Understanding easements and boundaries

Understanding easements and boundaries and their regulations is a critical part of buying a home or renovating. Although some regulations vary between states and councils, the basic reasons for them remain the same.

What is an easement?

The legal definition of an easement is ‘the right to cross or otherwise use a portion of someone else’s land’. How would a council decide who has the right to cross or use your property? In most cases, it is when it serves the common good. An easement may be required to:

• give other properties access to essential services such as water or electricity
• give service technicians the right to work on your property to maintain or repair services on the easement
• allow neighbours road access to their property. This is called ‘right of carriageway’. Although the passage must not be blocked, it is not the responsibility of the owner of the property to maintain the carriageway.

Because of the importance of access and services, the owner of a property with easements has the responsibility to respect them. In legal terms, they have the ‘burdened easement’ and the rights of someone with a ‘benefited easement’ take precedence over any inconveniences experienced by the owner of burdened easement property.

What is a boundary?

Also called a property line, a boundary marks the limits of an area. Although invisible, boundary lines are very real and can lead to problems between neighbours. Council regulations with regards to boundaries are designed to make the sharing of boundaries fair for all parties. They set limits to what you can do on or near your boundary. For example:

• Neighbours are required to share in the cost of a boundary fence.
• Retaining walls cannot be built on boundaries without the consent of neighbours, and a retaining wall must not have a negative impact on an adjoining property.
• Some structures must be built at a pre-determined distance from a property line.

Most residential boundaries are defined by private properties on three sides and public property on the road frontage side. Road frontage regulations are designed to ensure a residence does not encroach upon public spaces. A home, for instance, will have to be situated a certain distance from a sidewalk or road, and a driveway cannot block traffic or divert street drainage.

Easements and boundaries are important. Before you buy any property, make sure you find out from your local council if any easements exist on the land or house you purchase. If you have any doubts about where the boundaries lie, hire a surveyor to check and redraw your boundary lines. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.