I’ve got a block of vacant land that sits back from the road with council “nature strip” with a footpath between my block and the road.
There is already a driveway crossover on the council land connecting between the footpath and the road. Unfortunately the crossover is placed such that due to set back requirements it is not possible for me to make my driveway line up with it. Also, the crossover is a single drive crossover but there is a caveat on my land that says I must have a double driveway.
So, who put the crossover there? Who is responsible for making it line up with my driveway? How do I get them to pay for it?
The land is in Melton Victoria BTW.
I think either the estate developer or the council is responsible at least for part of the costs if not the whole lot. After all I think it a bit unfair to lump the land owner with a cost they didn’t approve or ask for (ie building a single crossover that can’t be connected to the drive). At the least I think whoever put it there should demolish it and give me a clean slate.
Anyone else with this issue in the past?
Surrey.
Hi Surrey
It is going to depend on who built the crossover in the first place. If the developer and they are the ones who put the caveat on your land, then you have a case against them.
But if the council and they had no knowledge of the caveat, then I suspect you will have to foot the bill. Councils are a law unto themselves. We have had an ongoing battle with outs who refuse to build ours even close to Australian standards. We asked and they said they would try when they repaved the street earlier this year but no such luck. And they take no responsibility for the contractor not doing what the engineer requested.
Hi,
Further to this issue:
I’ve spoken with the council and they say that when a subdivision is made that has a median strip between it and the road the person doing the subdivision is responsible for providing at least a single plain concrete crossover. Except for the basic engineering aspects (eg weight bearing ability, material, min and max width etc…) the council has no requirements as regards the location.
It was explained to me that the developer presents their plan of subdivision including a crossover that meets the basic requirements and they approve it.
In fact due to the large number of cases where the council is now having to approve variations to crossover because of the very same issue I outlined they are in discussion about altering the approval rules to stop all those rates payers having to demolish and re-pour their crossovers.However in the meantime the best I can hope for is to badger the developer enough to at least demolish the one they provided so I can put in a new one.
Surrey.
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