My first problem with a neighbor, what would you do?

[Alan]

We have been here at our place for almost 14 yrs, never a problem with the neighbors. We share a well with one neighbor, never has been a problem, split maintance cost on the well as per the written contract we have. A few years ago he and his wife were divorced, he continues to live on the property. With in the last couple of years he has a new girlfriend and plans on selling his place and moving to her acreage, he is now actively marketing his property. He approached me last summer and asked me to split the cost of a new well house with him, it's not a well house it's a 20x30 storage shed with the well inside. I explained to him that, that building is going to do nothing but increase the value of his property and give him additional storage, it has little benefit to us other than the little space it provides the well pump. So he agreed to put up the well house at his cost. Here's the problem, while doing the well house he decided to replace most of the outer works on the well, such as the pressure tank, pipes, wiring, swithches, etc. He then left me a bill for half the cost of the tank and plumbing for almost $600 in our mail box, with a note stating our contract states we pay half the maintance, you need to pay this. He never spoke to us first before these other upgrades on the well. I don't seem to be cooling down about this after a couple of weeks and I do need to talk to him, but still red hot. The way I see it is, he's trying to sell his place and decided to update the well as a added benifit to his selling price and to the buyer without consulting me. I'm not as concerned about the cost of maintaining the well as the way he did it.... :mad:

I'm venting and need a sounding board, I really think I he did us wrong.

 

[M5farm]

He did you wrong but you have very little recourse. That doesn't mean you can't have heart to heart. Does the contract stay in effect if he sells the property?

 

[greybeard]

It does sound as if he made the improvements in order to more easily sell the property or to increase the resale/appraised value and is attempting to mitigate some of his cost by demanding you pay for 1/2 of the costs--costs which you won't see a nickle worth of return on unless the buyer also agrees to share the well with you for (presumably) another 14 years.

Talk to him, and ask him exactly what benefit is in this for you and why he didn't consult with you 1st.
Unless there is something grandfathered in or spelled out in the sale contract and the new owner agrees, you are gonna be paying $600 and get no benefit at all if your soon-to-be new neighbor cuts your water off.

Around here, $600 is 1/8 the cost of having a completely new well drilled, but that depends how deep your water is--mines at approx 200'.

 

[kerley]

Check with your Attorney, If both parties had the well agreement notorized you could file the document with the county recorders office and the document will appear on the title search as a lien, which will protect your interests in the well. Good Luck

 

[Bez__]

I would bring in a driller and have a new well in the ground by sun down tomorrow and tell him to sue me for the money if he thought it would pay.

Shared well?

Not a chance I would do that. He did you wrong - but that does not mean you have to help him out.

Yeah - it is more money - but the new owner might be a p r i c k as well

He now has a nice set up to show buyers and you do not need to help him any more

I tend to be a bit independent - and would put up a huge sign on the property boundary that said - "Buyers - I want to meet you first!" Just to make them wonder.

It would make for an interesting time.

Best to all

Bez__

 

[Ouachita]

Love thy neighbor...........
I would show up at his place one morning with some fresh homemade biscuits. Butter the biscuits while you are there. Use real cow butter, not margarine

 

[Alan]

I'll try to answer all your post in this post, foregive me If I miss something. The shared well agreement is in the county records, it was a part of the result of the title search we paid for at the time of purchase, but it will be worth a second look. We had the pump replace at the bottom of the shaft in 08, the well depth is 847', hard to believe I know in the wet PNW, but it is at 847'. We checked into drilling a well when we moved onto our place, $20 a foot at that time, we have several test drills on our property, they found water at 847' @ $20 per foot, not an exciting option.

A little history on the well, the guy my neighbor bought from owned the house my neighbor lives in. He sold part of the property with that house and built our current house on the adjacent property, filed for a shared well before he sold the original property to our neighbor. Should be solid but worth another look.

We as neighbors have alway gotten along and always gotten along, but I sure feel like we are getting the shaft here. We will have a face to face if I can cool off about this, i don't want to say something I'll regret.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[Alan]

Love thy neighbor...........
I would show up at his place one morning with some fresh homemade biscuits. Butter the biscuits while you are there. Use real cow butter, not margarine

I'm confused, the real butter is to help lube the insertion of the biscuits?

 

[Ouachita]

Love thy neighbor...........
I would show up at his place one morning with some fresh homemade biscuits. Butter the biscuits while you are there. Use real cow butter, not margarine

I'm confused, the real butter is to help lube the insertion of the biscuits?

I realize y'all are on the left coast, but try to not over think the strategy :lol2:

 

[D2Cat]

In your well agreement, is mutual agreement of improvements in writing? Should be an important statement to have in writing. If you have use of the well no matter who owns the property it set on $600 is not worth a fight.

He's obviously has other stresses in his life. Just be thankful he's moving on. Save the biscuits for the new neighbors.

 

[Bigfoot]

It's always best to get along with the neighbors............advice he probably should be following, instead of you. I'd probably just pay it and go on.

 

[Kingfisher]

What value did the $1200 worth of improvement add?

 

[HDRider]

What does he have to do to collect? Simply present a bill, on which there was no agreement before hand? Seems odd..

What is to stop him from using gold fixtures next time?

 

[Aaron]

I'm with Bez, I would not share a well.

So your options are burn your bridge and dig your own well - or - suck it up and pay the man and pray the next owner cares about your interests.

Better yet, buy the neighbor's place and rent it out or something to that effect. Thinking the price of a new well is a fair downpayment on the property?

 

[cow pollinater]

Make sure your easement is ironclad and then pay your half. If it's not then drill your own.

 

[Tim/South]

He needed to consult you first before doing the updates. He would have felt the same had you randomly decided to up grade the well with out first talking to him.
I would talk to him and probably say I could have had the work done for less cost. Most of us have a friend or contact who does us right on things we can not do ourselves. He needed to discuss the repairs before spending your money. The reason he did not ask first is because he figured you would disagree.

 

[skyhightree1]

Alan it sounds like if it was not specifically said only for maintenance you will be helping him sell his house... Sorry

 

[dun]

I would be tempted to hand him a check and a summons to small claims court at the same time

 

[chenocetah]

Buy the neighboring property or drill your own well...Would be no other options for me.

 

[highgrit]

Dun has a good idea. At the very least I would tell him that's a pretty chicken crap way to treat a neighbor. And then give him his money.