A lot of the greenest ground in the Heber Valley and the Kamas Valley is watered by canal companies, not wells. You will hear "the property comes with water shares," and it sounds simple. It is not. Shares are stock in the company that holds the underlying water right, and they are personal property that transfers through the company, not automatically with the deed.
How shares work
The canal company holds the water right; shareholders own stock that entitles them to a proportionate delivery under the company's rules. Companies set their own per-share delivery, season, and assessments. Some shares are quantified in acre-feet; others are a fraction of whatever the company can deliver in a dry year.
Read the company rules before you assume what a share means. A share in one company is not a share in another.
The transfer trap
Because shares are personal property, buying the land does not buy the shares. The seller has to formally transfer the stock to you through the company, usually a written assignment.
I have seen closings stall because the shares sat in a family trust, or the company books were a mess. We check the share ledger before we get to the closing table, not after.
Questions that matter
How many shares come with the property? What do they deliver in an average year, and in a dry one? What are the annual assessments? When does the season run? Can the shares be split if the property is divided?
Get the answers in writing, from the company, not from the neighbor's cousin.
Irrigation shares are a beautiful thing when they are real and transferable. We verify the ledger, the company rules, and the delivery before you pay for water you might not be able to use.
Belladonna Bayless
Associate Broker · Land & Ranch
