Beware of Nasty Easements that Bite

Then the residential stuff is 240 or 415v can be identified:
240v goes to the house. on the poles it is either a row of 4 wires, or in newer areas a big thick insulated wire
415 is a row of 3 wires.

For the big stuff on the pic, as a guide you could the insulating rings holding the wire (the donut ceramic looking things) is 1 = 11kv

And the lowest target is the telstra, one single wire. if you hit it just keep driving! happens all the time they hang so low!
Im a bit rusty, my ticket has expired. google "working near overhead powerlines" theres a code of practise and standards. more to do with the actual work involved, but good to know if you have a crane on site or trucks and excavators

I want everyone to practise their hopping tomorrow just in case!(see video)


And with the dial before you dig plans they do come with a massive "*" as they only guarantee the plans are not always accurate! depends on your area and service providers to how accurate and up to date the plans are. it is recomended DBYD plans be renewed every 3 months, by the time you buy and settle there could be a new service in!

 

Hi Big Daddy,

What about green line (low voltage overhead electric line) in the neighbour's backyard?
How much voltage is green and is there any easement?

Thanks for your post. Its very helpful

 

It was a large sewer line. This was in NSW. Thanks!

@bob shovel - Thanks, that picture looks useful.

 

I've been meaning to put together a thread on easements, mainly water and sewer (that's what I'm most familiar with) but also touch on others.
With sewer it is the most common one to be a pain in for developing, building etc as out runs through the property.
I found the attached on the Sydney water website, I'd put then at the top for water authorities (water corp are up there to but haven't dealt with them).
With sewer pipes in your block they are not technically an "easement" unless greater than 600mm - trunk Mains. (some extreme cases require a formal easement however)
Your general run of the mill pipe in residential areas will be 150 & 225 mm and sometimes 300mm. They are not an easement but the water authority have a right to access their asset for maintenance and work. For the legal peeps there is the -Sydney water Act (1994??) Which states what they can do etc etc. this will be worst case scenario (difficult owner!) that they go for that bad boy. Most people understand and are aware and don't fight it.

For the developers if you have sewer, concrete encasing is the usual go to method to allow building to take place. There is also pipe lining that is sometimes required or an option.

As for maintenance works, it is unlikely that a pipe on your block will need to be dug up and house knocked down and your dog run over in the process. Maintenance wise the water authority will have a crew/contractor with CCTV and jetting equipment doing routine inspections and cleaning, plus then flags any lines in need or repair work. Repairing may be digging up sections, relining and man hole repairs.
If you have a man hole on the property there is more chance you'll have someone come in poking around. They'll use the MH for access for CCTV and jetting equip. Also they'll be used as access for relining the pipe.
There's more to it than that but it's a rough start.

As for finding sewer, it runs MH to MH. So if you have plans showing the pipe don't rely on any measurements on the plans, most councils are updating and plotting each MH by GPS so they are getting more accurate but there's always a chance of being out. Best thing to do is find the MH each side of your property (if there isn't one in your prop) and it's a matter of "connect the dots" . Stick your head over the fence to have a look. And it's not unusual for them to be buried under a shed or paving so don't assume it's not there! (and if you do have an unsightly you want to hide a bit of mulch doesn't do much harm, but I didn't say that can be useful if selling maintenance crews will find them)

As for buying with sewer Mains through a block, if your but and hold I see it as an easy way to scare of the competition and not affect yields. Worst case they need to do some digging, you'll get a new turfed lawn at the end of the work! Plus it's the tenants that have to put up with the inconvenience!

I hope that makes sense, there's more to it and each property may be different or have something out of the originary but as a start I hope that paints a picture (I won't include photos and ruin your lunch )
Fyi I have about 8 years experience working with ****: treatment plants where it ends up, construction of gravity and pressure sewer (ripping up people beloved properties and searching for other assets, gas,power, Telstra etc) and also pipe rehabilitation - relining, digging up MH and pipe sections

 

A sewer line will not necessarily be affected by an easement, so there will be no easment on the title. When I bought the Cloverdale property, I got a sewer plan from Water Corp, so I knew there is a sewer line running down the side and back of the property. We can't build over the sewer line and there are certain set backs for the building. Basically, the closer we want to build to the sewer, the more expensive it is because of Piles being required. It's not deal killer, but is an additional cost you should factor in when doing due diligence.

This web site has a relatively non-technical explanation: http://fegroup.net.au/blog/building-near-sewer-pipes/

 

does anyone know how much it'd cost to remove the power line going through the blue roof houses land to the neighbouring property on the left? i see this being an issue if attempting to develop the blue roof house later down the track, anyone had dealings with this before?

 

Shifting a power pole starts at $30k

 

Oh wow Blast from past..... 2015 when I did this project

 

Could you install a private pole on the corner of the property? Within your boundary.

 

Awesome job MTR!

I've just completed my second subdivision, does Green Title mean Torrens title (NSW)?

Both subdivisions i've been lucky enough to have numbering available, so I turned 5 Lever Close into 5 and 7 Lever close.

The most recent is 33 Wentworth Street (corner block), into 33 Wentworth Street and 1 South Street

 

Thanks

Yes, just found this
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A ‘GREEN TITLED’ OR TORRENS TITLED LOT AND A STRATA LOT?


Good work, different addresses is great

 

I'm no accountant, but CGT is ultimately income tax from my understanding. If you make $100k net profit from a development, you would apply either a discount or indexation method to calculate the taxable capital gain and then add this value to your general income and then pay tax on it the same way you would on your work salary.

 

Just a point of clarification on your original post, strata vs torrens/green title has nothing to do with street addressing, it's about common property. If you see a property that's addressed as 2/308 xx street or 1B xx street, there's no way to know whether it's strata or not based purely on the street address.

If you take the example of a 600m2 lot that's being subdivided into 3 lots, if the lot is in the middle of the street (i.e. not a corner), than a shared driveway will be required to access the back two lots. These lots are therefore strata lots due to the common property driveway. On a corner lot, each subdivided lot would have their own driveway so they could be titled as torrens.

 

Yes, there is also another post on this topic
Thanks

 

If you produce INCOME from a development then its unlikley to be a CGT asset. Hence ordinary income rules apply. No discounts, not a CGT event. If the asset is a CGT asset and there is a "mere realisation" then a CGT event may occur. It may be eleigible for a CGT discount. However, Indexation ceased being available for CGT events after 11.45am (by legal time in the ACT) on 21 September 1999. If a discount applies the reduced gain may form a element of assessable income and become taxed at your marginal tax rate

A example of mere realisation may be Fred & Wilma who are in their 60s. They have a old 1/4 acre block that is quite large. They find the lot a lot of effort to maintain but love their home. They learn that their council allows that lot to be subdivided. They sell off 50% of the lot to their Son who plans a family home. Their decisions indicate a lack of their being a enterprise and being a likely mere realisation of their CGT asset. The land however isnt eligible to any main residence concessions (as they have retained that).

However their neghbour Peter seens what they are doing and buys his other neighbours lot as he calculates he could make a nice profit. He plans a small developmnet on the two lots for 6 new twonhouses which he will sell. This seems like an an enterprise (subect to GST) and also is a isoalted profit making intention likely to be ordinary income.

 

History repeats itself

Subdivision conditionally approved. No easement on title. Was just awaiting Western Power (WP) clearance and turns out a "15m Being 7.5m Property side and 7.5m Road side" easement is required. This was communicated by WP in Aug 2020 but missed by PM, his surveyor, etc. PM is trying to work with WP to see what can be done.

Approx ~1.5m from centre of transmission power line to lot boundary
lot setback 1m (secondary street) to building
current distance from power line to building ~2.5m
missing distance ~5m

Aim is to keep the lot subdivision as is and find a way to work around the transmission line easement.

Options / thoughts:
- Move transmission pole a bit further away (~5m) from property boundary. It won't meet road side setback of 7.5m?
- Move transmission pole/line on other side of road? There's a distribution line on the other side
- Underground line between the two transmission poles. Is that possible? Would that remove the need for the easement?

@MTR , @Westminster & others who are knowledgeable in this area...keen to hear your thoughts & suggestions, thanks!

 

@Ichigo some easements you can still build under so you need to know what type of easement it is and its restrictions. It sounds like it's not a normal power pole and might be a high frequency power pole so you probably can't move it or would be $$$$$

 

If you moved the pole/line to the other side of the road would that then affect other lots?
I can't imagine that would be very popular.

Just how did multiple people manage to miss the communication of the easement?