Lean to on an easement

[Shannon Nash]

Gudday,

I have a 2.5m gap behind my shed that is an easement. It is extremely unlikely that anyone will need to acess it as the area is completely built in around me.

I would like to put a lean-to at the back (carport syle) for storing building materials outdoor tools etc.

Questions?
If they need to access the sight it would be dead easy to move. But will I/can I be fined for putting a temp structure over it? Whether or not the council wants to access it? if they were to find out/be told by a neighbour?

Would appreciate opinions.

Thanks
SN

[dazzler]

Hi shannon

I had a similar carport off the side of my place over an easement. What I did is hinge it off the side of the house and it could lay against the house if it ever needed to be "gone". I had posts concreted in the ground that bolted onto the side of it to support it.

Never had to take it down but would have loved to have said to a council inspector

"damn, those pesky kids stuffin around with me wall cover, here, Ill pull it down "

go on live on the edge

[ChasingRainbows]

Assuming this is an easment for sewage contact your water authority, ie Western water, South east water etc and they will issue you a permit to construct on the easement, western Water charge about $60, so long as you check with your local council that you are not breaching any covenants or caveats then all will be good. Doesn't hurt to ask, and the permit from the Water people makes it all cool.

[dazzler]

Hey Hippy

Enough making sense

[echnidna]

if its a timber rack build it on skids
- say treated pine fence posts laying down.
then it is relocatable if they ever need to open the easement

[Sturdee]

Would appreciate opinions.

Easements on land are created for a specific purpose. They give right of access to others depending on the type of easement. Sometimes they are easement of access to other people others are drainage, water or sewerage easements.

Whilst you are allowed to maintain and landscape it you are not allowed to put any structure over it without approval of the easement holder(s). So you would have to look at your title searches to see what type of easement it is and then obtain a permit from them.

Normally if a permit is granted a condition will be that when they need access they will remove at your expense whatever you have built and not make good afterwards.

That others around you have built over it is probably with a permit.

Having said that I would build a tempory storage area in such a way that it is easily removed if needed.


Peter.

[Buzza]

Here in South Australia, I have a yard full of "manhole covers" and smaller covers as well. The backyard has them in the corners and they come out about twelve feet from the back fence. We cemented under the clothes line as we were sick of the red mud in winter and dust in the summer.

"The Men" do turn up now and then to look down into the covers then leave again. However, when we cemented, we put a square cement frame and lid over a smaller cover. The people at the water company praised us for that. Since then, I've thought I would cover the larger man sized ones with a timber lid if it were to be inside a leanto for instance. Don't bother to ask them, as it may cost you. That way, if they do turn up for a squizz, they can simply access it through the lid.

Buzza.

[ausdesign]

In Vic. if under 10m2, more than 1 met. from the boundary & less than 3 met. high (max 2.4 high if within 1 met.) you won't need a building permit.
If building over an easement you require permission from the relevant authority & possibly a planning permit.
If it is connected to the house (via other sheds) then if building within 1 met. of the boundary it may need to be fire rated.
Insurance wise I'd make discreet inquiries with the local council first.

[Buzza]

That's good advice Peter. Both my neighbour and myself have approached our council at seperate times, and met with a blank. They know there is an easement, but nothing else. To get it right, one has to approach the water company to get a a diagram from them for a price. My wife and I were lucky enough to get a couple of great blokes that gave them to us free.

The upshot of it was, nothing got built at all.

Buzza

[Shannon Nash]

Is the easment a strip of land or is it the cement block with the manhole in it?

Shannon

[Sturdee]

The dimensions of an easement is shown on you title and is normally a 3 metre strip entering on one boundary and leaving on another boundary and not just the manhole cover. Normally it is at the back or side of the property but it can run any way depending on how it was created.

I know of one block which was not very wide but fairly deep where the easement run right through the centre and divided it in two long halves, each not wide enough to build on. Went past it a while ago and for the last 20 years it has remained vacant land.

Peter.