Can we sell our house without a signed water easement from our neighbor?

happykellyinnc: Can we sell our house without a signed water easement from our neighbor?
Our water line runs through our neighbors property, he gave us permission, but will not sign a water easement. Now we are trying to sell our house and he still refuses to sign the easement. Is it possible to sell a house without the water easement? Our house is currently under contract, and the issue was in the disclosure statement, and the buyers option to back out has already passed. Can he still back out of the contract because of this?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Iffy
No you cannot. The new owner has no rights to that water line and the land owner can cut it off.
Yes no one buys a house without a source of water. You can be forced to lay new lines

Answer by Noth
technically you can sell it, if the buyer agrees to purchase the home without the water easment signed.

However, it is unlikely that a buyer will purchase the home without it.

You also must tell the buyer about the water line not running with the property. By law you are required to disclose issues like this. if you do not disclose the issue, and the deal closes, the buyer may sue you for up to the price of the home.

The best thing you can do is have the water line re-connected from another source (if that is possible).

Answer by ca_surveyor
I COMPLETELY disagree with the guy that said it can be cut off. YOu did not provide enough information to come to that conclusion, nor did you say where this is happening (US? UK? etc..)

In the US, there are two basic types of easements and rights WRITTEN and UNWRITTEN. You imply that there is no EXISTING written document so this is the latter case.

Is the water line in his property YOUR water line.. that is does it come from a source (ie the water main) directly to your home or is it shared ? (making it a common line). Again, your implied answer is that it is a sole use.

Ok.. given these implications/assumptions, the next question is how it got there in the first place.
Did your neighbor give permission.. if so were there any caveats stated at the time (be honest if you know)? WHEN .. (a really important question.. ) did this original construction happen.

Ok.. lets take your BEST case.

Looooong ago (more then 5 years for most states) your neighbor (or the owner before him) allowed the pipe line to be placed with no timelines or restrictions and has been aware of the pipeline all this time.

Presto: You have a prescriptive easement to keep that pipe there. It might be tough to FIX it if it breaks, since you may not have the rights of trespass to do the maint. work, but there are ways around that. If you need to you can go to court to quiet title this prescriptive easement and get a court decision awarding the esement to you. This will not be cheap – figure around $ 5k or so…especially if the neighbor argues it. Meanwhile he would risk significant legal exposure to cut off the water intentionally.

As far as the option by the buyer.. if his deadline has passed it has passed.. and with it that option. But that may not exclude you in this matter since your basic sale is a home, and a home with no water service (or potentially no water service) is not really what a reasonable buyer would be expecting.

You should at LEAST talk with legal counsel whereever you are and find out what your legal rights and obligations are with respect to the laws there.

good luck