neighbour dispute

gutter1

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the right place for this, but we need advice.

Our neighbours have no communication with us after a messy divorce years back when we remained friends with his ex-wife. This isn't a problem in itself and generally they just ignore us.

In February we had an extention built at the back of our property. The guttering that previously ran along the back of the two properties and drained into a water butt in their garden was re-routed as we were adding an increased roof space and now drains into our main drain. His was capped so a much smaller amount now drains into his garden. At the same time for reasons unknown he removed his water butt so the water drained directly onto his patio.

In July we noticed he had removed the cap our builder had placed on his guttering and shoved in a piece of black guttering which overhung 3-4 inches into our garden, soaking the wall, patio and our extention in the process. At the time my husband was away so I recapped it and pushed the black guttering back.

Since then we've had a game of cat and mouse, with them pushing it over every time it rains and us pushing it back, it is ridiculous! We have tried to talk to him since but he just continues to ignore us.

He also has a flimsy lean-to built at the end of the garden without guttering which drains directly onto the party wall (built by the previous owner of our house and maintained by us). It has caused it to crack but we were advised not to pursue it but to cap the wall, waterseal it then wait for the lean-to to fall down.

Threatening him with the law won't make any difference, he is still tying up the loose ends of a messy divorce 5 years on and does everything he can to stretch and bend rules - and he's a policeman!

So, has anyone got any advice???

Fire_Fox

I can't see the point of a thread where you ask for advice on a dispute but immediately dismiss using any legal pathways. What do you want us to suggest, something illegal??

gutter1

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I can't see the point of a thread where you ask for advice on a dispute but immediately dismiss using any legal pathways. What do you want us to suggest, something illegal??

OK, so maybe i was wondering if we should be writing to him? Suggesting mediation? Something? I was thinking the route of threatening court/solicitors etc might not work because of his history but if we were to pursue it how would we.

silvercar

The guttering that previously ran along the back of the two properties and drained into a water butt in their garden was re-routed as we were adding an increased roof space and now drains into our main drain. His was capped so a much smaller amount now drains into his garden.

I'm not sure you can just do this. you can't just cap his end off and leave him to it.

chris_m

silvercar wrote: »

I'm not sure you can just do this. you can't just cap his end off and leave him to it.

Don't see why not.
From the description it sounds to me like there used to be one length of gutter for two houses, running into a single downpipe into the neighbour's garden. After/when the extension was built the gutter was cut and capped so that it only collects water from the neighbour's roof and still runs into the same downpipe. All, it means is that the neighbour won't be getting as much water into his garden as before.

OP, I think if he's determined to have his runoff go into your garden I'd be inclined to stick in something to catch it (maybe a funnel arrangement below the fence line so the idiot can't see it) and collect the water in a butt myself. It'll save money if the water supply is or will become metered.

Take_it_like_a_man,_sonny

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I can't see the point of a thread where you ask for advice on a dispute but immediately dismiss using any legal pathways. What do you want us to suggest, something illegal??

I would get a pushbike and call him a ...

Fire_Fox

gutter1 wrote: »

OK, so maybe i was wondering if we should be writing to him? Suggesting mediation? Something? I was thinking the route of threatening court/solicitors etc might not work because of his history but if we were to pursue it how would we.

He ignores you talking to him, I can't imagine a nice letter is going to have any effect whatsoever. You need a polite but firm letter from your solicitor pointing out that his leaking/ badly fixed guttering is damaging your property and the party wall and requesting he rectify/ repair within a specified timeframe as advised by your solicitor. And superglue the end cap on.

If there is actual damage being caused you may be able to involve your insurers who will contact his insurers. I don't understand why you have now used the word 'threaten' in two posts, perhaps this attitude is part of the problem? I hope you are not sharing your neighbour disputes with the ex wife, that will only aggravate matters and it's none of her business.

BobQ

Its rather difficult to resolve the issue if you are not speaking. I agree that based on your explanation your neighbours are probably being bloody minded. But his viewpoint may be different and he may think you have been unreasonable.

The neighbour and you have a right to drainage via the shared gutter through whatever down pipes were originally installed. This right will be covered by your deeds I would expect. The down pipes into the drain may or may not be in his garden.

If the downpipe from the gutter (that went to the butt) was the lowest point of the gutters and went to a drain I cannot see a problem as you are only denying yourself the drainage. But I am presuming that before the butt was installed the downpipe drained into a drain in his garden? You imply it is just dropping on his patio? Is it possible that this is not the lowest point and you are denying the neighbour drainage into a downpipe on your side? Just because he was collecting some of it in a butt does not mean that he does not want to have some water drain further along the gutter if this is the way it was supposed to work.

Did you cap it at the boundary line? Or have you denied him any drainage between the downpipe he has and the boundary?

I agree that ultimately the only solution is to resolve it amicably or legally. But before resorting to either consider that he may have rights that you have inadvertently ignored.

BobQ

gutter1 wrote: »

OK, so maybe i was wondering if we should be writing to him? Suggesting mediation? Something? I was thinking the route of threatening court/solicitors etc might not work because of his history but if we were to pursue it how would we.

First be sure of your facts, second collect some evidence (photographs etc) that you have suffered a detrriment, third work out the cost of the damage sustained, fourth write to him and try to resolve the matter, fourth either instruct a solicitor (who will probably write a letter too) or get some advice from the CAB or a legal helpline (eg that provided by your home insurance).

You will probably have to claim damages against him in the small claims court.

20400keith

If he's a police officer I'd tell him that if you're unable to resolve this amicably you intend to contact his employer to outline your concerns that he's being unreasonable. Then I'd write to his Chief Constable - set out the concerns and that you are considering legal action but are concerned that he's a police officer and any publicity will reflect badly on the Force.

I'm sure they'll say they can't get involved, but behind the scenes they'll probably tell him to get it sorted.

Of course he'll hate you forever and might seek revenge...:(

gutter1

thanks, especially the last couple of posts.

For the record no I haven't shared with his ex except to ask if he'll be buying her out anytime soon, she still owns half the house on paper.

I am collecting photos too.

Yes we haven't denied him drainage we have actually reduced the amount of water going onto his property. No, there is no drain on his side, and wasn't on ours until our builder dug one as part of the conversion. These are 5m widex2m deep conservatories that would have been built pre-1990s and just had soakaways into the gardens. The gutter was capped at the boundary line. As we extended by 1m the pitch of our roof is different now hence the builder rerouting our drainage so it wouldn't be possible for his water to drain into our gutter as it's a foot plus higher than his original guttering.

If he continues to be bloody minded I think installing a butt on our side is a great idea since we lost our own when we went from using a soakaway to a proper drain we could benefit from this

thanks all