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Shared Well - Foreclosure, Water Turned off.

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Zitherial

New member
What is the name of your state? Virginia

This is really complicated, so please bare with me. (Referring to those involved with false names).
Over a decade ago, Mr. & Mrs. Smith divorced. In the divorce agreement, Mrs. Smith was granted a 1+ acre parcel of land with a double wide trailer, which had once been part of Mr. Smith's property - they share a Well. In 2008, Mrs. Smith sold that land and home to my Mother. The property is in Virginia, and my Mother lived in New York.
My mother has been renting out the property for the cost of the mortgage.
Back in May 2018, Mr. Smith handed over the Deed for his own property, in lieu of foreclosure, to the bank which is located in Texas. Once that happened, power was shut off to the well, and now the tenant on my Mother's property does not have water.
Mr. Smith was very unhelpful in providing any information regarding who foreclosed on the property, and after almost 3 months of research, I finally discovered what bank and what law office drew up the paperwork. I had to do the research, because my mother went into the hospital in April, and unfortunately, passed away at the end of June. So I am flying blind, here....

My question (s) are thus:
1. Since it is a shared well, was it legal for the bank to shut off power to the well, thereby cutting access for our property?
2. If it was NOT legal, what are the next steps that I should take, to get the water turned back on? I've contacted the law office, without any success - and the only information that I was able to find on the bank, did not list a phone number, only a branch address (Fannie Mae) - so I sent them a letter explaining the situation. (Sent today, July 10th).
What complicates this even more, is that I live in New York, and the property is in Virginia - so I can not physically visit and speak with anyone, unless I plan a trip down there, with my 2 year old child in tow. Oh - and there is still a Mortgage out on the VA house, which I have to try and get placed in my name, which is an entirely different problem.....

Please, please, please - any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,
-Z.
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? Virginia

This is really complicated, so please bare with me. (Referring to those involved with false names).
Over a decade ago, Mr. & Mrs. Smith divorced. In the divorce agreement, Mrs. Smith was granted a 1+ acre parcel of land with a double wide trailer, which had once been part of Mr. Smith's property - they share a Well. In 2008, Mrs. Smith sold that land and home to my Mother. The property is in Virginia, and my Mother lived in New York.
My mother has been renting out the property for the cost of the mortgage.
Back in May 2018, Mr. Smith handed over the Deed for his own property, in lieu of foreclosure, to the bank which is located in Texas. Once that happened, power was shut off to the well, and now the tenant on my Mother's property does not have water.
Mr. Smith was very unhelpful in providing any information regarding who foreclosed on the property, and after almost 3 months of research, I finally discovered what bank and what law office drew up the paperwork. I had to do the research, because my mother went into the hospital in April, and unfortunately, passed away at the end of June. So I am flying blind, here....

My question (s) are thus:
1. Since it is a shared well, was it legal for the bank to shut off power to the well, thereby cutting access for our property?
2. If it was NOT legal, what are the next steps that I should take, to get the water turned back on? I've contacted the law office, without any success - and the only information that I was able to find on the bank, did not list a phone number, only a branch address (Fannie Mae) - so I sent them a letter explaining the situation. (Sent today, July 10th).
What complicates this even more, is that I live in New York, and the property is in Virginia - so I can not physically visit and speak with anyone, unless I plan a trip down there, with my 2 year old child in tow. Oh - and there is still a Mortgage out on the VA house, which I have to try and get placed in my name, which is an entirely different problem.....

Please, please, please - any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,
-Z.
If its any help, you do NOT have to get the mortgage put in your name. As long as you keep paying it, they cannot call it.

I would say that the safest thing to do for the short term is run power to the well yourself, so that you won't have to rely on someone else providing power to the well. However, if the well is on the other property, I think that you are still going to have problems in the long term, and that it would be safest to have your own well put in.
 

xylene

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? Virginia

This is really complicated, so please bare with me. (Referring to those involved with false names).
Over a decade ago, Mr. & Mrs. Smith divorced. In the divorce agreement, Mrs. Smith was granted a 1+ acre parcel of land with a double wide trailer, which had once been part of Mr. Smith's property - they share a Well. In 2008, Mrs. Smith sold that land and home to my Mother. The property is in Virginia, and my Mother lived in New York.
My mother has been renting out the property for the cost of the mortgage.
Back in May 2018, Mr. Smith handed over the Deed for his own property, in lieu of foreclosure, to the bank which is located in Texas. Once that happened, power was shut off to the well, and now the tenant on my Mother's property does not have water.
Mr. Smith was very unhelpful in providing any information regarding who foreclosed on the property, and after almost 3 months of research, I finally discovered what bank and what law office drew up the paperwork. I had to do the research, because my mother went into the hospital in April, and unfortunately, passed away at the end of June. So I am flying blind, here....

My question (s) are thus:
1. Since it is a shared well, was it legal for the bank to shut off power to the well, thereby cutting access for our property?
2. If it was NOT legal, what are the next steps that I should take, to get the water turned back on? I've contacted the law office, without any success - and the only information that I was able to find on the bank, did not list a phone number, only a branch address (Fannie Mae) - so I sent them a letter explaining the situation. (Sent today, July 10th).
What complicates this even more, is that I live in New York, and the property is in Virginia - so I can not physically visit and speak with anyone, unless I plan a trip down there, with my 2 year old child in tow. Oh - and there is still a Mortgage out on the VA house, which I have to try and get placed in my name, which is an entirely different problem.....

Please, please, please - any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,
-Z.
Honestly I would pay the tenant off to vacate, talk to a realtor about selling the property and also probably talking to well driller about the feasbaility of drilling a well.
 

HRZ

Senior Member
Some of this shared well stuff gets hypercomplex ...and in my area your arrangement might be illegal ...and the costs of a new well and all the paperwork can be downright out of sight .....then again you might have an easement of necessity ..and a simple power line from your side and valve gets your property back with water ....personally I'd get the thing hooked up pronto and worry about paperwork later. ....how far a run is it from your panel box to the well along the pipe path
.
 

xylene

Senior Member
...and in my area your arrangement might be illegal ...and the costs of a new well and all the paperwork can be downright out of sight.
With over an acre of land there is no real excuse to not have a permanent solution. Yes, she might have to spend 3000, 5000, maybe even 12,000.
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
Its good odds that when the well was originally shared they didn't have any kind of formal agreement or recorded easement for the well and even if there was its fairly like the bank isn't going to care. If your lucky a well driller would hit water the first try BUT you really may want to consider letting it go if you do not have the money to invest into it.
 

HRZ

Senior Member
So far the OP has not ruled out that there is an express or implied easement for water and that OP may run an electric line adjacent to the water line , add a few valves and power up the well to serve his home ....and to just get it done may be the more practical option. It's going to be darn hard to sell or use a home wo water!
 

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