Any one ever sued the city and collected.

[John White]

I was curious as to weather any one has ever sue the city (county) and collected. We bought a piece of property about 10 years ago. It was a double lot and the owner had it split. He had a old house and junk every where, yard with waist high weeds. We had a new house built. His place was a sore sight for the whole neighborhood. Health dept was out several times a year for trash and burning at night. Sheriff was out two or three times a year, for domestic complaints. I never really had any runs ins with him. Since he never mowed his yard I mowed a swath on his side of the property line because my wife had planted shrubs and didn't want to walk in the weeds to trim and care for them. He had no problem with that. Finally owner was evicted by sheriff for foreclosure. Sat vacant for over a year. Come up for sheriff auction a couple to times but not sell because the house was so bad it would have to be torn down. Finally some one bought the. Over the years strangers were always stopping by and looking at the house. So I sort of kept a eye on it as I was afraid some one would burn it down. Would always walk over and see if I could help them. One day I seen some one pulling the well pump out. (this area has had a lot of trouble with people stealing air conditioners and the aeration pumps off the septic system) I walked over and introduced myself and said I just walked over to see what was going on as I thought some one was stealing the pump. I could see it struck a nerve with him. He said he just bought the property and was going to tear the house down and build a new one. I was glad to hear that. A few weeks later I seen a surveying crew out here marking the lines and pins. I knew where they were any way. Some time after that I walked over and mentioned that I could have showed him where the pins were. He didn't say much except that I see you are a claim jumper, as you have been mowing a couple feet beyond your property. I explained why I had mowed a couple of feet over. A few days later he put up a "No Trespassing sign" on the property line. Which is his right. (just makes for bad neighbors) He finally had his field bush hogged. I got to looking real good (weeds were always up so I couldn't see) and could see groves running toward our property. It aroused my curiosity. Got to looking in our yard and could see that we had green grass streaks. I contacted the county and got the septic plans from his property and see that the lines run over to our property. This should have been seen by the county before a lot split. I haven't sprung this on him yet. But who is responsible for fixing this mess. And I had my well drilled where the county said to drill and these leach lines are running too close to our well.

 

[dodge man]

I would say the person who split the lot is liable. I can almost promise you the city, county, or whoever governs the property is not liable, or so they will say.

 

[John White]

I would say the person who split the lot is liable. I can almost promise you the city, county, or whoever governs the property is not liable, or so they will say.

You are probably right about getting the county to do any thing.. Past experience has been that they go after the one with the money. They should have inspected the property and looked at the septic plans. I know you would never get any money or repairs from previous owner. I don't know about the new owner. I suppose I could take a backhoe and cut the lines where they come on to my property but would rather handle it another way. I bought a piece of property some years back and found the owner had done some illegal dumping. The city said it was my problem and was my responsibility to clean it up since I owned the land now. I found out years previous neighbors had complained to the city about dumping but never done any thing about it or stopped it.

 

[PJSprog]

I'd like to suggest that your new neighbor should be onboard and helpful in resolving this dilemma, since it obviously affects him, too. However, from your story so far, it sounds like he won't be too amicable in this fight. Before it gets too deep, you may want to seek professional legal advice. If it's already that convoluted, everyone will likely end up reinforcing their own camp and stop cooperating.

 

[George2615]

Check with your code enforcement office. You need to find out the distance required between a well and a leach field. In my area its 100' minimum. If you put your well where they said to put it and its less than the minimum required the CE office may be liable. Or if the neighbors leach field was installed after your well they may be liable. Leach field may also have to be X amount of feet from the property line as well.
If the well and septic are too close you may need to seek legal advice to get it corrected.

 

[aarolar]

Good fences make good neighbors.

 

[aczlan]

Good fences make good neighbors.

Especially if the fence posts just happen to be centered on the green stripes

Aaron Z

 

[RNeumann]

Step one is to be neighborly. Talk to the prick neighbor and express your concern and your vital right to protect your potable well water.

Hand him a letter that spells out your timeline and plan.

If no satisfaction it would then be time to go on a full offensive at the local, state and federal level. This will be a new hobby for awhile. Water rights and well protection laws are some of the strongest and clearest around.

It's not your issue it figure out who to blame. It's time to use the government to enforce the laws- most gov employees and bureaucrats will want to tackle this issue. It's also vital to protect you and your family's water source.

 

[dodge man]

Keep in mind, as a general rule, you can't sue the government. It has to be that way or they would go broke from all the law suits. The exception to this would be something like gross negligence. I think in this case that would be really hard to prove.

Also keep in mind, an old septic field may or may not have been mapped out. Unless you are superman and have x-ray vision, you can't see underground. I'd say its up to you and the neighbor to work something out.

 

[roadhunter]

I bought an old school which was built on the corner of a section of land. When the school closed down they gave the building back to the family who owned the section. There was a fence around the school but a portion of the septic field goes beyond the fence. In our contract we signed when I purchased the place it states that if I ever have an issue with those lines on the neighbor's property I am to move them back onto my property at my expense. Needless to say I try to take good care of my septic.