wayleave what does it entail?

Hi all,

I would appreciate so much some advice:

When i bought my house it was bought with running water. It was an unfinished build so we concentrated in making it liveable inside for my 9 year old.

We, as far as im aware, own the well that is at the bottom of my land but unfortunately the pump is in the garden next door to which the neighbour has his electrics wired up to and is getting water from the well via this method . So for quickness, until we werte ready to wire up, we connected a hose pipe to his outside tap and built a pump house ready to go.

Unfortunately we couldt get a electrician to connect out electrics as they said the pump wasnt big enough to feed two houses and we would have to run a 4 core cable... that was fine by us but my neighbour who has wayleave will not pay or change his connection.

We are now are at the state where we recieved a solicitors letter saying he was giving us 2 weeks notice then he will disconnect the hose leaving us with a well we bought but cant use as he wont comply.

Hope that reads okay any help will be much appreciated.

I want to know can he do this and does he have to change as to enable us both to connect and then does he have to pay half the costs?

Hi Carlow and welcome to AAM,

I have straightened out your post a little for clarity let me know if this is correct.

You need to check that the well is indeed on your land. Check the deeds and more likely than not you will find your neighbour has a right to water from the well and also a wayleave where his pipes cross your land. This means he has the right to carry out maintenance works on the well and on the pipes which traverse your land. Normally he would have to reinstate the land if the maintenance works damaged it in any way.

What kind of well is it? Is it an old fashioned shallow well or a modern less than 20 years old deep bored well? Have you tested the quality of the water for bacteria and other parameters?

Do you know what the yield of the well is? You might find that there is only enough water at certain times of the year to serve only one household.

Is there a modern submersible pump in the well and if so what is the horse power. How deep is the well and how long is the pipe from the well to the houses. What diameter is the pipe? Perhaps it is an old fasioned surface pump? What size is the pressure vessel? Is there any water treatment for hardness iron etc.

If im right then your neighbour is paying for the running costs of the pump.

Are you near a public or group scheme supply? If so I suggest you connect to this supply. If not I suggest you get a competent engineer to carry out an assessment of the existing well and if the water quantity and quality is sufficent to specify a pump size, pressure vessel and distribution network to supply both households. You would need to do this with agreement of your neighbour.

If the water quality is poor, if the yeild or quantity of water in the well is low or if your neighbour is not agreeable then I suggest you source an alternative supply. This might entail boring a new modern deep bored well installing your own submersible pump, pressure vessel, treatmentn and distribution pipes.

aj

Your post is difficult to understand.

Am I right in saying-

You bought a house and site around it. The well is on your site. When you bought, you had running water in the house or not?

Were you informed of the neighbours wayleave to the well/water supply?

What is the date of your purchase?

Have you asked your neighbour to contribute towards the costs of something? Have you been to your solicitor?

hi all, yes the well is on my land, we cannot access it whilst my neighbour is connected electrically to it .
his wayleave is as we can see on his side of the fence but his water pipes are carrying his supply in pipes up our side of the fence ...is this legal?
Also the wayleave agreement was originally only signed by one party and a solicitor is this binding?
YES we have asked him to pay so we can both access well but he refuses, we were informed about wayleave but were told we could both access well

Hi Carlow,

Can you answer some of the questions posed by Vanilla and myself?

For instance is your neighbours wayleave over your property registered?



aj

yes it says its registered on agreement
wayleave is signed by one party and solicitor ..no second parties signature is on it? Is that binding?

Is it registered with land registry (prai)? Is the wayleave marked on the folio map (usually yelllow).

I cant understand how "electrics" would prevent you from inspecting any part of your property.

What kind of well is it? see above.