The 6 easement types you will find on Australian titles, and what each one prevents
Drainage. Sewerage. Electrical. Right-of-carriageway. Right-of-support. Right of way. Each one stops a different kind of build.
An easement is a recorded right that allows someone other than the owner to use part of a property for a specific purpose. Most Australian titles carry at least one easement. Many carry several. Each easement type has different implications for what you can build, what you can fence, and what happens when the easement-holder needs access.
This post unpacks the six types you will encounter most often, what each one prevents, and how to read the spatial impact from the title.
1. Easement for drainage of water
The most common easement type on Australian titles. Created when council needs to convey stormwater across private land, typically from upstream lots to a public drain.
What it allows the easement-holder: maintain, repair, replace and access the drainage pipe within the easement strip.
What it prevents the property owner: any permanent structure over the easement. No house, no granny flat, no shed (in most cases), no swimming pool, no permanent landscaping. Soft landscaping (grass, garden beds, removable planters) is usually fine.
Typical width: 1.5 to 3 metres, running along a property boundary or sometimes diagonally across the lot.
Cost if you build over it inadvertently: the structure can be demolished at the owner's cost, with no compensation, if the easement-holder needs access. Insurance does not cover this.
2. Easement for sewerage
Similar to drainage but for sewer mains. Often runs along the rear or side boundary of a lot, sometimes through the middle if the lot was created with an existing sewer line.
What it allows the easement-holder: maintain and access the sewer pipe.
What it prevents the owner: same restrictions as drainage. No permanent structures. Particularly important if you are planning a basement or excavation, which can damage the pipe even if you are not building "over" it.
Typical width: 2 to 3 metres.
Caution: Sydney Water has a build-over-sewer process that allows construction over a sewer pipe under specific engineering conditions (e.g. reinforced slab, accessible inspection points). The process costs $4-8k in engineering and typically 6-10 weeks. Not all sewer easements qualify.
3. Easement for electrical apparatus
Created when high-voltage power lines or underground electrical infrastructure cross private land. Most common where a transmission line crosses a residential lot, or where a substation sits adjacent to or partially on a private parcel.
What it allows the easement-holder: access for maintenance, vegetation clearance under power lines, and continued operation of the apparatus.
What it prevents the owner: structures that compromise safety or access. For overhead high-voltage lines, this means no building under or near the line. For underground cables, it means no excavation or structures over the cable route.
Typical width: variable. Overhead transmission corridors can be 20-40 metres wide. Underground cable easements are typically 3-6 metres.
Special note: properties with overhead high-voltage easements often sell at a discount of 5-15% versus comparable non-easement properties, reflecting both the spatial constraint and the perceived (and sometimes real) health-effect concerns of some buyers.
4. Right of carriageway
Allows the easement-holder to use a defined strip of land as a vehicle access route. Most common on battle-axe lots, where the rear lot has a right of carriageway over the driveway of the front lot.
What it allows the easement-holder: drive, park briefly, walk over the strip.
What it prevents the owner of the burdened lot: blocking the access, building over the strip, gating without providing keys, or otherwise interfering with use.
Typical width: 2.5 to 3.5 metres for single-car carriageway. 5-6 metres for two-way.
Cost implication: the burdened lot's value is reduced by the loss of the carriageway area (which it owns but cannot use) and the inconvenience of shared access. The benefited lot's value is enhanced by the access it grants.
5. Right of support
A less common but important easement. Provides one property the right to be supported by the adjoining property's soil, retaining wall, or building.
What it allows the easement-holder: rely on the supporting structure remaining in place.
What it prevents the owner of the burdened lot: remove the support without providing equivalent replacement. If the burdened lot wants to demolish a shared retaining wall, they need to engineer a replacement first, at their own cost.
Typical situation: row terraces and semi-detached dwellings where the shared dividing wall provides structural support to both. Also lots on steep terrain where one lot's house is partly supported by another's retaining structure.
6. Right of way
Pedestrian access easement, distinct from a carriageway (which is vehicular). Allows the easement-holder to walk across the burdened lot to reach another property or a public area.
What it allows: foot traffic on a defined path.
What it prevents the owner: blocking the path, gating it, or removing the surface.
Typical situation: pre-1950 inner-suburban lots where rear-lane access was the original built design and the rear-lane has been deeded as a right of way over private land instead of a public lane.
How to find them on the title
Three documents disclose easements:
- The certificate of title (the legal title document). Lists all easements as dealings registered against the title.
- The Section 10.7 certificate (NSW), Section 32 (VIC), or equivalent. Lists known easements as part of mandatory vendor disclosure.
- The deposited plan. Shows the spatial location of each easement on the lot.
Item 3 is the one most buyers and conveyancers underweight. The title says "easement for drainage of water". The deposited plan tells you whether that easement is along the side fence (low impact) or diagonally across the middle of the back yard (high impact). Same easement, very different practical effect.
The 4-question check before exchange
For every easement on the title:
- What type is it? Drainage, sewerage, electrical, carriageway, support, or way.
- Where on the lot does it sit? Read the deposited plan. Mark it on the same plan as your build envelope.
- What does it prevent? Cross-reference with your build plans.
- Who is the benefiting party? Council, water authority, electrical distributor, neighbour. Knowing who has the right helps you assess whether the build-over process is possible.
Easements are public information, fully disclosed, and routinely missed in casual contract reviews. Reading the easement spatially is what turns "the contract mentions an easement" into "I know where on my lot it sits and what it blocks."
