We ( Chris and Murray ) have just done the deal for a 20 acre block in beautiful Waimate North, and tho we dont move in till end of March, 1001 things to think about, in anticipation. Top of them all is water...there are 3 dams, fed by springs which have been known to dry up in drought years...which are currently used for the troughs only. The house is on roof water. There is also a creek on the lower boundary, but we cannot tell from the survey / title plan whether it is actually on the place or not, as the last survey was done in 1964 and the resulting drawings look like Capt. Cooks sketches. We look forward mainly to growing food and having space for our horses...no doubt we will be here on the site frequently looking for bits of advice from the LSB community!!
To work out if you have access to the creek you will have to find out if the creek is included in someones title, because some rivers and streams are included in land titles. If it is part of a title, then you will have to pay for surveying to find if it is on your place. If it is not part of a title then it may be wide enough to have "Queens Chain" access, which might give you a right to pay for an easement across the neighbours place to access the creek.
If you can access the stream, remember that does not necessarily allow you to irrigate. You might need a recognised Council permit to be permitted to irrigate.
As LR is alluding to, in many instances the legal boundary between properties is the middle of the stream. This, however, may not be where the stream is now as the original survey may be well over 100 years old and stream beds do move over time.
Apart from that welcome to the site. Do ask questions. Sometimes the answers will make sense. Sometimes they will just raise more questions.
Hi, and thanks for the advice...yes we are aware that we will have to survey if we want to be sure about the situation as regards the stream....I will be going to talk to the Regional Council too...
Living on a 7 acre property near Oamaru I currently have 5 wonderful Standardbred horses, 8 alpacas, 6 former battery hens, 1 labrador and 8 cats. I eat only plant based food and love trying new plant based recipes. Retired from the paid workforce in December 2019 and have never been busier!!
Where are you coming from? 