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water/sewer line on neighbor's property, neighbor's renovations costing us

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cwkiii

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania

Hello,

My wife and I live in a rear property. When we bought the property, our sewer and water lines ran through the basement of the house in front of us (at one point, both properties were owned by the same person). A few months ago, the owners of the property in front of ours decided to tear down their house. They then told us we needed to take immediate action to have our pipes re-routed, because they were going to tear them out regardless.

There is a walkway that runs from the street through their property that we have an easement on. When we discussed our options, our neighbors agreed that they would have no problem with us moving the pipes so that they ran below the part of their property we had the easement on. Due to the lay of the land in the rear of our property, it was determined that this would be the most feasible solution, and that if running new lines from the back of the house was even possible, it would be extremely difficult and likely much more expensive.

All in all, their decision to tear their house down has cost us over $10,000.

In order to replace these pipes, we had to dig below the sidewalk in front of their property. Fixing this will cost approximately $800. In addition, the day after the contractor finished laying the new pipe and covering everything up again, our neighbors announced that they have decided to dig further down before levelling off their property, which would mean that our pipes would no longer be below the frost line, whereas if we had been notified of their intentions beforehand, we would have laid the new pipes further below ground, so this decision has negated an important aspect of the new location of the pipes.

My dilemma at this point is this: a lawyer in my family advised me not to pay the $800 for the sidewalk repair, because A.it is not on our property, and B.the initial action that resulted in the sidewalk being damaged was our neighbor's decision to tear his house down. My wife wants to use the sidewalk repair as a "bargaining chip", i.e. we'll pay your sidewalk bill if you promise not to lower the ground above the location of our new pipes, but I don't see how such an agreement can be made legally binding. We've already been through enough grief and stress over having to pay $10,000 due to someone else's actions. If we were to refuse to pay to repair the sidewalk and our neighbor were to take us to court, does our arguement carry any weight? Also, if he were to sue us, would a counter-suit for the $10,000 hold up at all? Thanks!!!
 


FarmerJ

Senior Member
Your sewer line should have enough pitch that it shouldnt freeze up BUT the water line is another story, DID the atty in the family review the easement ? IF by chance the original easement stated it could be used for utility purposes GO up to the links above and find a real estate atty . Thats what you should have done anyway in the very begining. I understand the old lines connected in the basement of first house , due to them being like that for a very long time you could likely have fought them and gotten a easement pretty easily with the help of a atty and likely gotten a city order to forbid them from damaging the lines in the tear down. BUT at this point a real estate atty is your only chance at stopping them from making further change that would place your new water line at risk. BTW I dont see the sidewalk thing working since it was damaged only because your utility line work.
 

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