Problems with neighbours guttering

pinkpauline34

I live in a terraced house which is privately owned in Scotland. My next door neighbour has had a serious problem with her guttering for many weeks which she hasn't had repaired or looked at. It's the pipe that is connected onto the pipe on the roof which gathers the rainwater and the pipe goes down into the ground - sorry, I have no idea what it's called. It looks as though this down pipe is shared with 3 other houses in the terrace (mine isn't included).

Today we are having torrential storms and the water is gushing out of what looks to be a circular seal on the down pipe and the water is flooding her garden. However, with the winds, a great deal of water is also landing in my garden and running down the front of my house. She is the proverbial NFH and none of the neighbours are on speaking terms with her (myself included).

Obviously, I don't want my property to be damaged and as I've spent a lot of money on my garden over summer, I don't want my plants damaged either. I know it's tricky with us not being on speaking terms but can anyone advise what I could do?

robby-01

pinkpauline34 wrote:

I live in a terraced house which is privately owned in Scotland. My next door neighbour has had a serious problem with her guttering for many weeks which she hasn't had repaired or looked at. It's the pipe that is connected onto the pipe on the roof which gathers the rainwater and the pipe goes down into the ground - sorry, I have no idea what it's called. It looks as though this down pipe is shared with 3 other houses in the terrace (mine isn't included).

Today we are having torrential storms and the water is gushing out of what looks to be a circular seal on the down pipe and the water is flooding her garden. However, with the winds, a great deal of water is also landing in my garden and running down the front of my house. She is the proverbial NFH and none of the neighbours are on speaking terms with her (myself included).

Obviously, I don't want my property to be damaged and as I've spent a lot of money on my garden over summer, I don't want my plants damaged either. I know it's tricky with us not being on speaking terms but can anyone advise what I could do?

If water is coming down the front of your house it will eventually cause damp and other problems.You will be covered for this on your buildings insurance if you check, but only when the damage has been done.
You have to speak to the woman.You may not want to but you need to.
Look at it this way if you came home and found her in your garden damaging your wall and plants would you speak to her or would you just sit inside and wait for her to finish and then post on this site asking for advice.

Wig

Tell her to tell her other neighbour to divert their own rainwater. sounds like there may be a soakaway in the ground which has filled with water, either that or there is a pipe blockage. The water has filled up the pipe and is comng out under pressure from the join in the downpipe.

2 options your neighbour has:

1a. Unblock the pipe
1b. Build a bigger soakaway
2 Tell other neighbour to put a downpipe in.

pinkpauline34

Thanks for your replies.

I have checked again and it appears that she shares it with her other neighbour who also isn't on speaking terms with her. Her other neighbour's not at home right now but I'll catch him and speak to him over the weekend.

She has had someone out this afternoon and it appears that the downpipe is now lying in bits in her front garden - I just hope there isn't any more rain tonight. I'm afraid there is no way that I can speak to her - she is a most unpleasant and unreasonable individual. Her husband is very intimidating and as I'm a single parent with two young children, I'm not prepared to compromise my safety.