Beware of Nasty Easements that Bite

Ah the easement that isn't an easement. I love these.

What @Big Daddy has shown is a good way to explain it. Thanks for that!

Every month for the past year I reckon I've learnt about things which don't show up on the Certificate of Title that restrict what you can do
- the power line stuff is more like a Western Power 'setback' not an easement as such.
- power poles, power domes, various other Western Power infrastructure things which impact how close you can build to and where you can put cross overs.
- other infrastructure like gas, telstra impacting where you can put things and how close you can build to
- transperth infrastructure like bus stops impact where you can put crossovers
- sewer line easements
- Metropolitan Regional Scheme road widening reservations - parts of your land which you cannot build on and set aside for future road widening which may or may not happen.

Generally most if not all these should be disclosed by seller as they materially affect the use of the land. With the MRA Road Widening I had one seller disclose and another seller didn't and I was taken by surprise on the second one as I didn't consider the road to be a major road - however back in the 1950s when they put the reservation over the land they must have. I lost 120sqm (3m wide x 40 frontage) on that one but negotiated a discount.

Many of them can be found via Dial Before You Dig except the MRS where you contact the WA Planning Department and they can tell you over the phone if it's affected then you order a schematic diagram from them to show you the impact. Transperth ones are available from Transperth but you can generally see a bus stop

 

Hi WM
I actually have a 10 page doc from Western Power, and it's definately defined as an easement, regardless it's a negative. It certainly changes the way I research development sites moving forward.
Thanks for the info above

MTR

 

@OSAN Properties You need to register (free) then enter a start date, end date etc etc and an address. Then highlight ( draw) on map the affected area and then click submit. Then check your email

 

For the pull downs I say I'm a private contractor and the submission is for Design purposes for Development Approval.

 

Cos I own so many of them

 

Ok, how do you stop your addiction to easements

 

Properties near airports can have airport control restrictions too.

If any one buying near prposed airport should be careful of runway location etc.

 

Stop buying? lol
Just recognise which ones are workable, which ones aren't And then the ultimate easement - easement of benefit like a ROW/Laneway.
Probably around 75% plus of everything in an infill area has some sort of easement.
Even a property with no easement can be affected by one. For example my Westminster triplex has no easement as the sewer line was on the neighbours property but to build to zero lot on that side I would still need piling as it was within 1500mm of the sewer line.

 

Very true. We are restricted by the ANEF contours which restrict what you can do in that area.

 

Lot of newbie developers get trapped in to such situation and suffer significant loss at time of subdivision.

At the time of buying property, most likely there is no registered easement. But surveyor will pick it up at time of subdivision and it will cost you downwardly sell price.

 

Would be nice for one of you guys here start a post.. "Top xx Easement to avoid for a development site".. A general guideline for all newbie_to_be_developer.

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Sounds like a good idea. Some good info here.
Do you contact the council in the 1st instance or is there another way to find easement info easily?

 

Title search will show you most registered easement.

Other than that, Visual observation will give you some idea.

 

Via the conveyancer or yourself?
Do you need to contact the particular councils for setbacks etc...?

 

www.1100.com.au gives location of the sewerage. Building a granny flat at the back yard, is a must know where the sewerage line. the 330kv tx line would show as thin wire/line to back of property which lead you to call authority for further details...

In Brisbane, such as BCC and LCC, their pdonline is very useful to identify overlay such as flood, bushfire, acidic soil, aircraft etc.. very useful compared to Sydney councils...

 

@Azazel

Convyncer can advise you of title search, easement and covenants..

Re:set back

Best to check with architect/townplanner/council

Totally different topic from easement!

 

Yeah, I found a lot of useful info in QLD for flood/erosion overlays etc...

 

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Would these be transmission &/or high voltage lines? Just trying to get a clear idea of what I'm looking for.

 

MTR, sorry for the digression, however wouldn't this be subject to income tax rather than CGT? Unless you held the house for a while... Im trying to get my head around this with my accountant as guidance.

We've had an easement in a previous property and it killed a lot of interest from families who wanted to build an in-ground pool.

 

Have not paid anything yet as it falls in this financial year and have yet to meet with accountant. I get confused as well, either way we buy in Trust never pay more than 30% tax.

What type of easement?