Would you allow an easement for the neighbors water pipe?

Question

Schitty situation. We just purchased a property to brrr. Last week the neighbor up the hill had a clogged toilet and had the rotorooter guys come out. When they cleared their drain our basement immediately filled up with poo...theirs. We found out that we were on a shared line we didn’t know about when we bought it and they were hooked into ours. I guess they used to do that a long time ago. The rotorooter guys said we were responsible for half the bill since it was a shared line even tho we never called them or had a problem and now they caused a giant poo mess in our basement bc tHe poo ball then blocked up at the end of our pipe where it hooks into city sewer and wasn’t connected well. We had to have a plumber come emergently and didn’t have time to ask permission to go in on it with the neighbor and just found out it was shared anyhow. We then had to have the reclamation people come out after we spent three hours shoveling the poo out. Our Insurance is deciding if they will pay for the reclamation cleaning and damages inside our basement but said they don’t pay to have the pipe fixed, only for our stuff that was damaged so the plumbing bill is on us. It’s between 3000-10000$ and digging up the entire basement now. Now the neighbor doesn’t want to pay the plumbing bill to fix our shared line bc it is in our basement and not in their property. We don’t want their poo in our basement again if their is ever another clog and we don’t want to pay for the line anytime they have a problem with it. We are down hill and they are above us so we don’t really care if there is a problem on that end bc it is just them we don’t share their part. They only use ours. We are probably going to have to cap it to work on it this week. Also it will be very difficult if possible at all for them to plug into the city sewer stub unless they go thru their basement and basement walls without an easement in our yard which would be much easier. I heard not to give an easement bc then your basically giving a part of your property up and it brings down the property value?

Does anyone know about these things or have dealt with them?

Should I give an easement if they ask or can the city force me to give an easement?

Should they have to pay half the bill to fix the shared part of the pipe in our basement? What about the damages to our stuff in the basement?

Any help or insight into this topic would be so much appreciated. Shite does roll down hill lol. I’ll remember that for the next house I buy.

Does anyone know about these things or have dealt with them?

Should I give an easement if they ask or can the city force me to give an easement?

Should they have to pay half the bill to fix the shared part of the pipe in our basement? What about the damages to our stuff in the basement?

Any help or insight into this topic would be so much appreciated. Shite does roll down hill lol. I’ll remember that for the next house I buy.

JD Martin · Answer

OK. Thoughts in no particular order:

1. Depending on how long the two houses have been hooked together, they may have good argument for a prescribed easement. Meaning their continuous use of that line for X years gives them the right to continue to use it and maintain it for that purpose.

2. If they have nothing in writing they would have to get a court to agree that they had that right. Until they could get it done, there's virtually nothing they could do if you capped their line and told them to crap in the yard.

3. The city cannot force you to give them an easement. Nor can the court. The only thing the court could do is declare there is an easement there because it's been in use for enough years. In that case, the court would only be affirming their limited right to use your property for their sewer line and to maintain the line.

4. If you cap their line and they sue for the prescribed easement you would definitely want to counter-sue for your damages. They cannot have it both ways - free access to your line through your basement and house and no responsibility for damages.

Running utilities I have dealt with this exact same situation a number of times. I know of at least two instances where the homeowner got into it with their neighbor, went out in the yard and found the shared line, cut it at the property line and capped their end. Nothing the other property owner could do about it except get an emergency connection to the sewer system through another avenue while they worked out a solution.

If they have another way to access the sewer system that doesn't involve going through your yard, I would cap it on your property and make them take it. That's their problem if if costs more money. What you have right now is known as a private sewer system, and there's nothing good that's going to come out of it as you've discovered. There are reasons that virtually all sewer systems today require each homeowner to have their own tap. You've discovered the reasons.

Peter Walther · Answer

If title is uninsurable how are you planning on refinancing when the repairs are completed or if you decide to sell?

Mike Cumbie · Answer

"The rotorooter guys said we were responsible for half the bill since it was a shared line"

"Excuse me, did you say you were on my property, uninvited, caused damage and are now trying to bill me for it? Could you get me your insurance provider please?"

JD Martin · Answer

1. No

2. A court has to say it. No as far as unilateral moving it to another part of your property.

Steve Morris · Answer

"I heard not to give an easement bc then your basically giving a part of your property up and it brings down the property value?"

Am not clear. Do you mean a party-line? That's when 2 houses share one sewage connection and if they need an easement, you would too.

In Portland, you have a problem and they'll make one party disconnect and do a separate hookup which can get expensive with digging and govt connect fees.

Tamara R. · Answer

@JD Martin if they have to move their sewer line do you think they would be able to make me pay for any of it?

Would they be able to say they have a prescriptive easement even if I can’t find anything and didn’t know about it and then be able to move the easement to someplace else on my property?

Peter Walther · Answer

In general, in a bargain and sale deed the Grantor, the person conveying the property to you, only warrants or tells you that (s)he/it has not done anything to encumber the title with liens or other encumbrances other than what's disclosed on the deed. The Grantor is not warranting that there aren't any other encumbrances created by prior owners. While a title insurer prefers to have a Warranty Deed so they can go back against the Grantor if any defects come to light after closing they generally will issue a policy based on a B&S deed if it's the practice in the area because the title insurer or its agent should search and examine the title before issuing a commitment to insure and than a policy after closing.

As to your original problem, I've dealt with the same situation several times. In most cases it turned out the same person owned both parcels and built both houses. To save money the same sewage line was used for both houses as well as the waterline. If that's what happened in your situation I think that when the first house was sold by the common owner an implied easement for the continued use of the line may have been retained by the seller. If that's the case you may have to live with the status quo or contribute to the cost of running an independent line for the other property.

Before you make that decision though, as I wrote above, I would confirm you have marketable title before putting any more money into the property unless you plan on you and your heirs owning it forever and never being able to get a mortgage with it as collateral. I'm not an attorney and this isn't legal advice, just my opinion.

Tamara R. · Answer

@Peter Walther is it possible to buy a house through a realtor and the title company you use doesn’t have a title? I just thought the bargain and sales deed meant they couldn’t guarantee there wasn’t someone out there that could claim it since the people were dead and nobody knew after looking if there was any more next of kin they couldn’t find that may some day come forward and try to claim it , they said they couldn’t guarantee anything to insure bc it was a bargain and sales deed since the house was given to the charity but we have the title on it.

Peter Walther · Answer

The type of deed is less important than whether the charity had good title to convey to you. Did you try to get title insurance when you purchased the property and was the title rejected as unmarketable? If you didn't, I suggest you contact a title agent now and ask to buy a policy to insure your interest before you put any more money into the property. You may have to pay for the title search and commitment but at least then you'll know whether it appears you actually own the property.

Tamara R. · Answer

@Peter Walther it’s a bargain and sales deed. I’m not very familiar with them but looked them up and thought I read at some point that they are common but not insured from the title company bc there is nobody alive anymore when I bought it from the charity they gave it to.

Would you allow an easement for the neighbors water pipe?

Would you allow an easement for the neighbors water pipe?

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