Under s 88K(5) of the Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW), a property owner resisting the imposition of an easement cannot be ordered to pay the applicant's costs merely because the owner rejected pre-trial offers of compensation that exceeded the amount ultimately awarded; there must be more than rejection of reasonable compensation offers to displace the statutory default that the applicant pays costs. When determining the width of an easement that is 'reasonably necessary', the court should have regard to the engineering requirements rather than council design guidelines, and an easement should not extend above ground level where only subsurface drainage is required. The Land and Environment Court may be the more appropriate forum for s 88K applications where development consent conditions are also in issue.
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