Garage over easement

I am looking at a relatively new townhouse on a standalone block of land. It was built at the rear of an existing property on a corner so is street-facing.

The issue with it is the land as subdivided has an sewerage easement across the side of the property. About half of the property's brick garage has been built over the easement boundaries, as well as concrete poured over the easement in the garage and on the driveway.

I have seen the section 32 and it has been appropriately approved by the water authority subject to some building conditions. The vendor obtained approval in 2010 and I think the house was built in around 2014.

My question - is the property being partially built over an easement something that will devalue the property in the long run from an investment perspective? How likely is it that the sections over the easement are going to be dug up? I'm naturally concerned that a solid structure like a brick garage is half over the easement and would conceivably be very costly to repair if dug up.

Cheers

 

In terms of devaluing the property I can't comment on because I am no expert in that field, although you would imagine that if you are paying say 1.5% lower price for the property because of the easement than what you would pay if there was no easement then that same percentage would still apply in 10 - 20 years time, the dollar figure would be different, but the percentage would be the same, but as I say I am not expert in that and there are others on here that know more about this than me.

However in terms of the easement itself, that I can help with. First thing I would do would be to double check the situation with the local water authority, they would have an office close by that you could walk into, go in and pay them a visit. I have found all of the water authorities down here in Victoria are really good to deal with and always willing to help out anyway they can, but you need to do it in person, discussing it over the phone and via email never gets you the same level of service as what you get from them by going in there yourself.

Just tell them the truth, you are looking at buying that property and want to know what would happen if they have to access the pipe in say 15 years time.

I can tell you the answer most likely will be that they will not have to tear down the garage, if they have to redo the pipeline because say for example it might be getting old then they will reline it and to do that they access it from the manholes, so other than seeing extra workers around the place for a few days, you properly won't even know that it has been done, and even then this only needs to be done roughly every 30 years or so.

So in 'my opinion', the fact that the garage is over the easement shouldn't worry you at all.

Reagrds
Ben