Title searches are one of those due diligence steps that buyers treat as a formality. The conveyancer orders one, it comes back with a few pages of legal text, and most buyers skim past anything that is not a mortgage. That is where expensive surprises begin.

Encumbrances registered on a title are not administrative footnotes. They are legal restrictions that travel with the land, binding every future owner regardless of what the selling agent said at the inspection. Understanding what each type means before you exchange contracts is not optional if you are planning to build, extend, or subdivide.

## What Is Registered on a Title

In Australia, land titles are managed by state registries: the NSW Land Registry Services, Land Use Victoria, Titles Queensland, and their equivalents in other states. Each title record contains the lot description, the registered proprietor, any mortgages, and a schedule of encumbrances. That schedule is where buyers need to spend time.

The main categories of encumbrances are:

- **Easements** (rights held by a third party over part of the land)
- **Restrictive covenants** (private agreements limiting how the land can be used)
- **Profit à prendre** (rights to take something from the land, such as timber or water)
- **Leases and licences** registered against the title
- **Caveats** lodged by parties claiming an interest
- **Mortgages and charges** securing debt

Each category carries different legal weight and different practical consequences for what you can do with the property.

## Easements: The Rights That Carve Up Your Block

An easement gives a third party the legal right to use a defined portion of your land for a specific purpose. The land burdened by the easement is called the servient tenement. The party benefiting is the dominant tenement, which may be a neighbouring lot, a utility authority, or the public.

### Sewer and Drainage Easements

Sewer easements are among the most common and most misunderstood. They typically run along the rear or side boundaries of residential lots, following the path of underground infrastructure owned by the water authority. In Queensland, these are registered in favour of Urban Utilities or the relevant local authority. In NSW, Sydney Water holds most metropolitan sewer easements.

The practical consequence is this: you generally cannot build a permanent structure over a sewer easement without written consent from the authority, and consent is rarely granted for habitable rooms. A 900mm easement running across the back of a 600 square metre block can eliminate the most logical position for a granny flat, a pool house, or a garage extension. The easement width on the title document may also understate the actual exclusion zone required by the authority's standard conditions.

Drainage easements work similarly. They protect stormwater infrastructure, open channels, or overland flow paths. Some drainage easements are wide enough to consume a substantial portion of a rear yard.

### Access Easements

An access easement grants the right to pass over part of your land. These are common on battleaxe blocks, where the handle of the battleaxe is burdened by an easement in favour of the block behind. They also appear on properties that were once part of a larger subdivision where rear lots needed legal access to a road.

Access easements restrict what you can build in the affected corridor. They also affect fencing, gates, and landscaping. If you are buying a property with a wide driveway that appears to serve only your lot, check whether it is actually an easement benefiting a neighbour.

### Electricity and Telecommunications Easements

High-voltage transmission easements are the most restrictive. They typically prohibit any structure within the easement corridor and impose height restrictions on vegetation. Ausgrid, Energex, and their counterparts in other states hold these easements, and the exclusion zones can be substantial.

Low-voltage distribution easements and telecommunications easements are narrower but still limit what can be built directly over underground cables. The location of underground services does not always match what is shown on the title document, which is why a dial-before-you-dig search is a separate step from the title search.

### Positive Easements and Party Wall Agreements

Not all easements restrict. Some impose obligations. An easement of support, for example, requires a lot owner to maintain a structure that supports a neighbouring building. These are common in older terrace housing precincts. Removing or altering a shared wall without understanding the easement can expose an owner to substantial liability.

## Restrictive Covenants

A restrictive covenant is a private agreement, usually created at the time of subdivision, that limits how the land can be used. Unlike planning scheme controls, covenants are not administered by the council. They are enforced by the parties who benefit from them, typically neighbouring lot owners within the same original subdivision.

Common covenant restrictions include:

- Minimum floor area requirements (for example, no dwelling under 180 square metres)
- Prohibitions on multi-dwelling development
- Material and colour specifications for external finishes
- Restrictions on commercial use
- Prohibitions on keeping certain animals

Covenants registered in older estates, particularly those developed in the 1950s through 1980s, can be surprisingly specific. Some prohibit fibrous cement cladding. Others require brick construction. A covenant requiring a single dwelling on a lot can prevent a duplex even where the planning scheme would otherwise allow it.

Removing a covenant requires either the agreement of all benefiting parties or an application to the Supreme Court. Neither process is quick or inexpensive.

## Mortgages, Leases, and Caveats

A registered mortgage does not prevent a sale but must be discharged at settlement. Buyers need to confirm that the mortgage will be released and that the title will transfer unencumbered unless otherwise agreed.

A registered lease is more consequential. If a tenant holds a lease registered on the title, that lease survives the sale. Buying a property with a registered commercial or residential lease means buying it with the tenant in place, bound by the existing lease terms. This is not always a problem, but it must be understood before exchange.

Caveats signal that a third party claims an interest in the property. A caveat does not prove the claim is valid, but it does prevent dealings with the title until it is resolved. A caveat lodged by a builder claiming unpaid progress payments, for example, can delay or complicate settlement.

## Boundary Mismatches and Survey Discrepancies

The title document describes a lot by reference to a deposited plan. The deposited plan shows the legal boundaries. What is physically on the ground does not always match.

Fences are frequently not on the legal boundary. A fence built 300mm inside the legal boundary is common in older suburbs where original pegs were lost and fences were rebuilt by eye. The consequence is that a buyer may be paying for land that a neighbour is using, or may discover that their own structures are over the boundary.

A building location certificate or identification survey, ordered from a registered surveyor, shows where the structures on the land actually sit relative to the legal boundaries. This is a separate document from the title search and is not automatically ordered in every conveyance. For any property where extension or construction is planned, a survey is worth the cost.

Buildings that encroach over a boundary, even slightly, create complications for development approvals. Councils require setback compliance from the legal boundary, not from the existing fence line.

## Why a Large Backyard May Not Be Buildable

This is the scenario that catches buyers most often. A property is marketed with a 700 square metre lot and a generous rear yard. The buyer plans a secondary dwelling or a pool and cabana. The price reflects that potential.

Then the title search reveals a 3-metre sewer easement across the rear. The planning scheme requires a 3-metre setback from the rear boundary. A restrictive covenant prohibits a secondary dwelling. The deposited plan shows the rear boundary is 1.2 metres inside the existing fence line.

None of these issues are individually catastrophic, but together they may eliminate the development potential that justified the purchase price. Each one is discoverable before exchange with the right searches.

## Checking Constraints Before Pricing Renovation or Extension Plans

Architects and builders can only price what they know about. If a constraint is not identified before design work begins, it surfaces during the development application process, requiring redesign, additional fees, and delays.

The sequence that avoids this is straightforward: identify all title encumbrances and planning constraints before commissioning design work, not after.

PropertyLens analyses lot-level data including planning overlays, registered easement locations, and zoning controls for properties across Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and the Gold Coast. The platform draws on state land registry records, council planning schemes, and infrastructure datasets to show which parts of a lot carry constraints before a buyer or developer commits to a design brief. It is a research tool, not a substitute for a conveyancer or a registered surveyor, but it gives buyers a factual starting point that most people currently lack at the point of making an offer.

For anyone planning to build, extend, or subdivide, the constraint picture needs to be clear before the price is agreed. Title encumbrances are not negotiating points after exchange. They are facts about the land that determine what it is actually worth.

Visit [propertylens.au](https://propertylens.au) to run a constraint analysis on a property you are considering before your renovation or extension plans are priced.