Shared well, what are our rights and do the others have any?

[booberry2]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? North Carolina
I live in Randolph County NC. 4 years ago I purchased a property that had perviously been made up of 2 tracks of land each with a house sharing a well. The agent I bought it from resold it it as 2 seperate tracts and included an agreement in the deed about the well. She assumed the well was on the other property and gave us well rights in the deed. We have had trouble with the well agreement and the other owners being completely uncooperative, they rent the place out so it stays vacant a lot which poses many problems. I have recently spoke with the lady the sold the property to the agent I bought it from and was talking about the trouble we are having with the well, and she informed me that the well is actually on my property not the other property so it is our well. I did some digging and actually got a copy of the survey and plat map made when the property lines where done for the 2 tracks and it clearly shows the well being well within out property and our line even cuts off the corner of their circle drive. My question is do they have any rights to the well since there is no agerement stating they can have water because it was assumed the well was on their land. Can I send them a letter saying the well is on our property and they have a specific amount of time to get their own water source before we cut them off? I normally would try to work something out with them but anytime there is a problem they tell us we just need to drill our own well. I have my suspicions the owner knows its our well and is trying to use it long enough where we can't cut him off. Is there hope we can have a clean break from sharing the well? If so what is our next step?

 

[FarmerJ]

Id say go ahead and use the links above to speak to a real estate atty who can double check your documents and verify no that there is no recorded well use agreement anywhere in your homes documentation that gives that home a right to water from your well , then to have the atty do the notice to the other home if theres no agreement giving them X amount of time to get own water source. This way its a little cleaner and may well help keep the cost of any legal battle down by using a atty.

 

[justalayman]

I am known to be a bit cruel at times but if it were me, I would get a copy of the survey showing the placement of the well on your property, a copy of your deed showing your rights to the well and a copy of the line of deeds with no notice of any rights to the well.

Then I would make a comment to the neighbor that you are sure would invoke the response of:

anytime there is a problem they tell us we just need to drill our own well.

I would then provide them a copy of the documents showing the placement of the well, your rights to the well and the deeds with no mention of them having any rights to the well and say:

well, I guess you will have to do just that as I am terminating your use of MY well in 30 days. Sorry for your luck. Follow the notice with a certified letter of the intent to terminate the use in 30 days.

be sure to have a camera on hand so you can take a picture of the look of surprise on their face.

 

[booberry2]

Id say go ahead and use the links above to speak to a real estate atty who can double check your documents and verify no that there is no recorded well use agreement anywhere in your homes documentation that gives that home a right to water from your well , then to have the atty do the notice to the other home if theres no agreement giving them X amount of time to get own water source. This way its a little cleaner and may well help keep the cost of any legal battle down by using a atty.

The agent that sold us the house thought the well was on the other property. So she granted us rights in the deed and put in their deed that they have to grant us use of the well. SO there is mention in the deed that we have right but no metion that they have rights because the property was bought with the assumption that they owned the well.

 

[booberry2]

I am known to be a bit cruel at times but if it were me, I would get a copy of the survey showing the placement of the well on your property, a copy of your deed showing your rights to the well and a copy of the line of deeds with no notice of any rights to the well.

Then I would make a comment to the neighbor that you are sure would invoke the response of:



I would then provide them a copy of the documents showing the placement of the well, your rights to the well and the deeds with no mention of them having any rights to the well and say:

well, I guess you will have to do just that as I am terminating your use of MY well in 30 days. Sorry for your luck. Follow the notice with a certified letter of the intent to terminate the use in 30 days.

be sure to have a camera on hand so you can take a picture of the look of surprise on their face.

OH how sweet that would be. The big problem with all of this is though, this guy is a millionaire, he really does own a major majority of the land in the county I live in. If you're renting in this twon there's a pretty good chance it's gonna be from him. He has the money to give us a very hard time about this.

 

[justalayman]

whose electrical service is providing power for the well?

 

[booberry2]

whose electrical service is providing power for the well?

The pump is hooke dup to their power, but the power is currently turned on in our name.

 

[justalayman]

before you actually do anything about this, I would suggest having power installed from your house, or at least have it arranged where it could be installed quickly. He might retaliate and turn off the power to the well. You need to be in a position to change it over to being powered from your service.