Neighbors water meter and line are in the basement of MY house

[justalayman]

The point is if/when OP goes to court, he will now be armed with legal direction provided by the state agency in charge of the issue.

Hey, did I dissuade the OP from contacting the state regulatory agency? Nope, sure didn't.

As a matter of fact, I suggested continuing on with the state agency.

 

[FarmerJ]

Sne1516 Ive seen some old installs in Minneapolis that were this way so try to see if at the time ( its on the actual tap card info for your home at public works) this house was connected to city water if the way it was installed was allowed (until ? ) then look for revised city ords that changed the rules ( keep following and If by chance your going to have to live with this for some time yet then Id say to send to this rear homes owner a registered letter that tells them should this line that serves them that is connected thru your basement cause damage you wont have any choice but to sue them then if this basement is not heated id say to be very very careful and wrap with heat tape and foam pipe wrap . DO take the time to learn if there is a shut off that you can use to cut off the water to not only your own home but that other in case there is a problem. then while your at it you might as well take the time to learn if that rear house has its own sewer tap card or not ( if a water line was shared it would not shock me if your home and the rear one were also on a shared sewer line if the house you live in was the original home on the lot and the city does not have a tap card on file for the rear homes sewer line then thats likely as shared one too )

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Hey, did I dissuade the OP from contacting the state regulatory agency? Nope, sure didn't.

As a matter of fact, I suggested continuing on with the state agency.

LOL, I was engaging in discourse, not debate.

 

[sne1516]

Sne1516 Ive seen some old installs in Minneapolis that were this way so try to see if at the time ( its on the actual tap card info for your home at public works) this house was connected to city water if the way it was installed was allowed (until ? ) then look for revised city ords that changed the rules ( keep following and If by chance your going to have to live with this for some time yet then Id say to send to this rear homes owner a registered letter that tells them should this line that serves them that is connected thru your basement cause damage you wont have any choice but to sue them then if this basement is not heated id say to be very very careful and wrap with heat tape and foam pipe wrap . DO take the time to learn if there is a shut off that you can use to cut off the water to not only your own home but that other in case there is a problem. then while your at it you might as well take the time to learn if that rear house has its own sewer tap card or not ( if a water line was shared it would not shock me if your home and the rear one were also on a shared sewer line if the house you live in was the original home on the lot and the city does not have a tap card on file for the rear homes sewer line then thats likely as shared one too )

Thank you. The sewer line is separate. I know this because they had to dig up their back yard last year when the sewer backed up into their basement. This is a rental property owned by the renters brother-in-law who is also a contractor and frequently does work for the city (small city of @600). Did I stir up a hornet's nest or what???? I will request the tap card. The basement is heated as much as an unfinished basement in a 100 yr old house can be when it hits below 0 in Iowa. The egress pipe has lots of cement/adhesive on it and that area leaks when it rains. I do know where the shut off valve is because that is how I discovered there was an issue. The original owners ran the well to the back house when they built it for their son. When the water changed to city water they just tapped into the piping that was already there. It was only 10 years ago that they even put in a shut off valve at the street. I only asked the owners of the other property for communication on how they planned to fix this issue and gave them 4 months to respond. Their response, as stated by someone else in another post, was that it was not their problem. I appreciate all the help and advice this site has provided!!! Thanks!

 

[FarmerJ]

The rear home owner saying what they have is why I suggest digging further into your towns ordinances because its entirely possible that there may be something that has been missed like a date trigger for change. You also want to learn what your city ords are Now re locations of water lines , where they must be run, details like a date that eliminated so called shared taps , under what circumstances does your city ords require re location of lines so the lines are not crossing another persons lot, the more details you can learn the better of your outcome might be.