Sewerage costs: who pays?

Questioner

In our garden there is a municipal sewer well. Our sewer is connected to this, there is a pump in it that pumps the stuff further in ground state. Next to the well is a green box. The ownership papers include an 'agreement to establish a property right'. This states, among other things, 'Landowner retains full enjoyment and use of the relevant registered property,...' Now we want to raise the yard a bit and the pit needs to be raised 25 cm for that. The municipality wants us to pay for the costs. It is about 600 euros. Is this correct?

Lawyer

You have an agreement to establish a property right. The question is whether the property right was ever actually established; this should be evident from your title deed and/or the land registry. If it turns out that the property right was never established, then the rights and obligations under that agreement should be determined on the basis of the agreement you mentioned; my first reaction is that in that case the municipality will probably not be in its right, certainly not if the agreement was concluded with the previous owner. If the property right has been established (which should be evident from your title deed and/or the land registry), then the provisions under which the right has been established are important. More or less standard in such deeds is a provision that the landowner must refrain from actions that hinder or restrict the right of the municipality. This includes raising the garden. If such a provision is included in the deed, then the municipality can indeed recover the costs from you. Further investigation is therefore necessary to say with certainty what the situation is.