We've purchased a 'house and land' package where we've already signed the land contract and are now doing the building contract.

We now find out that there is a sewerage line at the back of our land (which the developer failed to tell myself and the builder). Now, we cannot fit the house we wanted on the land and the developers will not allow us to move the house forward (they have 6m setback rule).

As it is a narrow block, its been difficult to find anything that would fit on it and also be a reasonable size. Does anyone have any ideas as to what we can do? Are we able to get out of the land contract? It was only subject to finance and soil test (which came back ok).

So is it a sewer easement or stormwater easment as such?

I would have thought this should have been disclosed prior to signing the contract?

They told the builder it was a sewer easement but never said anything to us.

When we did the contours, it was a sewer line. Sorry am a newbie so don't know what the difference is.

What does it show on your block plan? If its an easment it must be shown on your lot plan?

We didn't get any plans from the developer. But the ones that the builder initially sent me didn't have it on there. Now i'm kicking myself for not paying more attention.

If it isn't on your land contract then you should be able to get out of it.. Our 2m easement at the back of our block was clearly shown in our contract.

So the developer didn't have any lot plans available on signing the contract? Sounds strange... Normally then would have full block plans available for viewing showing dimesnions and details of the lot...

Thanks for the advice. I'll ring our solicitors tomorrow to double check all the paperwork just in case there's something i missed.

when our solicitor did the checks they sent me some paperwork to sign to confirm i acknowledge that there is a drainage easement at the back of my land and that i know im unable to build on it, did you engage your solicitor before signing the contracts?

we got our solicitor after signing the land contract. in saying that solicitor did charge us for title, plan, rates, company and land tax search but we haven't seen any of these..

The solicitor did come recommended by the developers so maybe i shouldn't be suprised.[/code]

Did the developer sign the declariation that they have no affiliation with the solicitor?

I'd be chasing the solicitor done, and really hunting them over the easement...

Aside from all these easement issues, a house/land package normally works that you sign the land contract, and probably pay a deposit at that point, but this is subject to "the purchaser entering into a binding building contract with ***** (builder) on or before **** date".

This was certainly how ours worked and my understanding was that this is standard with house/land packages - protects both parties; as you sign your land contract before actually finalising house plan (if you have any flexibility in that), variations, costing etc, therefore if you decide to not sign the building contract for any reason, the land simply reverts back to the vendor, and you get your deposit back. (minus minor charges like land title searches etc)
Like wise it protects the vendor - you cannot own the land outright and then decide to build with another builder or sell the land to another party.

That's exactly what I thought as it was advertised as a house and land
package. Although our land contract did not say subject to house with x builder etc etc. I will be doing some ringing around tomorrow to see what the solicitor and developers say.

Our builders have suggested a different house altogether that they could slightly adjust to make it fit on our land (its not as long as the original house we chose). But its annoying as its not what we had planned.

I don't know where you're located, and real estate laws can differ a bit from state to state, but in Vic when you purchase a property, you have to be given a Vendor's Statement (also called a Section 32 statement). This details all easements, mortagages, covenants and any other encumbrances on the land concerned.

If you weren't given a copy, you can probably get out of the contract. That seems unlikely if a licenced real estate agent handled the sale. If you were given a copy, and you failed to read it, you most likely don't have a leg to stand on. Ours is 88 pages long and contains all diagrams relating to the proposed plan of subdivision, including engineering diagrams, info re creation of easements, the detailed developer's design guidelines for the estate, water, power and local council certificates and info and something from the State Revenue Office about land tax.

Our contract of sale references easements by saying something like "as detailed in attached proposed plan of subdivision no XXXX". The sewer easement on our block is clearly marked on the diagram as E-6, which is then referenced as a sewer easement controlled by the local water authority on a separate page.

It can be complicated, but you always need to read all the fine print on legal documents. I hope you can get it sorted out so you get to build the home you wanted.

Have you actually had finance approved yet? If not you can get the bank to refuse finance on that block. They can certainly value it down due to the easement and not fitting your house.

Dale.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I spoke to our solicitor today and he said that as finance isn't approved, we can pull out saying finance wasn't approved and we don't even have to approach the bank to get formally knocked back. So that is a relief...

Has anyone had a sewerage easement on their property? has there been any dramas?

Good to hear that you can get out of it

Yup. Had one at the old place which we lived in for 22 years, and we have one on our new block too. We've never had any problems - you can't build anything too permanent over the easement, but you can get permission for paving and pergolas and so on, even sheds, on the understanding that if the water authority needs to access the sewer, they'll be pulling it down/digging it up.

It never bothered us - the old block was quite big and the house was small, so we had no need to build on the 3m at the back of the block. We did lay a slab and put up a small colorbond shed, and we planted trees and shrubs too, all the usual garden stuff.

The current easement is 2m wide and we'll be building a small pergola over it and laying pavers. We'll have to get a permit for the pergola, because of the easement, but that's no big deal.