Cost of drainage easement

[knightm]

So...I am currently in negotiations over purchase of a stormwater easement down a boundary to try and make a small development site viable for someone I know. There are some wildly differing opinions about a sensible cost to pay the neighbours.

I am also trying to make sure everyone is well educated and informed, and no one feels rushed. Does anyone care to comment on:

1. A "rough" guide for common prices to run a stormwater easement (I know the person wanting to develop will be up for actual costs, I am talking about the consideration fee to pay the neighbours.

2. Any really simple guidelines for all parties to read so everyone feels comfortable about the process.

Thanks.

 

[WattleIdo]

Great questions.

 

[bashworth]

One way to look at this question is:
If your neighbour was going to make a 3m strip of your land unavailable for any future extension or other development how much would want?
100% of the actual land value of the easement?
50% of the actual land value of the easement?
I would expect the value to be somewhere between the two depending on what advantage it would be to you!

 

[knightm]

True thanks Bashworth

 

[scha9799]

From my experience for a duplex site ( smaller impact than multi-unit development) it can be around 10k to 50k.

but it's really depend on how inconvenience it's going to cost to your neighbour.

some people may try to make it difficult to make you pay more some people simply doesn't care.

The way I negotiated is not only be $$ term but how you can "add value" to neigbour property.

I hope this help

 

[Shahin_Afarin]

The thing is that the easement could potentially used by the neighbour.

Its running across the boundary so its not like they are going to build a house on the boundary anyway.

Hopefully they are sensible neighbours.

 

[RetireRich101]

Some council allow to build the storm water easement very close to the fencing/boundary line. You can tell you neighbor won't affect any future build as you can never build that close the boundary, and at the same time you're given them $5k for the trouble.

I have this property with a fibro house on a 550m2. Zoning allows attached dual occ, so am exploring to build a 100-110m2 single level attached to existing.. It is 15m frontage with a 4m access.
Private open space and car space bit tight but can be workaround.
The land has a 1m slopping to rear(rear is lower) and stormwater will be the real issue here..
Tanks and pit is not an option for dual occ, but are ok good for granny flat.
Immediate thought is give up or approach rear neighbor for this same discussion.

Have been talking to a private stormwater engineer. He's suggestion for me was to have a storm water pipe approx 1.3m above the ground running from side fence and out into front of street. There will be a garden bed along the fence to hide the embedded stormwater pipe. Currently I am trying to run this idea with council to see if they're ok with this...

 

[knightm]

Thanks all for your input.

I will provide status updates this week.

So far Initial offer is submitted they had some concerns about the proposed development but these were largely allayed. They agreed to think about it.

 

[knightm]

OK so update on this one...

The neighbours said no in the end.

Factors:
1 Retired GP - didnt appear to want the money that much
2 Love their big back yard and never intend to develop themselves
3 Anti view on all medium density development
4 Fear of over crowding and poor social outcomes

I did my best to allay the fears, they said they were ok on points 3 and 4 from our proposal but in the end I suspect 1 and 2 were just too powerful.

For what it is worth the offer was only 10k plus actuals, not a lot of money, we were prepared to go higher if they requested but as they said no under any circumstances and we were on a deadline we just decided to move onto other sites.

Lessons learned, it is always good to listen to people's real concerns, if you can address them then this should lead to good outcomes. If they had been pensioners I think we would have had a deal.

Thanks again for advice offered here and in PM's, as always this forum is where it is at.