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My new neighbor bought some land right next to me 8 months ago and is trying to take me to court for the rights to my water meter that is located on his property right beside the highway. He is under the impression that anything on his property is his and he wants my water meter since he doesn’t have one. When I bought my house 4 years ago (a house that’s been standing for 50 or 60 years) it said that I have water with Garland County. If he takes me to court can he win? The cost to put in a new water line is $4,000 and we don’t want to spend that money since we bought our house with water.
Unfortunately, the answer to your question is pretty fact-specific. Which means you’ll probably want to consult with an attorney to protect your rights.
It’s certainly possible that the water service and equipment is yours, even though it’s on your neighbor’s land. This would be a type of easement, and is fairly common. If there isn’t a written easement recorded against the property (which is what I would check first), then you may still have rights under a prescriptive easement theory.
Also, even if you don’t have such an easement, it’s possible that would create a cause of action against whoever sold you the property, particularly if they knew about this problem and didn’t disclose the fact.
Either way, you’ll want to consult with an attorney to find out the particulars of your situation.
