CA Raw Land - Neighbor Water Meter on Property Line

[Keegan Jones]

Hello all,

We are considering purchasing a parcel of raw land here in San Diego County (Mission Valley area for anyone who is familiar with the area) and developing a triplex on the property; however, the neighbor's water meter is directly on the property line--let me explain. 

The neighbor had a water meter installed on the side of their house which butts-up with the property line between the prospective plot of land and their land. Additionally, they cut a small hole in the fence so SDG&E (the utility company here) can read the meter from the empty lot. I am not sure yet if the fence belongs to the neighbor or to the current land owners, since the entire property is already fenced in.

I am half-tempted to purchase the land, close the hole in the fence, and tell the neighbor to figure it out, since they knowingly put the meter on the property line without consulting the adjacent landowner, i.e. the seller of the land, but, saner minds have prevailed and I would rather not come into a property and start strong-arming the neighbors.  I just want to see what the great community of BP has to say about this? Do you think this would be an issue in the future? I don't want schedule a time every month for SDG&E to come check the meter for the neighbor's water bill. What ways can I turn this into a success? 

This will be the first raw land development project we do, so any input is greatly appreciated,

Thank you!

[Matt Devincenzo]

I do land development engineering in SD, and I doubt you have much of any recourse here on the water meter. The meter is within the public ROW, so while it is at a projection of your PL, it isn't actually on your property. Also this scenario isn't all that uncommon depending on the age of the property and who installed the meter (private vs public install). My guess is you are most likely going to have to come to a resolution that very well may involve you paying for a relocation if you in fact actually need it relocated. When these scenarios come up it is usually best to try and identify a way to leave the meter in place and install your improvements so as not to impact that facility. Again it's not your property so it is generally not a big deal.