URGENT ADVICE NEEDED - WATER SUPPLY

[Angie]

Not wishing to go into too much detail as it is a long and sorry saga but our delightful neighbours, in their latest attempt to prevent us having our house built, have decided not to allow the water supply to be connected to our property despite their agreement via the Mairie and in person over a year ago (it would mean encroaching on their land by about six inches) - the water company turned up today to install the meter but he refused them access! 

Unfortunately (as much as I would like to take our neighbour to task) it is now proving very awkward - the builder cannot start construction until the water is connected.  Before I throw in the towel completely, is there an alternative way of bringing water to the site, say in bowsers?  Is this a practical or indeed possible solution to this problem?  Or indeed has anyone else encountered a lack of water and found a solution?

[Tresco]

Hi Bevvy

This sounds like a tricky one. I  really don't understand it. Our boundary land was encroached by about 2ft rather than 6 inches, for all the utilities to be extended to our neighbour. No one sought our permission and if they had we wouldn't have refused it.

It may be that there is some misundestanding? Perhaps a return visit to the Mairie would help.

Sorry not to have anything practical/useful to add - this was just to express sympathy (and bewilderment) really, before the knowledable people arrive.

[Angie]

Thanks Tresco for your condolences - I only wish we had neighbours likes yours.  I think ours are the neighbours from hell (supported in the main by our Mairie).  You can see my original post on the subject on 12 June 2006 under Legal Issues - post titled "Sucking up to the Mairie" as it is too long drawn out to explain again here.  All the best.

 

[LEO]

[quote user="bevvy"]

Not wishing to go into too much detail as it is a long and sorry saga but our delightful neighbours, in their latest attempt to prevent us having our house built, have decided not to allow the water supply to be connected to our property despite their agreement via the Mairie and in person over a year ago (it would mean encroaching on their land by about six inches) - the water company turned up today to install the meter but he refused them access! 

Unfortunately (as much as I would like to take our neighbour to task) it is now proving very awkward - the builder cannot start construction until the water is connected.  Before I throw in the towel completely, is there an alternative way of bringing water to the site, say in bowsers?  Is this a practical or indeed possible solution to this problem?  Or indeed has anyone else encountered a lack of water and found a solution?

[/quote]

Hi Bevvy, you appear to be in a rotten situation.

Are you in France at the moment or delegating  from the UK .

Maybe if you re-post on this site mentioning your French location ( incorporating your plea for help )you might get a more positive response.

 In an effort to help you may I list some questions that people reading your post will be pondering;

(are you in France at present)

(what area of the country is your site)

(  Is your builder French/English)

(Is your neighbour  French/English)

(What are all the grounds/reasons ( insincere or otherwise ) for your neighbours many objections)

( Is the Marie aware of this latest problem or has it just happened )

please do not answer these questions on this thread as,  that is not my intention.

kind regards,

Leo

 

 

  

 

[Angie]

Thanks Leo.  I will answer your questions - they are not private; if you have read my previous thread as mentioned in my reply to Tresco, you will see how the saga started in June.

No, we are not in France at the moment.

The location of the site is in Aude, near Quillan.

Our builder is French.

Our neighbour is French.

Aside from the earlier situation mentioned above it now appears that our neighbour is selling his land and wishes to sell it with vehicle access rights via our new driveway.  He feels this is a fair swap for the six inches or so of his land (it is just a plot and no house or services exist, in fact it is just part of a field).  At a recent meeting with him and our Notaire we thought we would meet him 50/50 and sort the matter out once and for all.  However, not only does he want vehicle (car and tractor) access, he does not want to pay anything towards the cost of the notarised contract nor will he agree to make good any damage done to our driveway/garden by his vehicles or to contribute towards maintenance.  Our driveway is going to cost us in excess of 5,000 euros to have laid and we really do not wish to have him driving up and down on it all day.  In any case, if he sells his land we will have no control over what the new owner is going to use it for.  He also wants us to pay for a gate for his new access and to provide him with a key!!

The Mairie is well aware of the situation and has, to some extent, aggravated the matter.  The Mairie signed the permis, confirmed to us verbally that the pipes could be laid in their current location (stating that the land was communal), confirmed this again to our builder and then, once the work was done and following complaints to him by the neighbour, then told us to move them saying that the land was not, after all, communal.  Both this neighbour and another one then agreed that the pipes could stay if we paid them 5,000 euros each; this demand has since been withdrawn following the advice of the Mairie.  However, the situation still persists.

Even if we agree to all his demands (which we won't, especially with regard to using our driveway for his vehicles) we can't believe that it will end here.  The neighbours plot is just a piece of land (small 25 metres x 6 metres, no house/ruin) and he lives on the other side of the village.  Despite the distance, each time we visit our site he is there within a few minutes so we suspect he has someone keeping an eye out for us.  He is always aggressive in his manner and each visit turns up yet another issue. 

If anyone is able to help with a solution to our water problem, then we would be most grateful.  Our plot is almost 6 acres and we are going to see if we can locate our services on another part of our site; not looking hopeful, but we will try.

 

 

[Chezstevens]

Is it not worth considering an artesian well, I think that is the word. Have a contractor drill a hole down 100m or to a good water pressure. You can then tell your neighbour to shove it and the initial cost will be offset by free water and the knowledge that your neighbour's greed has been thwarted.

[johnv]

you say that he is selling his land .. bit obvious, but couldn't you buy it? .. obviously you'd need a price before he realised that it was you that was buying it ...

[Patf]

Do you have another neighbour who is fairly near? If so perhaps the water board can branch your supply off from theirs. Our water is carried through a narrow rubber tube, about 4cms, which we found to our cost once when a digger was doing some work. So if that's the type of supply you have it doesn't take a brain surgeon  to work out how to reroute it elsewhere. Pat.

[hoverfrog]

have you considered making an appointment with the conciliateur de justice?

This is someone who comes to the mairie once / twice a month and will help you sort out your differences, and make a way forward posssible.

They have no direct authority to make anyone do anything, but will try and get the parties to sign an agreement. If not adhered to, then this agreement can go before a tribunal who can get it made into an enforcable order.

Not a quick process, but then what is in legal circles??

I went yesterday to see about getting my neighbour to remove his garage off our land (he built it without permission before we got here and doesn't want to move it although we bought the land outright and he has no rights)

Apparently the mayor is often unwilling to get involved as he has to think about his votes, and can end up losing the votes of both parties if he intervenes in a dispute!

If there is no conciliatuer in the mairie of the commune try the mairie of the canton. Sounds like an ideal case for them :)

best of luck!

[Angie]

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions/advice/support.  The artesian well sounds like a possibility although not sure if we would need to get planning permission for this, but definitely something to consider. 

We do have a neighbour, not too near, but close enough to be able to run a pipe to their property especially if it is, as you say, only a 4 cm rubber tube - hadn't thought of that.

As for buying the piece of land, we did ask this neighbour about 2 years ago when we bought our plot whether he wanted to sell it and the answer was no.  We heard via our Mairie recently that he had changed his mind and was selling up and we did ask the Mairie to request a price and to express our interest in buying it.  However, (apparently) he has now sold it to someone else - not sure for what purpose as I said, it is very small and probably has very little value as it stands - it cannot be built on and is not suitable for grazing or cultivation?!!!  This is one of the reasons we are suspicious of his insistence that we give him vehicle access. 

Hoverfrog, this is very useful advice and something I was not aware of.  However, our Mairie is very close friends with this neighbour and I suspect that no good will come of it on this occasion.  Our notaire (he is also our neighbour's notaire) tried to calm things down during a recent meeting and to get to the root of the problem but our neighbour became aggressive and rude and the meeting ended without any issues being resolved.  Our notaire is very diplomatic and we suspect he didn't convey everything that our neighbour said! 

Anyway, I am going to telephone the water company tomorrow to see if they can offer any solution - perhaps a temporary water supply?  Or maybe, as Patf suggested, speak to another neighbour and see if we can share their connection.

Thanks all.