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Selling a Brisbane Property With Utility Easements: Energex, Urban Utilities and Telecoms

A registered utility easement is not a problem in itself. It is a fact of the title, and Brisbane buyers price it according to two things: how much of the lot it affects and how clearly the seller can explain it. Vendors get into trouble when they hope it will not come up, not when they walk a buyer through it on day one.

Walk through any street in Camp Hill, Coorparoo, Norman Park or Bulimba and you can see the residue of Brisbane's twentieth-century infrastructure decisions running underneath the houses. Sewer trunk mains laid in the 1930s. Stormwater outfalls feeding the creeks. Energex overhead conductors strung above the fence line. Telstra copper and NBN fibre stitched into the verge. Most of those services sit on registered easements over private lots, and those easements come with the property when it is sold.

A utility easement is not, by itself, a reason to expect a difficult sale. Plenty of inner-east properties sell strongly with easements on title. The difference between a clean sale and a messy one is almost always how the seller has prepared. Vendors who know exactly which easements they have, what each authority allows on top of them, and what the practical implications are for a buyer's renovation plans, sell into a confident audience. Vendors who let the easement surface for the first time when the buyer's solicitor calls with the title search, lose negotiating leverage immediately.

This article walks through the three categories of utility easement that show up on Brisbane residential titles, what each one actually restricts, how buyers and their solicitors think about them, the disclosure rules under the Property Law Act 2023, and the campaign playbook for selling well when one sits on your lot.

What a utility easement actually is

An easement is a registered legal right for someone other than the owner to use a defined strip of the land for a specific purpose. The strip is described on a registered survey plan, recorded on the title, and runs with the land in perpetuity unless formally surrendered. The land remains the owner's property. The owner keeps paying the rates on it, mows it, and pays the insurance premium on the full lot. What changes is that the owner cannot use that strip in any way that interferes with the authority's right to keep its infrastructure there and access it for maintenance.

Utility easements differ from private easements such as a shared driveway or right-of-way in two important ways. First, the beneficiary is a service authority rather than another landholder, so there is no neighbourly negotiation available about how the easement is used. Second, the conditions attached to the easement are generally non-negotiable and uniform across the authority's network. Energex applies the same conditions to a high-voltage easement in Coorparoo as it does in Cleveland.

On a Brisbane residential title, the three utility easement categories that account for the overwhelming majority of cases are sewer and stormwater easements held by Urban Utilities or Brisbane City Council, electricity easements held by Energex, and telecommunications easements held by Telstra, NBN Co or other licensed carriers. We will take them in turn.

Urban Utilities sewer and water main easements

Urban Utilities is the statutory authority responsible for water and sewer reticulation across most of south-east Queensland. Brisbane City Council retains responsibility for stormwater drainage, which is a separate easement category often confused with sewer. Both show up on inner-east titles, often on the same lot.

The most common Urban Utilities easement on a Brisbane residential lot is a sewer main easement, typically two to three metres wide, running along a rear or side boundary and following the natural fall of the land. Older inner-east suburbs were sewered between the 1920s and 1950s, which is why so many Camp Hill, Coorparoo and Carindale properties have a sewer easement bisecting the rear yard rather than running cleanly along the boundary. The pipe sits below ground, usually at depths between one and three metres, and the easement strip protects the authority's right to dig down to it for repair, replacement or upgrade work.

What sewer easements restrict on a residential lot is straightforward. Urban Utilities does not allow permanent habitable structures to be built over its mains. The standard rule is no permanent structure within the easement strip without a build-over approval. Build-over approvals exist for non-habitable structures such as decks, pergolas, sheds, carports, swimming pools and paving, but they are granted only when the proposed structure does not impede access for maintenance and when the owner accepts that Urban Utilities can lawfully demolish the structure to access the main and is not liable to reinstate it. Habitable extensions, new dwellings and significant additions are rarely approved.

For a seller, the implications run in two directions. First, anything already built over the easement needs to be checked. Sellers regularly discover at the listing stage that a deck the previous owner added in 2003, or a granny flat from the 1970s, sits partly over a sewer easement without an approval. The right move is to engage a solicitor early to advise on the disclosure language and, where appropriate, lodge a retrospective build-over approval before listing. Buyers price uncertainty far more harshly than they price a known, documented build-over with the relevant approval letters on file. Second, future renovation potential is constrained by the easement. A buyer planning a rear extension on a Carina house will treat a sewer easement running through the proposed footprint very differently from one tucked along the boundary. The marketing copy should be honest about which it is.

Stormwater drainage easements held by Brisbane City Council follow a similar logic but with stricter rules. Council generally does not grant build-over approvals for stormwater drainage easements at all, particularly on stormwater pipes carrying creek catchment flow. The reasoning is that stormwater failures during a flood event produce far more severe consequences than sewer failures. A property with a council stormwater easement running through the rear yard has a permanent constraint on the buildable area, and that constraint should be visible in the campaign material rather than hidden.

Energex electricity easements

Energex easements come in two forms that affect Brisbane residential lots in very different ways: overhead high-voltage easements and underground cable easements. A small number of properties also adjoin or contain a substation easement, which is its own conversation.

Overhead high-voltage easements are the more visually obvious. Where 33kV, 110kV or 275kV transmission lines cross over private land, Energex holds an easement strip beneath the conductors. The strip is usually ten to forty metres wide depending on the voltage. Within the strip, structures with high points (multi-storey extensions, large trees, tall sheds, raised decks, even certain roof shapes) are restricted because they cannot encroach on the statutory clearance zone beneath the conductors. The easement conditions also restrict the planting of any tree expected to grow above a defined height at maturity, and grant Energex the right to enter and trim vegetation. On inner-east Brisbane lots, full transmission easements are uncommon, but there are pockets in Carina, Carindale and the Bulimba Creek corridor where they appear, particularly on larger lots and acreage holdings.

Far more common across Brisbane is the lower-voltage distribution feeder, the 11kV overhead lines running along the front boundary of most older streets. These are usually contained within the road reserve rather than on private land, but a small number of inner-east lots have a registered easement for a pole guy stay, a transformer pad, or a short cross-lot 11kV feed serving a neighbouring property. These are minor encumbrances but still appear on title and still must be disclosed.

Underground Energex easements are growing in number as the network is progressively reinforced and as new subdivisions go in with underground reticulation. On older lots, an underground easement most often represents a feeder cable that crosses the lot to serve a neighbour or a more remote section of the network. The strip is narrower than for overhead, typically two to three metres, but the restrictions are similar to a sewer easement: no permanent structures, no deep excavation, no major tree planting within the strip. The practical impact on a Brisbane lot depends on where it runs. A two-metre underground cable easement tucked behind a back fence is largely invisible to a buyer's planning. The same easement bisecting the proposed pool location is a different story.

For all Energex easements, the seller's preparation has three components. Get the registered easement plan from the title office so the exact strip is documented, not described from memory. Confirm with Energex (via a service connection enquiry or a request through the relevant carrier portal) whether there are any active works planned that might involve the easement. And note any structures, paving or vegetation currently over the strip that may need to be flagged in the disclosure documentation. Vendors who walk into a contract with a complete easement file rarely have the contract challenged on this ground. Vendors who discover the easement when the buyer's solicitor raises it post-contract, lose time and bargaining power.

Telecommunications easements

Telecommunications easements are the most commonly overlooked of the three categories, partly because they often sit on existing services that no one notices and partly because they show up in slightly different forms on title.

Where a licensed telecommunications carrier (Telstra, NBN Co, Optus, TPG or a smaller infrastructure operator) runs cabling across private land outside the road reserve, a registered easement is normally required. The most common scenario on Brisbane lots is a copper or fibre feed crossing the rear or side of a lot to serve neighbouring properties, or a pit and conduit within a corner cut-off. The strip is narrow, usually a metre or less, and the restrictions are correspondingly light. Permanent structures over the cable are not permitted without carrier consent, but the surface remains available for lawn, garden, paving and removable features.

Carriers also have legislative powers under the Telecommunications Act 1997 to install infrastructure on private land without a registered easement under certain conditions, particularly for low-impact facilities. The presence of a pit lid, a junction box or a buried cable on a lot does not necessarily mean there is a registered easement for it. The flip side is that the absence of an obvious easement on title does not mean there is no carrier infrastructure on the lot. A Dial Before You Dig response is the practical way to map what is actually there before listing.

For a seller, telecommunications easements are usually a small line item in the disclosure rather than a price-affecting feature. They become significant when they sit in an awkward position (through the centre of a proposed pool location, or in the natural path of a planned driveway) or when the carrier has recent or planned works on the easement strip that will involve excavation during the listing period. Both of those situations are manageable when known in advance, ugly when they emerge during the contract period.

How buyers and their solicitors react

The Brisbane inner-east buyer pool is sophisticated. Most active buyers in 2026 are working with a solicitor or conveyancer who orders a title search early, often during the cooling-off period if not before signing. They are also frequently working with a buyer's agent, a builder or a draftsperson during the inspection phase, all of whom will identify easements as a planning consideration. The likelihood of an easement going unnoticed by the buyer side is low.

What does change with buyer sophistication is the price reaction. A buyer who discovers a sewer easement on day three after the inspection, with no mention in the marketing material, will read it as concealment. The reaction is rarely to walk away. The reaction is to revise the offer downward by an amount that comfortably exceeds the actual impact of the easement, on the reasonable basis that if this one thing was hidden, others may be too. A vendor who has presented the easement honestly from day one is negotiating against the easement's real impact only. The arithmetic difference between these two positions is typically larger than vendors expect.

Solicitors and conveyancers acting for buyers in Queensland will, when an easement is identified, do four things. They will obtain the registered easement plan and read the conditions. They will check the contract and Mandatory Seller Disclosure Statement against what they find at title. They will overlay the easement onto the site plan to advise the buyer about renovation feasibility. And they will raise any inconsistencies as requisitions with the seller's solicitor before settlement. If the seller's disclosure is accurate and complete, the requisitions are routine. If it is not, they become grounds for either termination or renegotiation depending on the materiality.

Disclosure obligations under the Property Law Act 2023

The Property Law Act 2023, which came into operation on 1 August 2025, codified seller disclosure obligations in Queensland through the Mandatory Seller Disclosure Statement. The statement requires a seller to disclose information about title, encumbrances, planning, infrastructure and contamination among other matters. Registered easements appear on the title search and must be included.

The disclosure obligation is not satisfied by writing "see title search" in a box. The statement should describe the easements, identify the beneficiary, and where the easement materially affects the property, the contract should disclose the relevant easement plan as an annexure. Buyers and their solicitors are entitled to receive the disclosure statement before signing and to terminate the contract within the cooling-off period if the disclosure is materially incomplete or misleading. The statutory remedy is meaningful, not theoretical: buyers who feel duped by a disclosure failure now have an unambiguous path to walk away with their deposit refunded.

For sellers, the practical implication is that the disclosure preparation must be done at the listing stage by the solicitor who will run the contract, not improvised at the offer stage. Engaging the conveyancing solicitor before going to market is a sound investment for any property with notable easements. The work involves obtaining a current title search, requesting the registered easement plans, identifying any improvements on or near the easement strips, and drafting accurate disclosure language. Two to three hours of solicitor time before listing routinely prevents two to three weeks of contract delays during settlement.

How to present a property with utility easements in the campaign

Campaign presentation for an easement-affected property splits into three layers: the public marketing material, the inspection conversation, and the documentation in the buyer's information pack.

The public marketing material does not need to spell out every easement in the headline. It does need to avoid claims that are inconsistent with the easement reality. A property with a sewer easement running through the back yard should not be marketed with "huge entertaining lawn perfect for a pool" if the easement makes the pool location problematic. A property with a transmission easement should not lead with "uninterrupted privacy" if the conductors are visible from the rear deck. Marketing that overstates and then needs to be walked back at inspection erodes trust quickly.

The inspection conversation is where most of the disclosure value is delivered. When a buyer is genuinely interested and asks about the easement, the agent who can walk them to the affected area, point out the boundary, explain what the easement allows and prohibits, and reference the build-over approvals or letters on file, anchors the conversation in fact. The buyer leaves the inspection knowing what they are bidding on. That clarity protects the price.

The documentation in the buyer's information pack should include the registered easement plans, any build-over approvals or carrier consents, the title search itself, and a short plain-English summary of what each easement means for the property. A pack of this quality is unusual in Brisbane inner-east listings and reads to a serious buyer as evidence that the seller has done their preparation properly. Sophisticated buyers value this disclosure approach and price it accordingly.

Special cases worth flagging

Recent build-over approvals. If you have lodged or received a build-over approval from Urban Utilities or Brisbane City Council in the last few years, include the approval letter and any conditions. Buyers who can see that the structure is approved on the basis of specific demolition-on-access conditions are far more comfortable than buyers who have to guess.

Easements created under the New Brisbane City Plan. Some inner-east lots have had new easements registered as part of road widening, drainage upgrades or other infrastructure works in the 2010s and 2020s. These are sometimes recent enough that the owner remembers the project but may not have a copy of the registered plan. The title search will surface them and the registered plan can be ordered through the titles registry. Do not rely on memory.

Easements in gross. A utility easement registered as an easement in gross (in favour of an authority rather than appurtenant to neighbouring land) is the standard form for utility services. It is distinct from a private easement in gross such as a right of carriageway. The two are treated differently by buyers and their solicitors and should be described separately in the disclosure.

Surrendered or extinguished easements. Occasionally a previously registered easement has been formally surrendered, for example where a sewer main has been relocated and the old easement extinguished. The title search will not show extinguished easements but historic searches or plan annotations sometimes still reference them. If you know an easement was extinguished, have your solicitor confirm the extinguishment is registered and the title is clean.

Acreage holdings with multiple easement types. Larger inner-east holdings in Burbank, Chandler and Mackenzie may have several utility easements crossing the same lot, plus access easements and watercourse easements. Each one should be identified, mapped and disclosed individually rather than bundled into a single line item. A site plan with all easements overlaid is enormously valuable in these cases.

A pre-listing easement checklist

By the time the campaign goes live, the following should be in your solicitor's file and ready for the buyer's information pack.

A current title search dated within the last week showing all registered easements. The registered easement plans for each easement, ordered from the titles registry. The Dial Before You Dig response for the property, which maps actual cable, pipe and conduit locations on the lot. Any build-over approvals, carrier consents or authority letters relating to existing structures on or near easements. A site plan or identification survey with easements overlaid (a recent survey by a registered surveyor, or a draftsperson's overlay of the easement plans onto the existing site plan). A short plain-English summary of each easement and its practical effect on the property. Notes from the solicitor on disclosure language for the Mandatory Seller Disclosure Statement. Where appropriate, a quote or written opinion on whether the most likely buyer use cases (extension, pool, granny flat) are feasible given the easement constraints.

This is not an excessive list. Solicitors in Queensland handle this material routinely. The investment of time and a few hundred dollars in solicitor fees and search costs at the listing stage is the single most reliable way to protect the sale price on a property with utility easements. The vendors who skip this preparation and discover the easements at the contract requisition stage are the same vendors who later wonder why the buyer dropped the offer by twenty thousand dollars in the last week before settlement. The answer is almost always that the buyer felt the disclosure was incomplete and priced the uncertainty rather than the easement.

Utility easements are a normal feature of Brisbane property. Most buyers will accept them on a clear-eyed basis when the seller has done the homework. The work is straightforward when started early. The cost of leaving it late is paid in price.