Easements and Angle of Repose: What Are They and Why Do You Need to Know?
When you buy a block of land, there are technical terms like easements, resting angle Y Influence zone that professionals in the construction industry understand well. You may be inclined to leave these complexities to the engineers, carriers, and your builder, but this is a mistake. When you educate yourself on the basic factors that affect a block, it puts you in a much stronger position with potential vendors and builders, as well as helping you determine your options. You need to know where the easements are on your own block and neighboring blocks to determine where you can build.
What exactly is an Easement? An Easement is an area where services are provided on the ground. Everyone needs access to stormwater and sewage. These are gravity fed, so the sewer and stormwater are parallel. Because service lines are large diameter pipes, they are buried deep in the ground.
The angle of repose is a term used in Geology. Describes the effect of surface disturbance through the soil. Raised soil will slump at approximately 45 degrees, although this varies with different types of soil.
The Area of Influence It is the area that has been affected by removal of the soil, when placing the services.
Why do you need to know? If a service pipe is buried two meters into the ground and the center of the pipe is 1.5 meters from the boundary, the foundation must pass through the area of influence. It has to go under the angle of repose. Otherwise, the weight of the house or garage pushing down on the removed soil could dislodge the pipe and also compromise the structural integrity of the building. The foundations start at the angle of repose. This greatly affects excavation costs and concrete costs for foundations and/or retaining walls.
Not all blocks will have easements, but there is often a rear easement. Blocks are usually located next to each other, so easements will often run along the back of a property. This will generally not cause any problems with the build.
Beware of lateral boundary easements. The blocks are usually rectangular, narrow and long, so the impact can be much higher with a lateral ease. A large pipe, buried in a deep hole, creates an exclusion zone of at least 2-3 meters. The exclusion zone may be more than easement! Even if you have a block of land that has no facilitysbut your neighbor yes, IT CAN AFFECT YOU!
Set how deep services are buried. Buyers often think that when they shop on a flat area rather than a steep or incline block, site costs will be lower. However, on flat land the services can be buried 4 ½ to 5 meters deep and can be one meter in diameter. Suddenly, the area of influence is huge.
When you’re looking to buy a block, and preferably before you put any money down, get a copy of the Plan of Subdivision (POS). This will be contained in Section 32, or Supplier Declaration of the Land Contract. This document must contain all known information about that land. It will include a copy of the Engineering Plan, which will show the location of the accesses and everything that is known about the location and depth of the services (easements). Whether you are thinking of buying a block of land or have already done so, have it at hand.
Familiarize yourself with the essential information. The convention for describing a block of land is to imagine that you are standing on the main street facing the block. Draw a diagram of the block: the width of the front, the width of the back boundary, and the length of each side. Draw the easements and consider what this means for where you can build.
Does a potential lot suit your needs? Will you be able to negotiate better terms? What will be the impact on the design of your home? Now that you have a basic understanding of the terms: comfort, Angle of reposeY Influence zoneyou will be in a much stronger position to answer these questions.