Power Line Easement

[Scooterscum]

Gidday.
We are contemplating buying a semi/rural property in NSW and are having a few problems obtaining information regarding easements.
There is no power on the block but there are High voltage power lines running approximately 100m behind us. The block next door has a feeder line and transformer on it. The transformer is approximately 20m to 30m from our boundary. There is no structure between the transformer and our boundary.
According to Country Energy our options are - connecting to the high voltage lines at a cost (ballpark) of $20K to $30K or purchase an easement on the neighbours property and run a line from there. If doing it the second way Country Energy said connection costs would be about $900 (plus easement costs from neighbours.)
The guy from Country Energy said in relation to purchasing an easment from the neighbours "that it's normally not a problem, it's just something your lawyers and their lawyers sort out"
I'm wondering if anybody else has had any experiences of a similar nature? I'm also interested to know if whether the neighbour is actually obliged to grant an easment, and whether there is any sort of price guideline given or is it whatever the neighbour thinks he can charge you?
We are just trying to get a bit of information before we spend any money flying down to view the block.
Any help, advise or comments greatly appreciated
Regards Simon

[Pulse]

An easement is a "right of way" that exists over a property. Commonly stormwater and sewer. There is no obligation to grant an easement, that is the purpose, to make it a legal obligation of that and any future owner.

Did they pay $20K for the power to be connected too? If they did expect to pay half. If not then just give them a reasonable offer, say a few grand.

Cheers
Pulse

[Sturdee]

I'm also interested to know if whether the neighbour is actually obliged to grant an easment,

No, not for granting you access to the electricity transformer.

whatever the neighbour thinks he can charge you?

Yes, whatever you can negotiate with him. Unfortunately his starting negotiating figure could well be the $20k that it would cost you otherwise.

So come to an agreement before spending money.


Peter.

[spartan]

Powerline easements grant a person right of entry to that property at anytime to view/maintain/inspect that easement.

Easements typically devalue a property. Country Energy is a distributor - ensure that it is their easement and not Transgrids.

Each company has an easement's section so make sure you speak to the right people in each company rather than a customer contact person. Ask to be put through to the easement section - typically they are called property sections because they deal with the compulsory use of easements particualy with Transgrid where they enforce easements that have existed for 50 years and then suddenly want to build a transmission line.

I would also find out what the rating of the line is in KVA.

Typically, in Qld a property that has a power easement, with overhead wires is devalued by about 50K.

Another note most of the lines are now patrolled by helicopter which can be a noise problem.

[ian]

Gidday.
We are contemplating buying a semi/rural property in NSW and are having a few problems obtaining information regarding easements.
There is no power on the block but there are High voltage power lines running approximately 100m behind us. The block next door has a feeder line and transformer on it. The transformer is approximately 20m to 30m from our boundary. There is no structure between the transformer and our boundary.
According to Country Energy our options are - connecting to the high voltage lines at a cost (ballpark) of $20K to $30K or purchase an easement on the neighbours property and run a line from there. If doing it the second way Country Energy said connection costs would be about $900 (plus easement costs from neighbours.)
The guy from Country Energy said in relation to purchasing an easment from the neighbours "that it's normally not a problem, it's just something your lawyers and their lawyers sort out"
I'm wondering if anybody else has had any experiences of a similar nature? I'm also interested to know if whether the neighbour is actually obliged to grant an easment, and whether there is any sort of price guideline given or is it whatever the neighbour thinks he can charge you?
We are just trying to get a bit of information before we spend any money flying down to view the block.
Any help, advise or comments greatly appreciated
Regards Simon

Simon
It will be worth your while spending some time with the town planning / development section of the local council.
Does the block have town water?
If the block is "semi/rural" it will often be classified by the council as "rural lifestyle" and there will be restrictions on things like siting the septic tank
There may already be easements for power distribution as the council may have forseen the "problem" and decided that they don't want electrical wires and transformers everywhere, so the first builder, often the "developer" is responsible for the transformer and connection to the HV supply, hence teh location close to the boundary.


ian

[bfx]

[quote=Scooterscum;535713]Gidday.
The guy from Country Energy said in relation to purchasing an easment from the neighbours "that it's normally not a problem, it's just something your lawyers and their lawyers sort out"

Simon,

The guy from Country Energy is having a lend.
Powercorp told us the same thing. We later found out that the easement rights they require are so imposing that the land owner becomes a second class citizen for the area subject to the easement. I was also warned by one of the third party installers of power lines (a contractor to Powercorp) that allowing the lawyers to work out the details almost invariably results in nothing happening. ie The requirements are too onerous for a lawyer acting on behalf of the grantor to agree without strict instructions from the land owner.

In short, work it out with the neighbour before you instruct the lawyers and don't trust the power supplier to put it together for you.

(Unfortunately we couldn't work it out so the money went into a solar power system.)

Bill

[Scooterscum]

Thanks for all the help guys. All the comments pretty much confirm what I was suspecting.
The only easement currently on our property is along the front boundry for future use in case of transmission lines, sewage etc. (there is already Telecom cable running along this easement.)
The transformer on the neighbour's property is of a size capable of running up to three households (according to the technical assistant guy from Country Energy)
The property is classified as rural but marked on the paperwork is that all constructions must be council approved. (council say no problems to build on the block)
I'm going to re-contact country energy and the council today and try and get a bit more info. I'm also going to do a bit more research on solar power so expect a new thread with lots more questions soon
Thanks again for all your help
Regards Simon

[Scooterscum]

Just a follow up - the realestate rang to say the owners have accepted an offer from someone else for the block. Ah well!!
Thanks for all the info though, we shall be able to apply it to the next block we look at
Regards Simon