Low Level Property

Has anyone's property been considered a "low level property" by their council and required easement drainage before new house could be built? on average how much did this cost? and was it a complex process? Did it stall the DA approval/build? We are currently waiting on council assessment of our property in Carlton NSW. We are building with Wisdom Homes.

Hi Hammyhamster,

Our house was low level too and we didn't have an easement. We had to contact our neighbours and request connection to their easement. They signed letters refusing access so we had to install absorption pits and a lot of rainwater tanks. I think it added about 20K extra to the build. Yes it did stall our build as our first DA was rejected due to the drainage not complying so we had to resubmit with new hydraulic plans

You'll probably also have to alter your land title to show the easement or any other drainage method.

Here's some reading for you.

http://www.stormwater.net.au/Low_Level_Properties.htm
http://www.kogarah.nsw.gov.au/resources ... ote_11.pdf

We are low level too with no easement.

Currently trying to contact neighbours to discuss the issue and find out if they are willing to allow an easement. Hammyhamster, how far are you into the process?

micks_k, thanks for that info. Was that 20k for rainwater tanks and absorption pits?
How big was your tank and how many pits did you have to dig? Did you get your builder to do it or organise it yourself prior to the build?

Hi Skayne,

I just had a look through the variations and the extra expense was closer to 30K than 20K.
The standard tender came with a 3,000L rainwater tank but council requested 10,000L so that was a variation. Also the extra plumbing, pits and the 6x 7lm absorption trenches. Luckily we didn't need OSD though.
The builders engineer created the hydraulic plan (extra expense) and the builder constructed it all. They probably ripped me off a little but what can you do.

In the end it probably would have been easier and cheaper to connect up to the neighbours easement.

Which council are you with. What stage are you up to?

Mick

Hi Mick,
We are building in Sutherland and at the tender acceptance stage.

Did the council limit your % of roofspace driveway to land area as a result of no easement?

We are wondering what the cost might be to create an easement...

I'm thinking there are legal fees , excavating, plumbing, finishing off and the compensation to the neighbour ... I suppose it would vary quite a bit on the last factor.

We have been limited to 35% of total area for hard surfaces. Luckily our yard is pretty big. Do you know what Sutherland % is?

Regarding costs.
You'll probably need to pay legal fees either way. We had to place a positive covenant on our title for the stormwater plan
In our case I would think we had a lot more excavation/plumbing for the 6 trenches than if we connected to neighbour. We also had to fork out more for extra water tanks that we wouldn't have needed if we connected to a neighbour.

Do you know were the easement is on your neighbours block. It may just be close to the rear fence line and easy to connect up to?

I think they require stormwater measures for >35%. Our current plans are about 50% site coverage and I think the maximum allowable is 55%. Checked out your blogspot.. great yard!

I spoke to my conveyancer and she said that compensation for the neighbour may be "buying" their land off them however it remains on their title as an easement for stormwater. I'm sure that's open to negotiation but if you consider a 1m wide easement for say 30m to the street, that's about 30sqm. At the going rate for land value in Sutherland that could be 25k.

If you offered 10k and then had to pay for both yours and their legals that could be another 3k and then the work ~5k. I suppose that may end up being closer to 20k?

I know that the neighbour has a stormwater pipe from their downpipe which runs to the street along their side boundary but I wonder if we connected to it, it would overload and therefore council would require that we install new pipes anyway?