Looking to buy a house (drainage easement)

[wally]

I have verbal offer on a house, which has been accepted.
Now i am looking at the title search supplied in the contract.

There is quite a large drainange easment on the property, which
i guess explains the location of the house.
It unusual in that the house is at the back corner of the property, with a
large side yard and separate double garage at the front.
The easement goes across the side yard and probably just under the
corner of the garage.

Is there anything i should be concerned about with a drainage easement?
Does it mean at some point down the track i wouldnt be able to build over the
easement.
I dont think i would ever want to build anything there, but is there anything else i should be concerned about?

I will be using a conveyancer but i though i would ask the question first anyway...

Any advice much appreciated!!!

 

[vbplease]

Wally, is the easement an "overland flow easement" or a drainage pipe below ground level?

If its an overland flow easement you can't build within a certain height above, and if its a drainage pipe you can't build foundations within a certain distance..

Don't quote me, but in Brisbane I think its about 600mm above an overland flow easement and 1m within a drainage pipe.. Ring your local council and they will tell you the specs.

I think your concern is if/when you sell the property, the next buyer will see it as a hindrance. Unless you build underneath the house (considering council restrictions) in turn showing the easement isn't really a problem.

 

[wally]

It is a underground drainage pipe, looks like stormwater.

 

[Collector]

If you wanted to build over the easement (in the future) you may not be able to, or you may have to encase the easment.

Having an easment also makes the property less appealing, it would be harder to sell as there are restrictions

 

[Propertunity]

Is there anything i should be concerned about with a drainage easement?

Not really - lots of places have them - mostly for services like stormwater, sewer etc

Does it mean at some point down the track i wouldnt be able to build over the easement.

It means at EVERY point you will not be able to build anthing over it and within the "zone of influence" that vbplease alluded to. The only way you will ever be able to build on or near it would be to dig it up & encase it in concrete - all very expensive with engineers, council and so on - but possible.

I dont think i would ever want to build anything there, but is there anything else i should be concerned about?

Not really.

All the best with your offer.

 

[handyandy]

As per Prop with all those restrictions.

Having said all that I have seen a house build over a concrete storm water channel with the house effectively built on a big concrete slab spanning the drain. Even the parking area is part of the concrete slab.

Personally our first house has a big easement right across the property similar to how you describe this easement. It never stopped the property being developed with both a house and garage and even an inground pool but in retrospect I wished that I had never bought it as there is no redevelopment potential although it is an enormous block.

Cheers

 

[want2bewealthy]

I just bought into an 'easement' property which kinda sux but I can still put a pool in and all that so no real worries, I didnt know it was there beforehand until after the contract was signed.

 

[RumpledElf]

We had a look at a property last year that seemed great (albeit kind of overpriced) until the agent pointed out the fifteen metre wide drainage easement. It was hard to miss, it was basically an enormous shallow ditch along one entire edge of the block, draining into a considerably more enormous deep ditch on council land behind the block.

So ... yeah. Didn't buy that one.

 

[wally]

Thanks for the replies, so it is possible to build just sounds expensive.

This house will be a PPOR, and is of a generous size and double garage so the easement isnt going to affect us as there wouldnt be any plans to develop it.
Without the easement though you could easily build another house.
I could see it affecting resale value say 10 years down the track.

Something to keep in mind before i finalise the purchase.