When I bought my second parcel fifteen years ago, I assumed the seller's verbal confirmation of senior water rights was enough to move forward quickly. The listing looked solid, the creek ran strong, and the ditch infrastructure was intact. What I didn't do was pull the actual water court decrees and verify the priority dates against the state's division records before closing.
Turns out, one of the two shares had a gap in the chain of conveyance going back to a 1940s estate transfer. That share sat in legal limbo for three years while I irrigated on good faith and uncertainty.
Here's what I'd tell anyone buying irrigated ground in a prior appropriation state: the deed transferring land does not automatically convey water rights unless those rights are explicitly listed and legally attached. Appurtenant status isn't assumed — it must be verified through division records, not just the seller's word or even the title company's cursory review.
Has anyone else found title companies in their state genuinely unprepared to catch water rights conveyance gaps, or is that more of a Colorado problem?