When you live out in the country, you often have to have access to a well to get water to your home, and sometimes the well is shared between multiple homes.

What would you do if you owned half of a well with your neighbors, but then they sold access to that well without your permission to a new home that was built?

That is what happened to the woman in this story, so she put her foot down and got the state involved, and now she might kick the new home off of the well entirely.

At this point, she should talk to a lawyer and figure out exactly what her best options really are. Read through the full story and see how you would deal with these neighbors.

Water wars.

Just wanted to share my experience and see if I can still kick these turds off the well.

Having access to the well is essential.

I bought my house in 2016. My deed clearly states that I co-own the well. The well itself sits on my neighbor’s property.

That neighbor decided to subdivide and develop his property. The original house was split off with the well on it, which wasn’t really a problem.

The legal rights here can be complex.

The issue came when one of the newly created lots was sold. The buyer wanted access to the well, so the seller put it in their sale agreement. The problem was that only one well owner agreed to it.

You can’t just give someone access to a jointly owned well when only one owner signs off. The new owners built their house and connected to the well anyway.

A burst water line is a big deal.

When I bought my house, I was in my 20s and a single female homeowner. The other two neighbors always acted as if the well was some kind of association where majority rules.

They would do things like increase the well pressure because the newest house, which was the farthest away, complained about water pressure. My house is slab-on-grade with a 2-inch water line. Increasing the pressure ended up bursting my lines twice. The two neighbors basically bullied me.

This behavior is weird.

They wouldn’t tell me when they were making upgrades or changes to the well, even when they were using well funds that I partly owned because I own half the well. They refused to show me bills, statements, or records.

Part of the issue, in my opinion, was that I’m a woman. One neighbor is Mennonite and the other is a very devout Christian. Women are women obedient. The first time I met them, they asked to “speak to the man of the house.”

I politely informed them that I was the man of this house and that I owned businesses. It’s gotten so bad that the “men” won’t speak to me. I can only speak to the wives.

Not only is this wrong, it is almost certainly illegal.

Long story short, these guys excluded me from everything despite the fact that my deed clearly states I own half the well and have equal decision-making authority.

Meanwhile, the newly added homeowner had an agreement stating they were responsible for paying repair costs and expenses “as set by the well owners.” Those words turned out to be important.

She is doing the right thing by getting the inspectors involved.

The new homeowner never seemed to understand three things, despite me telling him repeatedly: I own half the well. You can’t make decisions about a well you don’t own. The previous owner shouldn’t have sold you water access for an extra $10,000 because they only owned half of the well.

Eventually, I decided to go nuclear. I called the state and requested an inspection. The investigation found that we were not a water association or a Group B system.

This isn’t going to end well for them.

We were simply a private well with an illegal connection: the newly built house. When the new owners got their permits, they used old documentation claiming we were an association.

The health department apparently didn’t catch it because the association had effectively dissolved years earlier when most property owners drilled their own wells. Only the two original well owners remained.

Access to water is essential, and highly regulated.

Under Washington law, a private well can only serve a limited number of connections before it must become a Group B water system, which comes with significantly more regulation, testing, and paperwork.

The new house was officially notified that their connection was illegal. Instead of coming to me and saying, “Sorry, we were wrong. How can we fix this?” they took a different approach.

The neighbors are grasping at straws at this point.

They pulled my deed, title, and mortgage documents because they wanted to verify that I actually owned half the well. Then they tried to claim that because I farm on my property, I was violating my mortgage.

My mortgage says the property cannot be used primarily for farming. It’s not, I live here. It’s my primary residence. It’s my only residence.

Basically, they tried to blackmail me. Nice try, but no. I eventually had to read their own agreement to them because they apparently didn’t understand what it said.

Majority rules is not at all how this works.

Their agreement specifically states that costs are determined “as set by the well owners.” It does not grant them ownership, decision-making authority, or an easement to access and work on the well.

It’s also not recorded with the county. For years they ignored me because the other well owner and the new homeowner would simply say, “Two against one. You’re outvoted.”

Oh, now they want to get this figured out. Too late.

Once the state stepped in and informed them that the connection was illegal, they suddenly figured out that ownership actually matters.

Now they’ve asked the other well owner to approach me and ask whether they can “have a say” in the well because they don’t think the situation is fair.

Never Miss a Story

Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.

It is time for an attorney.

I immediately said no. They claim they were tricked. I pointed out that their entire agreement is four sentences long.

The state said to kick them off or upgrade the well. We haven’t done either yet. Can I legally kick them off if they have been on the well for since 2012.

If the state says to kick them off, that is clearly one option. Whether it is the right one or not is something she needs to decide.

Read through the comments to see what other people have to say about it.

Calling the local news could help.

Here is a commenter with a great idea.

Access to the well is a legal issue. Get an attorney.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who finds his parking spot at a hocket game in jeopardy from a rude driver.

This commenter says to kick them off the well immediately.

Yup, getting an attorney is a good idea.

Talk to an attorney and either kick them off the well or get them to pay for access. Trying to deal with these neighbors directly is a bad idea, though.