We have a shared bore on a small easement. The bore pump is owned by us (although the neighbour thinks he owns it, but he has no proof, we do) and it is powered from our home, so we pay for the electricity it uses.
The neighbour is required to pay us for his water usage, ie the electricity his usage causes the pump to use. This is part of the easement agreement. For the last 3 years, he has refused to pay us due to unrelated disagreements (he does things like burning big piles of plastic, which is illegal and toxic, lets his animals run loose to cause damage etc, we had to call the council to stop him) and every time I bring it up he just screams "talk to my lawyer".
I have submitted bills to his lawyer numerous times with no result. He just ignores them, assuming the lawyer is actually passing them on (I'm not convinced he does, they are both farmer buddies).
The problem is exacerbated by him having numerous leaks on his side that make the bore pump run every 8-10 mins, so it is causing excessive wear and tear on the pump as well as greatly increasing electricity usage. The easement agreement also requires that he only use water on the cottage grounds, ie for the house and garden, but he has stock troughs etc connected to it as well.
He is also aggressive and can be violent, 3 years ago he entered my property, was filming me with his phone all while accusing me of trespassing (he was standing in my front yard while saying this!). He was told to leave and refused, kept filming and hit me in the face with his phone, which I took off him and threw over the fence (to remove the weapon and give him a reason to leave).
After shirt-fronting me, I told him to let go, he backed down like most bullies do and left. I then called the police, who had a chat to him. I discovered later that the day before this incident he had been in the council offices and did the same to the staff there, they had to evacuate the front desk until he left. I state this as a bit of background to the type of person he is.
So, question is, having given him numerous warnings that we are getting tired of him stealing from us, where should we go from here? I have talked to a couple of gov't depts and their response was "not our problem".
Am I within my property rights to simply disconnect him after a written warning? He claims water rights, but my lawyer (who we have already paid a fair bit of money to with no positive result, I don't have much faith in him to be honest) says that the agreement implies that the neighbour has rights to the water, but not our pump etc. Given that we are the only side of the agreement that is actually abiding by the agreement, I would have thought the agreement is void and we can just give him written warning and then disconnect him? Or, is there any organisation/govt department etc that actually deals with this sort of disagreement?
I suspect if I did disconnect him, his lawyer mate would jump in and start threatening us, so it would end up in court. I would expect that, given the neighbour's past history and behaviour, we would be vindicated in court, but would rather it not get that far.
The neighbour is required to pay us for his water usage, ie the electricity his usage causes the pump to use. This is part of the easement agreement. For the last 3 years, he has refused to pay us due to unrelated disagreements (he does things like burning big piles of plastic, which is illegal and toxic, lets his animals run loose to cause damage etc, we had to call the council to stop him) and every time I bring it up he just screams "talk to my lawyer".
I have submitted bills to his lawyer numerous times with no result. He just ignores them, assuming the lawyer is actually passing them on (I'm not convinced he does, they are both farmer buddies).
The problem is exacerbated by him having numerous leaks on his side that make the bore pump run every 8-10 mins, so it is causing excessive wear and tear on the pump as well as greatly increasing electricity usage. The easement agreement also requires that he only use water on the cottage grounds, ie for the house and garden, but he has stock troughs etc connected to it as well.
He is also aggressive and can be violent, 3 years ago he entered my property, was filming me with his phone all while accusing me of trespassing (he was standing in my front yard while saying this!). He was told to leave and refused, kept filming and hit me in the face with his phone, which I took off him and threw over the fence (to remove the weapon and give him a reason to leave).
After shirt-fronting me, I told him to let go, he backed down like most bullies do and left. I then called the police, who had a chat to him. I discovered later that the day before this incident he had been in the council offices and did the same to the staff there, they had to evacuate the front desk until he left. I state this as a bit of background to the type of person he is.
So, question is, having given him numerous warnings that we are getting tired of him stealing from us, where should we go from here? I have talked to a couple of gov't depts and their response was "not our problem".
Am I within my property rights to simply disconnect him after a written warning? He claims water rights, but my lawyer (who we have already paid a fair bit of money to with no positive result, I don't have much faith in him to be honest) says that the agreement implies that the neighbour has rights to the water, but not our pump etc. Given that we are the only side of the agreement that is actually abiding by the agreement, I would have thought the agreement is void and we can just give him written warning and then disconnect him? Or, is there any organisation/govt department etc that actually deals with this sort of disagreement?
I suspect if I did disconnect him, his lawyer mate would jump in and start threatening us, so it would end up in court. I would expect that, given the neighbour's past history and behaviour, we would be vindicated in court, but would rather it not get that far.
