Irrigation main line in private property

I have a house in a HOA in Florida. I requested the permits to build a pool and the City and the HOA gave all the permits, the HOA cap all the sprinklers and everything was ok. When the excavation started the main line for the irrigation system was in the middle of my backyard at 4ft deep. now the HOA claims that is the homeowners responsibility to re route the main line. My questions are if a main water line that is a common property is allowed to be in the lot of private property? shouldn´t be the HOA responsibility to reroute the line?

Even if there is an easement, it still would be the association’s responsibility to move the line. It depends on how the deed is written. And if pools are allowed, it was not good planning to put the irrigation line there. If only irrigation line there is probably not an easement. I would look up how the irrigation system was approved and if owner permission was necessary to place it there. Also if on private property what permission was necessary for maintenance.

Another place to look for easements is in your Title Insurance policy.

I posted the following in the double post before finding this one, so to repeat what I said there:

You're the one who wanted the pool, so why should the HOA be responsible? It seems to me someone (your contractor perhaps) should have called 411 or whatever service you have in your area to check your property for utility lines BEFORE digging up anything. In my area, certain types of work require this to be done, otherwise, the property owner would be responsible for any damage to the lines.

Go back to your documents and see what it says about HOA responsibility vs. owner responsibility (usually there's a list). You may also need to check the other documents you got at closing and see if there's any mention of the location of utility lines.

If the title Insurance policy and probably deed too, note that the HOA has an easement under this yard, the buyers should have known before hand that digging for a pool would not be possible. I do understand that in the haste and among all the papers to sign to close transactions that buyers neglect to closely read the documents. But that is not the fault of the HOA.

Do you, Margaret, really want all of your neighbors to pay via their dues to move the line so that you can enjoy a personal private pool?

Last time I called 411( Miss Utility in Virginia) I was informed that they only mark public utilities that subscribe to their marking service ,so , that would exclude a private Buried H2o sprinkler pipe . That rule might be the same country wide .

Other owners do benefit if it's a main line. An easement gives the HOA access to something that they need - if the line only served the owner's system, there would be no point of an easement.

I agree that the OP should double-check the plats, title information, and other relevant documents, and then talk to the board. Presumably the board knew about this easement when they approved the pool.

We had the same experience in 2012 when our pool was installed.

The plats of our property showed a utility easement 10' wide and 10' feet in from the back fence running across the length of the back yard. Schematically the easement formed the base of a right triangle. An electrical distribution system cable ran in the easement to another easement outside our fence which connected the two at right angles. Well and good.

Dig Tess/Utility Locate/811 here in Texas came out and dutifully marked the easements with the flags and paint, digging commenced on the pool.

The last scoop by the back-hoe which came up out of the hole was dirt, several telephone cables, and a live 3" high voltage electrical cable. Lots of yelling and jumping around on the part of the guys with shovels in the hole.

What happened?

The contractor hired by the utility to place the cable some years earlier when the house was built elected to save a few dollars by running the cable across the hypotenuse of the triangle formed by the base and long side of the easement triangle and not in the easement.

Much excitement ensued as our neighbors lost power; we were visited by a number of utility trucks, utility locate contractor trucks, the fire department, the gas company, the telephone company, and a couple of black and whites.

Did we pay to relocate that cable? Not on your life. The utility had an easement, the cable was not in the easement. We took all the right precautions, someone made a bad decision a few years earlier to save a few dollars of copper cable.

As for the OP, unless the HOA has an easement marked on the plat of the OPs property, and the pipe is in the easement, the expense of relocating the irrigation system line should be the responsibility of the HOA.

It is possible but unlikely the HOA documents will reflect an easement, it should be noted on a plat of the property.

From my understanding, any time you call 811 or the service to call before you dig, they service provider
gets their information about utility lines from the utility and your recorders office aka the plats. If their is an irrigation
line on your property, it is up to the HOA at a cost to the association to remove it.