Comment

Comment by daniel cohen on November 20, 2009 at 8:32am

More questions than advice. If your neighbors well(s) are within a particular radius, you ought to be able to qualify for some royalties from them. What company is it that seems to be behaving poorly? Have you consulted the actual lease provisions to make sure that the company is complying in all particulars?
Dan

Comment by Kathleen R Moss on November 19, 2009 at 8:15am

We do own the mineral rights and get a royalty check. The guy that owns the lease is very hard to deal with and doesn't seem to answer our questions outright. My husband doesn't want to stir things up and says to leave it alone. I just want to be sure we don't have rights that we aren't aware of. I am going to check with the lawyer that did our title search about the lease. We own the most beautiful 100 acres bordered on 3 sides by national forest so no way will we ever sell!!! Thanks for all the advice.

Comment by Lowell Todd Armstrong on November 18, 2009 at 9:48am

There is a lease (you should be able to get a copy of the lease from the operator (The "Lessee") of the wells on your property. One question is, are you in-fact the lessor (the landowner who has given the lease), or did somewhere in the past separate the mineral ownership, from the surface ownership. If you do not own the minerals under you property, then you are limited in what you can do. If you do own your mineral rights (or some portion of the mineral rights) then you have more leverage. A simple question would be, are you receiving a royalty check? If you are you own some portion of the minerals, you should be getting a check. If you are not, you probably do not. Either way, you can demand that the operator clean up their locations. Oil spills, and saltwater spills are unacceptable, and your state regulatory agency should be able to make them clean up ther act. As far as breaking the lease, as long as the wells are producing in commerical quantities (ie the wells make a profit), the lease is good. The only caveat is, if you in fact are the lessor (you do own a portion of minerals) and they are not paying you the royalty payments that you are due. Non-payment of royalties is a sure fired lease breaker.

Comment by May on November 18, 2009 at 4:22am

It's a terrible situation, but you bought land without the mineral rights. Were the wells already on the property when you bought the land? Did your lawyer mention the lease when doing the title work for closing?

Comment by Kathleen R Moss on November 17, 2009 at 9:40am

We have no written lease that we know of. I am in Pennsylvania.

Comment by Keith Mauck (Site Publisher) on November 17, 2009 at 9:36am

What does the lease say regarding site maintenance? What state are you in?