did the subdivision himself, spoke with his surveyor and Western Power. His surveyor stated that all he had to do was to supply an "isolation point" and Western Power signed off on it. So if there was a mistake made, we have to suck it up regardless I think. I'm a bit old school and take people at face value so if that is the feedback from his surveyor, then I'm good to go with that. Nevertheless, it would be good to get to the bottom of it, because at least this thread might provide insight for others if they have a similar issue.
