twisztdauthorit
Junior Member
This has been an ongoing debate for many years and as such has very many small details that will be left out for sake of brevity and to focus on the main issues. Please read the entire document to get the full concept.
We belong to a group of 14 mountain properties that have irrevocable rights to a shared water well system, stated in the grand deeds. These properties are located in an agriculture zoned area used mainly ranching purposes. When we first bought the property the system consisted of a working 400ft+ well, diesel generator, 15,000 gallon tank and thousands of feet of 2” water line connecting a few of the properties. We had no water meters and there were originally no homes built on any of the 14 properties.
There was never more than a handful of properties occupied or using the water system at a time and there was also never any official water contract or shared well agreement between the 14 properties. Our neighbor lived on their property in a motorhome and bred dogs for profit and had many horses, while we used our property for raising a few horses and mainly recreation. Initially we had a system were each user was billed equally for pumping costs and this worked fine for a while.
At a certain point the system began to fall apart. First, the main generator was stolen. Then the water pump broke and had to be replaced. At this point there were only 2 main users being the neighbor who lived on their property and our property. Being that the neighbor lived on their property and relied heavily on the water they took it upon themselves to replace the stolen generator and broken pump to re-establish water flow. There were times when we needed to truck out a portable water tank to feed our animals and water a few trees in the heat of summer.
There was never any prior agreement on how costs for these repairs would be split nor where we involved in the process of replacing this equipment. We believed that since the neighbor was living on their property, using more water, putting more stress on the system, and relied more on having running water that they should be responsible for a heavier burden of the cost.
A few years later these same neighbors finally built a large house on their land. In order to get approval for their new home they had to subject the well to a higher standard of scrutiny from the health dept. which included water testing, proper pipe burial, and proper water flow rate from the well. The supply pipe to the tank which was over half a mile away needed to be re-routed and buried to proper depth. All these procedures ended up harboring extra costs for my neighbor at the time, which we did not feel the need to participate in (nor did we agree to) since we did not have these same requirements for our property. Because our neighbor changed this system to domestic use, it also limited the max water users to five due to flow rate requirements.
Within a time frame of 5 years, the well failed and was worked on 2 additional times. The pump needed to be replaced both times costing over 10,000$ on one occasion. We personally felt that the system was designed and maintained improperly leading to these many failures. Once again, the neighbor that lived on their property took responsibility for these repairs because they relied on this well to live in their home and raise livestock and also conduct their dog kennel operation. There was no formal agreement on how we would participate in these costs. They did remind us many times that we needed to be involved in these repairs, they expected us to split the costs 50/50, but money was short and there was a major disagreement on how much we should participate given the major difference in water usage. We did however, in addition to fuel and maintenance, participate in the cost of laying down the water line and some repairs of the generators.
We eventually took it upon ourselves to put a meter on our property as well as our neighbors so we could finally see the amount of water being used between the two properties. After a year of monitoring, we can clearly point out that their property was using roughly 2x the amount of water if not more. We have been paying on a monthly basis for pumping costs and have calculated over $18,000 paid to this neighbor in a time period of 13 years. To our calculations, our monthly payment covered the fuel expense and left enough to cover maintenance of the system and some repairs.
At a certain point our neighbor began to shut off our water supply to our property claiming that we have not paid for the repair costs and that we were not going to be able to use their pumping equipment until we pay them the numbers they came up with. We told them they did not have the right to shut of our water so we turned it back on, eventually leading them to cut our water line running through their property. We had many meetings over the issue but were not able to come to any agreement. Eventually we got the water reconnected and resumed monthly payments.
We believe that this whole issue boils down to the lack of any shared-well-agreement or any written agreement on how these repairs would be handled in the first place. We contested that the costs should be based from amount of water use but they insisted we split the cost 50/50. They had multiple opportunities to create an agreement before every major expense but failed to do so.
There are new property owners to our other side which have been waiting for a water contract so that they may have official access to the water well they have rights to. The neighbor who now owns all the well equipment on the shared well refuses to let any other property owners connect to the system until they pay thousands of dollars for a connection fee(to offset their expenses).
We told our old neighbor that we need to create a water contract including provisions for all 14 properties to avoid a repeat of past issues moving forward. Our old neighbor refuses to make any movement or agreeable contract until we make arrangements to pay them thousands of dollars for past repairs. On top of that, these past expenses they claim we owe them are much inflated and have fees we never even spoke of or agreed too such as them charging us generator rental for using their generator, multiple pipe repairs, and interest charges.
Now some of the new property owners are of the strong opinion that they don’t even want to work with the diesel generator and pump system our old neighbors installed, the majority of us want to remove the old equipment and install an efficient solar pump to eliminate the burden and maintenance of running a generator. At this point the old neighbors are blocking any movement until we pay them this fictitious amount they claim we owe them.
It seems as if the old neighbors have taken over the shared well by replacing the old equipment with their own, limiting all other users access to the system. It also doesn’t help that they bought a partial stake in the parcel of land on which the well (but not the tank) sits on. It seems as if they are just playing games with us now.
(Old neighbors refers to the people living on their property whom repaired the well equipment at their own expense & discretion)
Thank you for those that took the time to read this write up. I hope I conveyed this complex situation clearly without babbling too much, still this was a very condensed version that left out many other neighborly issues.
My actual questions are as follows:
1) Do the old neighbors, have the right to legally seek money for past repairs even though we never had any valid agreement, given the circumstances and that we have been paying into the system for our use, maintenance, and then some?
2) Do the old neighbors, have the right to block other properties water use until paying them X amount for a connection fee, even though that we all have the right and easements related to the well?
3) Do the old neighbors have the right to refuse participating in a needed shared-well-agreement, even though the majority of people with rights to the well want to create one?
4) What options do we have if the majority of property owners would like to make a change to the well system and the old neighbors refuse?
5) Do they have the right to disconnect our water, even though we have been making monthly payments for pumping and maintenance costs?
6) Did our neighbors have the right to change the water system to a domestic use system, without consent from the other properties? (there by inflicting higher standards, costs, and restrictions upon the other users)
We belong to a group of 14 mountain properties that have irrevocable rights to a shared water well system, stated in the grand deeds. These properties are located in an agriculture zoned area used mainly ranching purposes. When we first bought the property the system consisted of a working 400ft+ well, diesel generator, 15,000 gallon tank and thousands of feet of 2” water line connecting a few of the properties. We had no water meters and there were originally no homes built on any of the 14 properties.
There was never more than a handful of properties occupied or using the water system at a time and there was also never any official water contract or shared well agreement between the 14 properties. Our neighbor lived on their property in a motorhome and bred dogs for profit and had many horses, while we used our property for raising a few horses and mainly recreation. Initially we had a system were each user was billed equally for pumping costs and this worked fine for a while.
At a certain point the system began to fall apart. First, the main generator was stolen. Then the water pump broke and had to be replaced. At this point there were only 2 main users being the neighbor who lived on their property and our property. Being that the neighbor lived on their property and relied heavily on the water they took it upon themselves to replace the stolen generator and broken pump to re-establish water flow. There were times when we needed to truck out a portable water tank to feed our animals and water a few trees in the heat of summer.
There was never any prior agreement on how costs for these repairs would be split nor where we involved in the process of replacing this equipment. We believed that since the neighbor was living on their property, using more water, putting more stress on the system, and relied more on having running water that they should be responsible for a heavier burden of the cost.
A few years later these same neighbors finally built a large house on their land. In order to get approval for their new home they had to subject the well to a higher standard of scrutiny from the health dept. which included water testing, proper pipe burial, and proper water flow rate from the well. The supply pipe to the tank which was over half a mile away needed to be re-routed and buried to proper depth. All these procedures ended up harboring extra costs for my neighbor at the time, which we did not feel the need to participate in (nor did we agree to) since we did not have these same requirements for our property. Because our neighbor changed this system to domestic use, it also limited the max water users to five due to flow rate requirements.
Within a time frame of 5 years, the well failed and was worked on 2 additional times. The pump needed to be replaced both times costing over 10,000$ on one occasion. We personally felt that the system was designed and maintained improperly leading to these many failures. Once again, the neighbor that lived on their property took responsibility for these repairs because they relied on this well to live in their home and raise livestock and also conduct their dog kennel operation. There was no formal agreement on how we would participate in these costs. They did remind us many times that we needed to be involved in these repairs, they expected us to split the costs 50/50, but money was short and there was a major disagreement on how much we should participate given the major difference in water usage. We did however, in addition to fuel and maintenance, participate in the cost of laying down the water line and some repairs of the generators.
We eventually took it upon ourselves to put a meter on our property as well as our neighbors so we could finally see the amount of water being used between the two properties. After a year of monitoring, we can clearly point out that their property was using roughly 2x the amount of water if not more. We have been paying on a monthly basis for pumping costs and have calculated over $18,000 paid to this neighbor in a time period of 13 years. To our calculations, our monthly payment covered the fuel expense and left enough to cover maintenance of the system and some repairs.
At a certain point our neighbor began to shut off our water supply to our property claiming that we have not paid for the repair costs and that we were not going to be able to use their pumping equipment until we pay them the numbers they came up with. We told them they did not have the right to shut of our water so we turned it back on, eventually leading them to cut our water line running through their property. We had many meetings over the issue but were not able to come to any agreement. Eventually we got the water reconnected and resumed monthly payments.
We believe that this whole issue boils down to the lack of any shared-well-agreement or any written agreement on how these repairs would be handled in the first place. We contested that the costs should be based from amount of water use but they insisted we split the cost 50/50. They had multiple opportunities to create an agreement before every major expense but failed to do so.
There are new property owners to our other side which have been waiting for a water contract so that they may have official access to the water well they have rights to. The neighbor who now owns all the well equipment on the shared well refuses to let any other property owners connect to the system until they pay thousands of dollars for a connection fee(to offset their expenses).
We told our old neighbor that we need to create a water contract including provisions for all 14 properties to avoid a repeat of past issues moving forward. Our old neighbor refuses to make any movement or agreeable contract until we make arrangements to pay them thousands of dollars for past repairs. On top of that, these past expenses they claim we owe them are much inflated and have fees we never even spoke of or agreed too such as them charging us generator rental for using their generator, multiple pipe repairs, and interest charges.
Now some of the new property owners are of the strong opinion that they don’t even want to work with the diesel generator and pump system our old neighbors installed, the majority of us want to remove the old equipment and install an efficient solar pump to eliminate the burden and maintenance of running a generator. At this point the old neighbors are blocking any movement until we pay them this fictitious amount they claim we owe them.
It seems as if the old neighbors have taken over the shared well by replacing the old equipment with their own, limiting all other users access to the system. It also doesn’t help that they bought a partial stake in the parcel of land on which the well (but not the tank) sits on. It seems as if they are just playing games with us now.
(Old neighbors refers to the people living on their property whom repaired the well equipment at their own expense & discretion)
Thank you for those that took the time to read this write up. I hope I conveyed this complex situation clearly without babbling too much, still this was a very condensed version that left out many other neighborly issues.
My actual questions are as follows:
1) Do the old neighbors, have the right to legally seek money for past repairs even though we never had any valid agreement, given the circumstances and that we have been paying into the system for our use, maintenance, and then some?
2) Do the old neighbors, have the right to block other properties water use until paying them X amount for a connection fee, even though that we all have the right and easements related to the well?
3) Do the old neighbors have the right to refuse participating in a needed shared-well-agreement, even though the majority of people with rights to the well want to create one?
4) What options do we have if the majority of property owners would like to make a change to the well system and the old neighbors refuse?
5) Do they have the right to disconnect our water, even though we have been making monthly payments for pumping and maintenance costs?
6) Did our neighbors have the right to change the water system to a domestic use system, without consent from the other properties? (there by inflicting higher standards, costs, and restrictions upon the other users)
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