Neighbour's drive floods my garage

dori2o

My Mum and Dad have this problem. The water from next doors drive/garden is seeping through the garage wall and flooding the garage.

they contacted the local council and got an inspector round off thier insurance.

Both said that because my Mum and Dads house is lower down than the neighbours they were responsible for the run off and there is nothing the neighbour was accountable for.

Water runs downhill, so if your house is lower down a hill/slope than your neighbour I'm afraid there is nothing you can force your neighbour to do.

anotherbaldrick

dori2o wrote: »

My Mum and Dad have this problem. The water from next doors drive/garden is seeping through the garage wall and flooding the garage.

they contacted the local council and got an inspector round off thier insurance.

Both said that because my Mum and Dads house is lower down than the neighbours they were responsible for the run off and there is nothing the neighbour was accountable for.

Water runs downhill, so if your house is lower down a hill/slope than your neighbour I'm afraid there is nothing you can force your neighbour to do.

Not So.
The neighbour can direct the water by means of kerbs and channels so that it flows around the garage , not wash up against it. No one has the right to discharge rainwater from hardstandings into their neighbours property, they have the obligation to contain it and pipe it away or otherwise dispose of so as not to cause nuisance.

keystone

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Not So.
The neighbour can direct the water by means of kerbs and channels so that it flows around the garage , not wash up against it. No one has the right to discharge rainwater from hardstandings into their neighbours property, they have the obligation to contain it and pipe it away or otherwise dispose of so as not to cause nuisance.

Sorry but IMHO thats nonsense. Most deeds will include a right of drainage if adjoining properties are built on a slope and such will probably predate the driveway in this case. Where on earth do you expect it to go?

My dense neighbour (not the current one) dealt with their waterlogged garden by chucking down 3 inches of hardcore, a two inch layer of soil then turfed. Level of his garden raised by about 6 inches compared to mine. What happens now is that the hardcore is an excellent drain and it dumps all the rainwater on my property. Nothing I can do about it (well I dug some french drains to get rid of it so I have) as they have a right of drainage.

Cheers

anotherbaldrick

Incorrect .
A legal right of drainage allows the passage of water in and drainage pipes across or the connection thereof into drainage which crosses the property.
I specifically mentioned the drainage of HARDSTANDINGS this means paved roads patios car parking yards etc which is what the OP is talking about, you are not allowed to drain these by allowing the water to run off the surface onto a neighbours property.
You are talking about the drainage of soft areas (grass) and subsoil drainage , the law on these is different as it is controlled by the Land Drainage Act (1930 and subsequent ammendments) and drainage to your neighbour if the land slopes that way is a natural occurance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Drainage_Act

Mistral001

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Bangs head in disbelief:A:A:A:A:A:A:A:A:A

Yes I do understand what you are saying, but the solution is to improve the neighbours drainage, that involves the neighbour.

It is not uncommon for a garage floor to be built lower than an adjacent drive. In these situations a retaining wall with a damproof membrane (DPM) is constructed and this will keep the wall dry. Ground moisture can vary from dry to moist to saturated and the DPM should be designed for these situations. DPM's however should be extended 150mm above the external ground and unless the puddles of water are deeper than 150mm a properly designed damproofed retaining wall at the garage should be able to cope with the situation here. Remember the retaining wall and the damproofing is part of the garage's design and is not under the control of the neighbour.

I would mention it to the neighbour as reducing the puddling is quite likely to reduce the dampness, but it is unlikely to cure it completely. In saying that as far as I can see if the neighbour dug their heals in and refused to do anything there would be very little chance in law of getting redress against the neighbour. There is the law of nuisance, but all the neighbour would have to do is prove that the wall was not totally waterproof. If in doubt consult a chartered surveyor. or solicitor or both.

cyclonebri1

Mistral001 wrote: »

It is not uncommon for a garage floor to be built lower than an adjacent drive. In these situations a retaining wall with a damproof membrane (DPM) is constructed and this will keep the wall dry. Ground moisture can vary from dry to moist to saturated and the DPM should be designed for these situations. DPM's however should be extended 150mm above the external ground and unless the puddles of water are deeper than 150mm a properly designed damproofed retaining wall at the garage should be able to cope with the situation here. Remember the retaining wall and the damproofing is part of the garage's design and is not under the control of the neighbour.

I would mention it to the neighbour as reducing the puddling is quite likely to reduce the dampness, but it is unlikely to cure it completely. In saying that as far as I can see if the neighbour dug their heals in and refused to do anything there would be very little chance in law of getting redress against the neighbour. There is the law of nuisance, but all the neighbour would have to do is prove that the wall was not totally waterproof. If in doubt consult a chartered surveyor. or solicitor or both.

Yes but that is not the case here, it doesn't have an additional retaining wall, so any diversion tactic is on the neighbours side which is why I reacted to your earlier comment about it having nothing to do with the neighbour.

cyclonebri1

Let me drop into this topic whilst we are on the subject.

Keystone knows a little about this he may recall.

My situation. My house sits on as steep hill. The neighbour above's property sits 4 ft higher than mine. They both also slope down towards the road.

So the retaining wall was jerry built out of ash breeze blocks, buy had stood for about 40 years but cracked and leaning in various place.
Over the last 4 years it got much worse and was leaning further so I bit the bullet and started it's costly replacement.
What I hadn't realised that this worsening coincided with my neighbours new extension and patio build.

I stated at the low end of the 29 mtr long wall. All was well, for about 10 mtrs, but then I hit an awful lot of water and had a couple of tons of collapse from the high side.

The new soakaway that had been construct was right up to my wall. It was only 3 mtrs from his house and about the same from mine, not the reqd 5 mtr.
Anyway I got past it and eventually finished the wall.
12" thick, stone faced block backed and infilled with concrete. A weeping drain pipe in a pea gravel bed was laid at foundation level on the high side.
I came across several drain pipes during the dig.

Right, now I have effectively created free drainage all the way along the wall and the neighbours soakaway, we are on heavy clay, overflows and runs like a stream down the road for 30mtrs before finding a drain.
All the patio runs to a pipe through my wall and into a main drain on my property. If it didn't the situation would be much worse. The whole of the extension and half of his original house drain into this soakaway.

I'd welcome any views on this situation as I'm sure there will be issues latter as the neighbouring house has just been sold and the buyer is intending to increase the hard standing at the front, (low end), and create even more run off. :A

keystone

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Incorrect .

No not incorrect. It was you that used the word "right" and so that implies right of drainage which triggered my post. However you are correct in that if (despite there being a right of drainage in place) that the creation of a hardstanding requires the creator to make provision for the runoff.

Now if you had phrased it differently then we might not be having this exchange.

And you shouldn't believe everything you read in Wikipaedia either. :D

Cheers

Mistral001

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Yes but that is not the case here, it doesn't have an additional retaining wall, so any diversion tactic is on the neighbours side which is why I reacted to your earlier comment about it having nothing to do with the neighbour.

You have misinterpreted what I wrote. The wall of the garage is retaining the drive and thus the part of the wall between the drive level and the garage floor level is a retaining wall. If the height of the drive above the garage floor level is not very much then the garage wall will be sufficiently strong to resist the pressure of the retained earth, but is still classed as a retaining wall.

cyclonebri1

Mistral001 wrote: »

You have misinterpreted what I wrote. The wall of the garage is retaining the drive and thus the part of the wall between the drive level and the garage floor level is a retaining wall. If the height of the drive above the garage floor level is not very much then the garage wall will be sufficiently strong to resist the pressure of the retained earth, but is still classed as a retaining wall.

Yes I understand I think, but, given the situation that this retaining wall does not repel water, and is unlikely to have a dpc of any kind, something has to be done.

Now I don't recall if the op posted the chicken and egg situation here, ie, which was built 1st, the lower garage or the high level drive.

My view was that it did involve the neighbours as assuming reasonable relations, actions by the op but on the neighbouring side would probably be the best option?

Not a dig at you, just that without more info it's difficult to get a grasp on the problem;);)

My garage is 3 feet below the neighbours boundary and is tanked out with fibreglass on the inside as obviously I couldn't get to the outer face at the boundary side without digging up the neighbours property.;) That may also be a solution for the op, but he seems to have disapeared:D:D