Land Titles Act 1993 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 10 · Easements
97. Registration necessary for creation of easements
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An easement is not acquired over registered land by long‑continued user adverse to a proprietor, nor by prescription, nor by any presumption of a lost grant, nor by any implication of law except as may be provided in this Act or section 10 of the State Lands Act 1920; but where an easement is intended to be created, the proprietor may execute an instrument of grant in the approved form, or, if the easement is being created incidentally to a transfer or lease, by appropriate words in the transfer or lease.
registered land
“registered land” means land which has been brought under the provisions of this Act by being included in a folio;
An instrument of transfer which reserves out of the land transferred an easement appurtenant to other land of the transferor is, upon registration, effective as a regrant of the easement to the transferor without execution of the instrument by the transferee.
instrument
“instrument” includes a transfer, lease, mortgage, transmission application, charge and any other application, or any other document in writing relating to any disposition, devolution or acquisition of land or any claim to or vesting of interest in land;
The instrument creating an easement must indicate clearly —
the nature of the easement and the extent of the land burdened by the easement;
the dominant tenement; and
the conditions, limitations and restrictions (if any) intended to affect the enjoyment of the easement.
The servient tenement must be described in accordance with section 54 except that where an easement relates to the passage of matter or energy through underground pipes, cables or other installations, which cannot conveniently be located, the Registrar may accept for registration an instrument in which the servient land is described approximately only.
servient tenement
“dominant tenement” and “servient tenement” mean, respectively, the land to which the benefit of an easement has been made appurtenant, and the land which is subject to the burden of an easement.(2) Nothing in this Act is to be construed as altering the law relating to the natural rights to support, light, air, water, or to access to a highway, nor as altering any rule or principle of law which implies in the grant of an easement such ancillary rights as may be necessary for the effective enjoyment of the easement. In this Part,
An easement must be registered by the entry of a memorial thereof on the folio for the servient tenement.
folio
“folio” means a folio of the land‑register, whether qualified or unqualified as to title;
A notification of the easement must be entered on the folio for the dominant tenement unless the proprietor thereof agrees to dispense with any notification.
dominant tenement
“dominant tenement” and “servient tenement” mean, respectively, the land to which the benefit of an easement has been made appurtenant, and the land which is subject to the burden of an easement.(2) Nothing in this Act is to be construed as altering the law relating to the natural rights to support, light, air, water, or to access to a highway, nor as altering any rule or principle of law which implies in the grant of an easement such ancillary rights as may be necessary for the effective enjoyment of the easement. In this Part,
Where a grant of an easement over registered land is expressed to be appurtenant to land which is not under the provisions of this Act, the Registrar need not be concerned to consider whether the person described therein as grantee is entitled to the land described as the dominant tenement if that person is expressed to be the owner for the time being of that land.
land
“land” means —(a)the surface of any defined parcel of the earth, so much of the subterranean space below and so much of the column of airspace above the surface whether or not held apart from the surface as is reasonably necessary for the proprietor’s use and enjoyment, and includes any estate or interest therein and all vegetation growing thereon and structures affixed thereto; or(b)any parcel of airspace or any subterranean space whether or not held apart from the surface of the earth and described with certainty by reference to a plan approved by the Chief Surveyor and filed with the Authority, and includes any estate or interest therein and all vegetation growing thereon and structures affixed thereto,and where the context so permits, the proprietorship of land includes natural rights to air, light, water and support and the right of access to any highway on which the land abuts;