easments/covenants on title register

[jaspercarrot]

i have a copy of neighbours title register which reads: MATTERS EXCEPTED AND RESERVED
the free and uninterupted passage of water surface, water drainage, soil, gas, electricity and other services from the nearby land in and through the sewers drains wires cables pipes channels and watercourses made or to be made within 99 years from the date hereof in or under the property and the right to make and maintain connections such as sewers drains wires pipes channels and watercourses or any of them for the purpose of exercising the said rights SUBJECT to the vendor his lessees and assigns and others doing as little damage as possible in the exercise of such rights and making good any damage caused to the property.

i am building a new house on my land which is accessed by a lane owned by neighbour i have row and i am the dominant tenament my neighbour is the serviant tenament. the extract above is i think an easment/covenant allowing me to put utilities through neighbours land. please could anyone advise if this is correct. thanks
.

[themas]

I assume the "nearby land" referred to is the land on which you wish to build. If so, this seems to be a quite straightforward easement giving you the rights set out.

However, if your neighbour does not agree it would be best to get it confirmed by a solicitor and have a solicitor's letter sent to the neighbour.

[jaspercarrot]

yes the nearby land is where i am going to build. my neighbour will do anything he can to stop me but i was just going to let my contractors do the work and have title register at hand in case he decides to get solicitors involved i didnt want to employ a solicitor myself because my previous encounters with solicitors havent achieved anything. if i have an easement to do such connections it should be up to neighbour to prove different or abide by the law and let me do the work.

[cassa333]

I think I have been reading this on garden law?

[themas]

jasper. I can understand your approach, but it does carry some risk. I assume you are not a lawyer, and I am not. We both think this looks like a straightforward easement, but so far as I am concerned there may be other things in the documentation which I am not aware of which can be interpreted to put a different complexion on it.

If I was in your shoes, I would want to have it confirmed by a solicitor

[Eve]

Two things I'd want to know would be the date of the "date hereof", ie is the 99 years still existing.

Do you only need to make connection to existing pipes etc... under the land or put new pipes etc... under it?

I'd also want confirmation of who has the benefit of the reservation of easement to make sure whether it's you or not.

Without seeing all the documents and checking out some other issues I'd not want to comment at this stage.

I'd also want to know what you intend doing with the land and, if you need planning, what conditions they may put on.

You might find this interesting...

http://www.practicalconveyancing.co.uk/content /view/10129/1116/

Was there ever anything on the land before and anything which has required any form of water, drainage etc...

Have you spoken to the relevant utility providers about the practical issues relating to connection?

[jaspercarrot]

thanks for all your answers, i would think but am not sure that the date hereof is when the land was registered and that would be ten years ago.
i will be running new pipes from my land down through neighbours land (through row track) then connect to existing sewer on access lane.
i have had full planning permission and water board/ sewer department approved such connections.
on the site where i am going to build used to be a working site 100 years or more ago but i dont know if there would have been sewer pipes there then.
utility suppliers agreed connections providing that i got easments over neighbours land which it states on my deeds and neighbours title that i can connect or make new connections to all utilities.

[Eve]

The date hereof would be the date of the document the easement was contained in which may be the same as but would not necessarily be the date of registration - the title register should give the date of the document.

I'd want to look at the document to see how the nearby land is defined, it at all, to make sure you know exactly which part of what land is relevant.

It's difficult to give any answer having only seen one buit of one title as there may be other issues in the title or in the documentation themselves.

I'd recommend getting copies of all relevant documents if feasible and getting some professional advice, try CAB to see if they have any property people there or a local free legal surgery initially if you don't want to pay (one thing I would say though is you do get what you pay for to a certain extent).

If it turns out that you can do what you want then try to come to some kind of amicable arrangement about the works and be reasonable as to things like noise and timing as the last thing you want to start is some kind of neighbourly dispute.

[jaspercarrot]

the conveyance was dated 40 years ago that was when i purchased the land. so it looks promising for me. i will seek professional advise when necessary. thans for all your advice.