What Is a Drainage Easement?

A drainage easement is a legal right that allows a drain or sewer to cross land owned by someone else. It gives the drain owner the right to access the pipe for maintenance and repair, even though it runs through another person's property. Understanding drainage easements is important when buying property, planning building work, or resolving drainage disputes with neighbours.

What to Look For

• Drainage easements may be registered on the property title deeds
• They grant right of access for maintenance and repair
• You cannot build over or obstruct a drain covered by an easement
• Easements 'run with the land' — they survive when ownership changes
• They can be created by deed, prescription (long use), or necessity
• Water company adopted drains have statutory easement rights

How We Diagnose the Problem

We can help identify whether drainage easements exist on your property through a combination of CCTV surveys, drain tracing, and review of property deeds and water company records. This is particularly important before purchasing property or planning development.

How We Fix It

If an easement exists, you must maintain access to the drain and cannot build over it without the easement holder's consent. We provide drainage plans that clearly show easement routes, helping architects and developers plan around these constraints.