What is an easement?
An excellent question for everyone who are keen to do some property development on their land or make a few minor adjustments to their property.
To begin we first need to know what an easement and its main purpose, Firstly, it is a set of rights that allows people to use the land for a specific purpose such as access to drainage, sewage or supply of water or gas. Now you maybe thinking why is this important to me? Ok let me explain because easements can determine what you use your property for or what developments you have planned for the property such as building a granny flat or adding a patio to the back of the house. We need to make sure that your easements are benefiting the land and not burdening the land in legal terms.
What is the benefit of an easement?
The next question is what is the difference between burdening the land and benefiting the land? When we are benefiting the land, it is using parts of the land that will allow it to be used for a specific purpose without disrupting its daily usage. However, it becomes a burden to the land when doing these developments disrupts their daily usage which can cause major damage to the property. This is a simplified explanation of the way easements work in property law.
There are different types of easements that describe the type of the services they provide such as
Statutory easements maybe essential for services like telephone lines, water, gas, drainage or sewerage.
A right of carriage way easement allows for individuals to access their property when sharing the same land. This ensures neither landowner’s properties are inaccessible and locked from each other.
Easement of light and air prevent landowners from building walls or structures that could block sunlight or air flow from their or their neighbour’s property.
Public easements refer to easements on public land such as parks and community service.
Private easements refer to an agreement between two property owners.
All landowners must let people buying their house of any easements of the property.
Removing easements from the property requires both the landowner and a guarantee from the buyer that they will only do what they have planned to do. This prevents unauthorised work from being done without the landowner’s knowledge. The letter and the work that will be done on the property will need to be lodged with titles office.
How do I find easements?
Easements can be found on property searches, surveys, which can be found on council or property records. Although easements can be distinguished if the demands are unreasonable or are not valid for the property
As a final note these are things you may need to know if you are buying or selling property as these minor things can stop or allow you to do renovations or make necessary changes to your land or property.
