neighbour dispute

somethingcorporate

If you do want to formalise this then just hope your neighbour moves before you do! If I was buying a house where the seller had an injunction against a neighbour I would run a country mile.

Good luck, I'd still try to resolve amicably rather than involving solicitors but I think the tendancy in such emotive situations is vengeful, knee-jerk reactions that may do more harm than good for you both.

ScotlandM

Do you know what might be the outcome of the court case between neighbour and exwife? Is it likely he is going to stay there?
If not likely just live with it for now and have all the information for the new neighbour to get their runoff back into their garden/drains

More likely is that he will stay there, so now to you. Are you likely to move or stay? If likley to move live with it, water butt, add it to your drain. If you dream/Plan on moving you don't want to involve soliciters and courts.

If you are likely to stay how much fight have you got? What other problems could he make for you? Have a soliciter go over everything and check you are right. It would be bad if you find out that originally it was supposed to drain into yours not his garden and he originally was nice and accepted it to drain his way.

Use Royal Mail proof of delivery to ensure he recives the letter he won't accept from your hand. It won't mean he reads it but it is legal proof he has it
Thought of using a recorded webcam or security camera?

BobQ

embob74 wrote: »

I don't think the employer should be contacted in this instance unless criminal damage is occurring but I do know of police officers who are quite happy to use their employment status when it suits them.
My boss had a police officer write a letter about the state of the road which he blamed on the work vehicles - and he mentioned he was an officer and the police authority were taking it seriously.
A civil matter but the officer was quite happy to use his weight to push for a solution in his favour.

This line of argument is going nowhere. The OP has at no stage suggested that the police officer has abused his position in any way.

Do you really think that Chief Constable would have any problem with a police officer removing an end cap from HIS gutter or allowing his gutter to extend 3-4" over a boundary line. If the OP has removed his right to drainage (by no means clear in my view) then the OP may not be entirely blameless in this matter.

BobQ

poppysarah wrote: »

What do the deeds say about gutters and shared drainage from the roof?

While on balance I think the OP is probably right, I do agree with you that the deeds should be checked. Many older terraced houses had shared gutters which granted the house owners rights to drain roofwater into drains or soakaways on their neighbours property. The neighbour has an obligation to maintain this service if this right has been granted either explicitly or as a result of time. I certainly would not perpetuate a dispute with a neighbour without checking.

gutter1

BobQ wrote: »

I am still not covinced that the OP's view is the only correct view of this.

I do not know if this is pair of semis or a terrace but the original construction clearly did not have a downpipe going to a drain where the water butt was. It seems odd that none of the downpipes in the shared gutter in the group of houses goes down to a drain even if runs to another house.

The downpipes to the original houses go to the mains drains but most houses have simple conservatories built on. It is the drainage of the conservatory rooves I am referring to.

If the neighbours patio has removed a drain or soakaway then this is clearly not the OP's problem.

There was never a drain and the patio has been there (as has the water butt) at least 10 years.

But the OP states that the water that used to go down into the water butt now flows to the the boundary which their builder capped. The neighbour has put another piece of gutter there which allows water to extend over the boundary and is not capped. This suggests the water is still flowing downhill. If they left his bit of extra gutter in place and capped the end of it presumably it would fill up and overflow?

The water ran down from our house to his into a water butt a couple of feet from the boundary. He has angled it in such a way to run from his roof down, over the cap and into our garden. When we push it back the water flows zig-zag down this black guttering then back underneath and out of the original guttering where the water butt would be if he were to put it back.

Is the OP sure that they have not stopped water draining from the neigbours roof into a drain further along the original gutter run?

absolutely sure and we havve photo evidence.

I asked because my neighbour did something similar by raising their gutter and causing water to build up in my gutter., water that was designed to run originally into their downpipe. Fortunately they were more reasonable and saw that they had inadvertently misunderstood the way the roof drainage was designed.

Our new guttering is a couple of feet higher and runs away from his house into a main drain in the middle of our property.

BobQ

gutter1 wrote: »

Our new guttering is a couple of feet higher and runs away from his house into a main drain in the middle of our property.

With respect, it does not matter what your new drainage arrangements are: what matters is what they were before you changed them.

If your neighbour has a right to have his rainwater drain into your drain/soakaway then he still has that right and he can continue to deposit rainwater into your removed drainage system. If he does not have the right then he is damaging your property.

Originally I agreed with you on the basis that the downpipe on his property was where your roofwater drained to, but you then said the water was flowing into your garden......of course he may just have lowered his gutter to create the effect! Worth checking your deeds though.

DRP

BobQ wrote: »

With respect, it does not matter what your new drainage arrangements are: what matters is what they were before you changed them.

If your neighbour has a right to have his rainwater drain into your drain/soakaway then he still has that right and he can continue to deposit rainwater into your removed drainage system. If he does not have the right then he is damaging your property.

Originally I agreed with you on the basis that the downpipe on his property was where your roofwater drained to, but you then said the water was flowing into your garden......of course he may just have lowered his gutter to create the effect! Worth checking your deeds though.

I agree the situation as described by the OP is very confusing - disregarding the escalation of juvenile behaviour, it is also very difficult to ascertain the rights and wrongs.

laurel7172

I used to own a terrace with shared downpipes-rights and responsibilities were in the deeds IIRC.