Private drain crossing my land

ethansmum

I need some help.

A private drain servicing 3 properties some distance from my property (and not connected to my property in anyway) has been discovered collapsed. Yorkshire water had wanted to dig up my driveway to fix it but I kicked off and now they have deemed it a private matter and have reffered it to Public Health.

Where do I stand on this? Why should I have to put up with the disruption and a ugly driveway. They have refused to retarmac the whole drive, just where they will dig up, so It will look ugly and I'll have to have it re done.

Please help! I feel sorry for those blocked drain affected houses but why should I have to suffer too?

sheerdelight

You must be popular with your neighbours. It is more than likely that at some stage agreement was made with the landowner for the drain to cross "your" property. Is it your land- Do you own the ground ir do you pay ground rent to someone else.

That aside yiu can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. Yes it would be great if you could get the whole driveway done but that ain't going to happen in real life.

Alter_ego

I think you are right, insist on re-instatement of your drive as it is before the work. Possibly compensation for the disruption caused.

Hintza

It's called a wayleave, have you checked your deeds?

But they should put your drive back the way thy find it.

thenudeone

Don't assume that it will be mentioned in any documents. It may not have been considered when pieces of land were sold or split.
Don't assume that if it isn't on any documents then no-one has any rights. If the drain was there first, before the land was split, the users may well have inherited rights to continue to use the drain (but not necessarily the right to dig up your property to repair it).
Try to come to a reasonable arrangement with the users of the drain. If you can't, you probably need some advice from a solicitor.

Optimist

It is best to come to a mutual understanding and remain on friendly terms as they can go to court to get access and repairing drains would be covered under the Access to Neighbouring Land Act 1992.

They should reinstate your drive to the condition they found it but getting it completely re-tarmacked would be excessive.

fluffnutter

ethansmum wrote: »

Why should I have to put up with the disruption and a ugly driveway.

I assume because there's no alternative. The drains do need to be fixed. Your neighbours can't have backed up sewerage; it's simply not a sustainable position to be in and will cause real problems if not resolved. By all means negotiate for a decent job on your driveway, but, sorry to say this, you seem a little mean-spirited if you don't allow this work to go ahead. I'd sacrifice my drive to prevent some poor sod getting e-coli.

ethansmum

Yes I guess I do sound mean spirited, however I do not appreciate workman turning up on my driveway at 7.50am getting their tools out ready to start work digging up my private property, when I had no idea that there was a problem with any drain (even though it turns out that for a week they had planned the work.) No one has a right to simply turn up and expect to do whatever they want on someone elses property.

Nope these drains aren't on any maps/deeds.

PZH

ethansmum wrote: »

..No one has a right to simply turn up and expect to do whatever they want on someone elses property.

Not sure that's entirely true. I though utility companies had the right to emergency access (Gas, Water, Electricity, etc) ?

cardinalbiggles

I think in Scotland you have access to conduct reasonable repairs, if the drain is collapsed reasonable repairs would include actually getting the drain fixed. Sure, you want it put back to how it was but I suspect your only causing trouble for yourself in the long run both with the people you have to live next to and the law.