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The Ins and Outs of Water Rights in Texas

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Water Rights in Texas
Water Rights in Texas

Water is an important resource that continues to shape the development of Texas. The Water Rights law is complex because of the Lone Star State’s historical background and succeeding amendments to adjust to the hydrologic cycle and usage. Water Rights dictates who is given by privilege, quantity, and purpose. It also specifies the time and place where the water may be utilized. Texas law has divided water into legal classes with different rules on ownership and usage for each category. The most recognized of the classes are surface water and underground water. Surface water rights are more complex because it follows the British ruling, and other amendments based on the hydrologic cycle

 

Surface Water

What is the Riparian Doctrine?

Briefly, the Riparian doctrine is used in resolving water rights and usage conflicts. The fundamental rule is that water rights are connected to the ownership of the property that borders natural water sources such as rivers or streams. Water rights are covered by land proprietorship.

Riparian landowners have the right to use the water within reason and in consideration of the needs of other owners of lands with the same water source. Water rights are retained as long as the property ownership is retained.

Texas water rights use this ruling to resolve conflicts between landowners’ use of natural water within their properties when applicable.

What is Prior Appropriation Doctrine?

Landowners, lawmakers, and the courts from the Western States realized the Riparian Doctrine is not enough to cover rulings on water rights. The doctrine is not appropriate to the dry weather of the Western States, where the rainfall average is below 30 inches per year. Prior Appropriation Doctrine is therefore applied where water rights are not connected to land ownership. Instead, it is based on complying with statutory requirements.

Texas, like the other Western States, was unable to control the use of natural sources of water. Water belonged to no one and was used by everyone. The Doctrine of Prior Appropriation then was adopted to legalize the appropriation of the use of water from rivers and streams.

Combining Two Doctrines

Water Rights Adjudication Act of 1967 combined the Riparian and Prior Appropriation Doctrines. Any person who wished to claim a Riparian must file claims for the right by 1969 with the Texas Water Commission. Furthermore, anybody wishing to use surface water or drainage water must ask and receive permission from the state. The permission is granted by Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Why is this drainage water so important that there is a need for a permit to collect and use? Drainage water is another name for diffused surface water or stormwater that naturally incurred after rainfall or snowmelt. Diffused surface water finds its flow from high elevation to low lands. By law, the diffused or drainage water is owned and regulated by the state. Thus, landowners must have a permit to collect this water. There are three general directives applied when drainage water is collected or diverted.

Directive 1 – Common Enemy Rule:  Drainage water is considered as a common enemy of all property owners and the law enables all owners to establish measures to protect their properties, without considering the consequence of which to others or neighboring properties. For example, under this rule, Property owner A can take measures like diverting the flow of diffused water to a water duct in his property to protect certain parts from being destroyed or affected by the natural water flow.

Directive 2 – Civil Law Rule or Natural Flow: In this ruling, all property owners are entitled to the perpetuation of the natural flow. If an owner upstream manipulates and increases the flow, causing flooding to lower elevation property, the manipulator is liable to damages.

Directive 3 – Reasonable Flow:  Flow of drainage water can be redirected by a property owner even if the extent of the diversion harms the property of another, provided that the action is considered within reasonable circumstances. The reasonable condition is subject to evaluation.

Groundwater

The law on groundwater in Texas is uncomplicated and easy to understand. Groundwater is considered part of the private property of the landowner. Property owners have the right to pump up or collect the water underneath their land. Simple, right? Not so, as all property owners share the reservoir of water underneath the land.

Adjoining properties pump on the same source; pumping up of one property may cause the quantity of water to dwindle or the well of the neighbor to dry out. The existing law on the collection of groundwater is called the “Law of the Biggest Pump”, which means whoever owns the most powerful pump can collect all the water, regardless of whether the neighbor’s reservoir runs dry. Owners are not liable for any inconvenience or even losses their neighbors might incur if their source of water runs dry.

There are only five circumstances where the Texas court will intervene on Groundwater rights:

  1. If there was trespassing on neighboring land to drill water by directly drilling a well on the property or a slanted well on adjoining property that crosses the property line via subterranean level, then the injured neighbor can sue on grounds of trespassing.
  2. If there was malicious or wanton intention to injure another by intentionally drying out the well of a neighbor via over pumping, then the court will intervene.
  3. If it is proven that a property owner or owners are wasting artesian well water by letting the water overflow their land or seep back to the water table, then the court will intervene.
  4. It is unlawful to contaminate or pollute groundwater.
  5. If over pumping from adjoining lands causes the other properties to sink or would have an injurious effect on the land, then the court will intervene.

These are the basic ins and outs of Texas Water Rights.

If you are contemplating buying land in Texas then call a knowledgeable agent with Preferred Properties of Texas to help you through the process of buying land and making you sure you have access to one of life’s most valuable resources on the planet water. Check out what farm and ranch properties are available.

Getting Your Land Surveyed Can Help With Selling Your Property

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You think you understand the perimeters of your premises, but you truly don’t unless you have had somebody to survey it and provide you its precise dimensions. You will realize your property limits if it is fenced off, but that is not an exact calculation. In case you haven’t officially researched the house, then you certainly do not possess its precise dimensions.

It is always in the homeowner’s best interest to acquire the support of a professional surveyor, also called a professional land surveyor, to discover the specific limits of someone’s property. This procedure safeguards your pursuits in a number of ways, if it be a burglar contesting your own limitations, a characteristic coming under scrutiny or even once you would like to sell the house.

A property survey measures how big your premises and decides where the bounds are. It is a record that reveals all land lines, such as property, structures and characteristics like tree structure that you have. Sometimes, land surveying shows essential details like where underground utility lines set.

Surveys can help if you wish to demonstrate your premises visually for prospective buyers. But a questionnaire could also come in handy once you have to clear up problems you have with neighbors to the city.

Though you are not legally required to receive a home survey to sell your property, it is often a fantastic idea since you may show prospective buyers exactly where the property lies. Furthermore, home surveys, if you’ve got a fence line or not, simply add transparency to the house negotiation procedure. Therefore, it’s always in your very best interest to acquire the property surveyed.

When you purchase acreage, it is vital to have a questionnaire because fences may be eliminated by many feet toward your house, creating your house smaller than that which you originally purchased.

Using the land surveyed before you purchase it, you prevent problems like suits due to border disputes, a procedure which will be rather costly and lengthy.

Land surveying in the time of buy can conserve a vendor from getting into unfamiliar problems later on. By way of instance, a questionnaire will discover sinkholes, that are underground water stations which may lead to flood or perhaps collapse a house. Nearly a quarter of those homes sold in states including Florida, Texas, Missouri, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Alabama are in danger of being damaged or ruined from sinkholes. A sinkhole developing in your premises is a huge problem which may be averted at the onset of a sale.

When you purchase or sell a part of property, the dimensions of this house is listed in the name and the name must concord with all the quantified property dimensions. Occasionally neighbors unintentionally plant a tree or construct over the home line or fencing, therefore a property poll will constantly confirm the real boundaries of their house.

Some nations have land polls as part of their public document, but others do not. You should first visit a Public Records Office to see whether there is a questionnaire on the house. When there is not one on the public document, you will have to do yourself by employing a property survey firm.

It is very important to understand a home completely before you market it. Detecting problems and analyzing your property’s borders will make the selling process a lot simpler. Look at relying on professionals that are capable of providing a precise survey.

Land Loans

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If it comes to funding your property purchase, obtaining the funds is not always quite as easy as it might be if you’re purchasing a property using a traditional mortgage. Classic mortgage choices are tough to come by for property loans, and creditors that do provide them often tack on higher rates of interest and shorter pay-back intervals –either of which may be difficult to handle, particularly if you’re buying on a budget.

Thus, what would be your next best choices? Many borrowers use private or government loans to fund their purchases, which provide a little more flexibility once the large banks are not a fantastic fit. Which one is ideal for you will depend on your eligibility, where you are purchasing, and what your present financial situation resembles, but here is a glance at what a few of your accessible property loan choices may be.

Government Loans:

FSA loans– People that are purchasing property for farming or ranching purposes might be qualified to get a low-interest FSA loan via the USDA Farm Service Agency’s Farm Loan Program. These comprise both farm ownership loans for enlarging existing possessions and microloans for beginning and small farmers, and targeted loans for minority and women farmers and ranchers.

USDA building loans — If you are purchasing land to reside in a rural area, check to find out whether you qualify for a USDA Construction Loan, that can help you cover both the land and the structure which you mean to construct there. You will simply be on the hook for interest payments while your home property has been built, and the loan will change over to some traditional home loan with both the interest and principal payments due every month.

Federal and state licenses — While not loans per se, it is well worth checking to see whether you are eligible for any state or federal grants to your property buy. You will find plenty to go about, covering matters like property conservation, developments, and agriculture, and you can have the ability to detect grants via private organizations too.

Personal Loans:

Home equity loan — Should you’ve equity via an present traditional mortgage then you might have the ability to find positive rates on a house equity line of credit–also called a HELOC. From that point, you may use the charge as you see fit, such as for buying land.

Seller funding — There is a possibility your vendor is receptive to working with you straight on funding by expanding credit on your purchase. Bear in mind that this course usually demands the vendor owns the property , and you will certainly need a lawyer to check over the contract before you register to make sure it is air-tight.

Bank loans for property may not be as valuable as they are for conventional home, but they’re readily available. Types include:

• Raw land loans for entirely undeveloped properties.

• Unimproved property loans for largely undeveloped properties–i.e. Those which are mainly raw but might have some utilities prepared to go.

• Improved land loans for property that’s very good to go with utilities and access points.

Generally, the further unimproved the land that you would like to purchase, the riskier the loan and the greater the rates of interest will be. Be certain that you look around, and expand your search to small banks, which might be more receptive to funding your property investment.

Closing Cost For Land

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Closing costs refer to a range of fees utilized to finalize a property transaction. These are additional costs paid on top of the purchase price, and for most buyers, wind up adding tens of thousands –or even tens of thousands–of dollars on the first spend. Because of this, it is crucial to factor in closing costs when deciding if a piece of land is based on what you can afford.

There are an assortment of different cost factors included in property closing costs. They may change based on how you fund your property buy and that you use to finalize the price, but these are the costs you will need to think about as you figure out how much a parcel of land may run you.

• Escrow fees — In addition to paying escrow itself, additionally, there are escrow fees, such as fees to hold funds and ease the transaction.

• Bank fees — If you take a loan out for your property, expect to cover origination charges, processing fees, credit report fees, and application fees, among other potential relevant costs.

• Transfer taxes — You will find taxation involved in transferring land from 1 owner to another (typically a set percentage of the transfer cost ), with the specific speed depending on what state you are purchasing.

• Recording fees — These are fees for drafting and documenting the property sale in public documents.

• Agent and attorney fees — Commission charges for both the buyer and seller’s broker, and any relevant attorney fees.

• Other third party charges — Plan having additional closing costs for paying appraisers, surveyors, inspectors, and anyone else whose services that you use to shut your buy.

In many land sales, it is the buyer’s duty to pay closing costs. That said, a few buyers can arrange to divide closing costs with the seller–or perhaps have the seller pay for all of them. The better price you are offering from the start, the better chance you have of alleviating some of the final cost burden, since a seller might be prepared to cover some or all of the costs if it means a shorter closing period or a cash buy.

Closing costs for land is negotiable just like everything else in real estate. Who pays, how much they pay, and if things become paid out are all things that you may have the ability to negotiate on your favor, although there are never any guarantees.

 

Property Taxes On Vacant Land

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Property taxes apply to all property investments, irrespective of whether you’re living on the land, building on it, or earning an income from it. Meaning that if you own vacant land, you are going to need to pay property taxes on it though you can also be qualified for some fairly decent deductions.

Property taxes are calculated on vacant land, the amount of property taxes that you owe on vacant land are calculated from your county tax assessor and are generally based on the “highest and best use” potential of the plot–i.e. its most rewarding use. Nevertheless, you can anticipate the amount you’ll spend for vacant land is a lot less than the quantity you’d owe for enhanced land.

Based on where you live, you might have state-specific rules that govern land taxes on vacant property and just how much they can increase every year. In California, for example, Proposition 13 dictates that the assessed value of your empty land cannot go up by more than 2 percent in any given year, regardless of other changes which might have impacted its usage and profit potential.

Imagine if you disagree with the appraised value of your land? It’s not unusual for property owners to locate themselves facing higher property taxes than they anticipated. As a good guideline, it’s always a fantastic idea to examine the real estate tax history of a plot of property before buying it so that you can find a heads up on what you’re in for. But should you purchase vacant land and think the assessed value is too high–or if you believe it’s gone up a lot in the past year–then you’ve got some potential recourse.

To appeal your property tax assessment, start by digging to the data. Pull up your property’s record card and search for discrepancies in the description of your land, since if they exist you should have no trouble obtaining a fast adjustment. If that does not work, look to the comps and your land itself to make a case for why the appraised value is too high. You can then take this information to your county, where you’ll go through a formal appeal procedure.

Be aware you will probably face limitations on when you can appeal your vacant property taxes. As an example, expect that you won’t have the ability to place an appeal before a new assessment comes out after buying, which from that you might have between 30 and 90 days to launch your circumstance.

Vacant land tax deductions, on the bright side, as a property investor you are qualified to write off certain expenses related to owning your vacant property, and that includes your property taxes. You might also write off the interest that you pay in your own land loan. Both of these expenses will proceed in your Schedule A tax type, which insures personal itemized deductions.

Keep in mind that under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), certain deductions which are standard for investors of empty land–believe developments, maintenance fees, and legal and accounting charges –are no more workable write-offs unless you’re a land dealer purchasing land for a fast turnaround purchase.

Preferred Properties of Texas

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