If you intend to build over an easement, you must first obtain consent from any service authorities who have rights to your easement and then obtain a building permit for the project.
If you intend to build over an easement, you must first obtain consent from any service authorities who have rights to your easement and then obtain a building permit for the project.
An easement is an area of land, or part of an allotment, reserved by law for a specific purpose, which may include:
Check your Land Title to find out if you have an easement, and if so you need to find out which services the easement contains.
If you do not have a copy of your Title, contact the Land titles Office.
To find out the location of any drainage pipes, request property information report.
For sewerage pipe information, you must contact Yarra Valley Water.
Even if you own the land where an easement is located, the authorities who maintain the services it contains have the right to control how that land may be used.
You are restricted in:
The relevant service authorities can also excavate the easement if they need to work on their pipe or assets.
We discourage building over easements because a service authority has the right to gain access to the easement for maintenance or replacement of the service.
However, there are some cases where you may be permitted to build over an easement as outlined below and subject to strict conditions.
If you propose to build over an easement, and Yarra Valley Water is the service authority, you must first apply to them for a permit.
Where easements exist for other services (for example gas, telecommunications, electricity), you must first get written consent from each of the relevant service authorities before we can give our consent.
After you gain approval, you must then apply to our Building Services Department for a Report and consent to build over an easement.
Generally the only types of buildings that we permit to be constructed over an easement containing drainage assets are:
Prior to lodging your application, please ensure you have all the required documentation including:
Once you have these documents, please click on the link below to lodge your application.
Request to build over easement.
We will only approve your application to build over an easement if it meets the following guidelines: