TAS Right of Way not on Title

[sheree2023]

I bought a tiny lot (241 sq m circle) in a strata title development and a dirt access track crossed the side boundary. I reluctantly agreed in the contract that ‘a right of way is being registered’ and I agree to ‘buy the lot with the ROW’. I reluctantly agreed as I was told it was a tiny edge and later could be changed ..
(The lots are circular and I was told processes were happening to ‘square them up’ where I could then change the lot shape and move my boundary off the track).

However…. The ROW was never registered and it is not noted on my Title, and no unregistered dealings or other notations are noted.

Do I still have to accept the ROW? I want the access track (or my lot) to be moved as it is actually impacting significantly on my lot. In addition the developer wants to concrete it and has created a parking hub below it.

Does the statement in the contract commit me to the ROW, being as it actually was not being registered. The track is actually in a different place to the development plans too and not seen in site plans.

 

[sheree2023]

Plus .. the process to ‘square up’ is not simple, and i’ve now been told my edge would have to stay in the access track

 

[Tim W]

Is there another way onto the other lots than through/ across your land?

 

[sheree2023]

Is there another way onto the other lots than through/ across your land?

Yes, it could be altered. The track was meant to be in a different location and could still be made there, or the track could be made to veer around my lot.

 

[sheree2023]

Or they can actually move my lot away from it. As they have dine with the lot in the ipposite side

 

[Tim W]

To us mainlanders, property law in Tasmania sometimes looks dark and complex,
and full of traps for the naive lay person.
So, don't feel bad about feeling confused and maybe a bit overwhelmed.

First, have a read of this.

Second, it can help to understand that you are not always and automatically required
to provide adjacent landholders, who otherwise have reasonable access to their land,
with a (so to speak) "extra back gate of additional convenience".
(for example, you may not always and automatically be compelled to provide access for a developer's heavy plant, or even tradies utes,
just because it's convenient... for them)

 

[sheree2023]

Thank you. My specific issue I need to clarify is … do I have to be held to the agreement in the contract I signed that ‘.. a Right of Way is being registered’ (with diagram attached of the area’ and I ‘agree to buy the lot with the Right of Way’?

The Right of Way did not get registered by the vendor, and it is not recorded on my Title. But they say I am still held to it as I agreed to it prior to the sale? My thinking is it was not a true statement, the ROW was not being registered.

 

[Tim W]

Hard to say without seeing the document itself (no, don't post it here).

That said, going only by what you have said here,
missing facts missing and with all the
unstated ifs, buts, maybes, unlesses, and exceptions not allowed for,
I don't see a court holding up a contract term that boils down to something like

"...we'll register it one of these days, at some unspecified future time.
And in the meantime, you have to allow easy access across your land
for my trucks and dozers, even though, yes, they could get in another way..."

 

[sheree2023]

Thank you! You have precisely summarised my thoughts about it, I feel prepared now to tell them to stop using my land .. and get a solicitor if I have to

 

[Tim W]

Thank you! You have precisely summarised my thoughts about it, I feel prepared now to tell them to stop using my land .. and get a solicitor if I have to

Oh yes, you'll certainly need a solicitor for this one.

In the meantime, consider exercising your some of your ordinary rights as a landholder.
Such as by parking your car(s) wherever on your land you like, or by putting piles of garden soil or mulch
in places you will find convenient for later gardening.
Maybe, plant some trees (with those little shelter structures around them)

The key thing to remember is that you don't get to block their only way in and out.