shared down pipe problem

bravo2sugars

Hi I am wondering if anyone can help me here. I live in a terraced property and between two of the houses there is a shared down pipe coming from the guttering. In the front of the properties this discharges into my neighbours property via his porch and comes off at a near 90 degree angle. This obviously causes it to block on a regular basis and for the past two and a half years I have been asking the landlord to rectify this as it is causing damp and damage to my property.

The rear downpipe, which actually serves three properties discharges into my garden and i take responsibility for this having it cleared, cleaned and flushed on an annual basis.

I have finally got the council to come round and meet with the landlord to rectify the problem, but the council have suggested two things.

1 I fix the down pipe that discharges into his property. I have declined this as I will then be liable for any damage I may cause.
2 I agree to have the down pipe discharge into my drain. this will mean having to have a downpipe cutting across the front of my house to get to my drain. i have declined this one also.

He then came back and said that as the properties are all benefiting then we are all liable for the cost. Because of the angle of the down pipe, the maintenance costs will be regular and I would anticipate about three times per year to get it unblocked. I have no problem with sharing the cost of unblocking, but this will get a bit onerous if its as regular as I believe it will be. However, that aside. when I asked him to reference this shared responsibility idea he said his boss mentioned something about it. He doesn't seem to understand why I will not acquiesce to this when he just seemed to pick it out of the air. It would appear that the landlord doesn't have a problem rectifying the issue but the council who would be the enforcing authority, are trying to be obstructive. Does anyone have any idea where this bit of legislation would be taken from?

I don't wish to be awkward but I don't want to be in a position of paying for half of it, then when it comes to me recovering the costs for the rear, being told to get lost as its not the case!

Someone mentioned that if the joint responsibility isnt set out in the deeds then it is the responsibility of whoever's property it sits in. Is that correct?

Can anyone advise?