Neighbours venting into my garden without permission

TuckertheCat

Hi All

We've just moved house, all's going great however I'm not happy at all with the neighbours dodgy extension. Its built right to the boundry hence the guttering - which incidentally pours waters all over our garden- is about 8 inchs into our property, now I find what looked like a loose brick in the wall is actually a hole smashed into the wall for their cooker vent, hence the awful smell:mad:

Obviously we've bought the house as is and without a doubt the previous owner was misinformed to the design of the extension but I'm prepared to overlook the guttering however the vent is really taking the mickey.

Has anyone any idea how we stand in the matter of the vent, are we out of luck due the age of the extension or do we have a valid cause for complaint?

gmgmgm

When was the extension built?

Did your solicitor give you any of the party wall docs?

27col

Why should you have to put up with the water from next door in your garden. However it is disposed of it should be controlled inside pipe work and not pouring water into your garden I appreciate that you might not want to fall out with the neighbours at this early stage, but they really should be taking charge of their own rain water. If this sort of thing is allowed to fester unchecked it could make for very bad future relations between you. I am not sure what the best way to proceed about the exhaust vent might be. Perhaps a quick word with your solicitor might be the way forward initially.

TuckertheCat

gmgmgm wrote: »

When was the extension built?

Did your solicitor give you any of the party wall docs?

No that I'm aware of. Our house orginally belonged to a relative hence I know some of the history of the works but not all.

The original extension was appaling beyond belief, the sort of thing you only see on TV but don't expect to see in real life. To cut a long story short about 18 months before we took possesion the whole extension fell down into our garden, luckily not injuring anyone but destroying the garage our side. The extension is the longer than the house so you can imagine the mess.

It was rebuilt completely to what looks like regs, I spoke to the builders during the build and they really seemed to know their stuff, can't fault the workmanship on the rebuild. Our garage was also rebuilt, again to a high standard however our garage wall is their extension wall so some agreement must have been made although I've no knowledge of this.

Presumably the solicitors would have the party wall docs and maybe even the orgininal planning permission?

AdrianW2

I can't picture this.

If the guttering bothers you, you need to object quickly if you want the courts to enforce it, it may be too late. There's plenty of info on the web if you search.

As for the vent, nothing to stop you blocking it up your side. I'm prepared to be proven wrong, but I don't think there's anything you can do about it from a legal perspective.

baldelectrician

When I install a vent it must exit on to the property concerned, not a different property. I have had builders comment about an extension having to be shorter to allow for guttering, or use of guttering that does not overhang.

Things may be differernt up here

Fire_Fox

Sort the guttering out, excessive water in the soil can be very damaging to your property's foundations.

Surbybird

I have the same problem with my neighbour's flue venting into my garden approx 8 feet from my kitchen door and dining room window. I contacted Building Control at my local council and they said this:

"The Building Regulations Part K have required that gas boiler flues be sited a minimum of 600mm from the boundary since 2002. There was no requirement in the Building Regulation relating to distance to the boundary for gas boiler flues before 2002. I understand that the boiler was installed in 1998 or before and therefore this Regulation was not applicable at that time. Boiler flues usually only need to be sited 600mm away from openings windows and often only 300mm away with modern boilers flues on the same wall.
I would suggest that it might be worth speaking to your neighbour to see if the boiler has been serviced recently and wether there is anything that can be done to reduce the problem."

(The typos are theirs, not mine.)

So basically, because they had it put in before the new regs came into force I have to put up with the constant plume of steam and gases, which comes right into my house if I have windows open in the back but according to the council, that's fine.

I am going to build a 10 foot fence right up against the flue though. That'll learn 'em!

;o)

Doozergirl

Guttering should not overhang your boundary. All of their extension should fall within their own boundary.

I'd speak to the planning department to see what, if anything you can do about that.

And speak to building control with regard to the vent. The vent shouldn't be on your land either but I suspect it doesn't meet with building regs either.

macman

You can remove parts of a tree overhanging your boundary, not sure if you can do the same with the guttering?
But first I think you need to establish if the wall is actually on the boundary line-it could be a few inches shy of it to allow for the guttering. Either way it should not be allowed to discharge into your garden.

Surbybird

Doozergirl wrote: »

Guttering should not overhang your boundary. All of their extension should fall within their own boundary.

I'd speak to the planning department to see what, if anything you can do about that.

And speak to building control with regard to the vent. The vent shouldn't be on your land either but I suspect it doesn't meet with building regs either.

The date of installation is the important bit where Building Control are concerned.

If the vent was originally installed before 2002 there's nothing you can do about it. I've just spent the last 4 weeks having this battle with Building Control myself.

My neighbour's vent is on the boundary between our properties (the wall of their extension partly encloses my garden) and discharges directly into my kitchen door but because the extension was built in 1998 and the flue was put in at that time, Building Control are powerless to act. Prior to 2002 you could stick the flue anywhere you liked, even if it overhung a neighbouring property.

I can, of course, politely ask my neighbour to relocate it, but as the only other wall they'd be willing to put it on would also mean that it discharged onto my property I'd gain nothing.