This book is only available in PDF format 
Published: 12 August, 2008
Pages: 136

Introduction

A certain brand of soda tells us it tastes “just like the good old days”. It is easy to think that once upon a time there were good old days in property law – when “conveyancing” was easy, lawyers played golf on Tuesdays, the scale provided generous fees, and clear titles were relatively common.

Times have changed: clear titles don’t really exist anymore, some lawyers aggressively market cut price conveyancing, and we are going through economic times which suggest we will see fewer house sales and more contract defaults than 12 or 24 months ago. But we live in an age of contradictions: titles, or Computer Registers as we are now supposed to call them, have become harder to read, but easements have become easier. You only need to compare a title and easement from 1958 with a title and easement from 2008 to identify that difference.

The Property Law Section has for a few years now been telling us to think “property lawyer” rather than “conveyancer”; to think beyond “form filling”, and to appreciate the importance of experience and expertise and how it can benefit our clients. When the economy starts to slow, a prominent newspaper suggests property lawyers will be among the first to be laid off. So what are property lawyers to do? Seek work in family law? Securities law? Retrain as tax accountants?

The answer must be “no”. We have complex titles with complex easements and covenants; we have deals, developments and subdivisions which require us to think in three dimensions like an architect and dissect component parts like a biologist. Being a property lawyer is harder than ever, and this is no time for property lawyers to retreat. Rather, this is a time for property lawyers to upskill, learn more, build up the kind of knowledge and expertise we expect (say) a tax specialist to have, and add value to our clients’ property acquisitions and developments.

This seminar’s papers look at a range of issues relating to easements and covenants. It is not a comprehensive treatise (these already exist), but rather aims to:

• Highlight the significance of easements and covenants in property law
• Bring attention to some common problems and pitfalls
• Discuss some recent cases, and how they affect your clients
• Take you through the muddy waters of modern e-survey plans
• Outline the legal framework of easements and covenants
• Put this legal framework into practice

By the end of the seminar, we hope you have a greater appreciation of some of the legal aspects of easements and covenants, and how these will impact not only day-to-day conveyancing practice, but also subdivisions and complex property projects.