Rear garden drainage complaint from neighbour

theyiddo

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right section for this post, but thought I'd put it here anyway.

My wife and I moved into our current home about 8yrs ago. Whenever it rains heavily, a large amount of the water in the cul de sac cascades down towards our garage. There is a drainage channel next to the garage going into the back garden, however in recent times, it has not coped with the water, and caused flooding to mine and my next door neighbour's garage. To resolve this, we checked the back garden, and noticed the drainage channel alongside the garage did not really appear to go anywhere, and was blocked at the end.

We then decided a few weeks ago to dig out a drainage channel alongside the hedge between myself and my next door neighbour, which we've left about 15ft from the bottom of my garden - with the intention of digging it out further at the end as a soakaway and filling the channel with some drainage coil and shingle. Just waiting for the shingle to arrive.

The problem arises from the person that lives in the house at the rear of our garden. He has apparently been in touch with the council (who own his house) to claim that I have "constructed a drainage trench down the length of the garden to the common boundary with his property" and that as there is no apparent organised outlet to this trench, it is resulting in water discharging into his garden". They want me to take immediate action to either infill the ditch or connect it to an outlet such as a soakaway or land drain.


The person making the complaint is a busybody and has a reputation in the area we live for making complaints to the council about everyone and everything.

What should I say to the council, as he has told them one or 2 porkies. There is no water going anywhere near his property, and the drainage channel in its current state is 15ft from the hedge between our properties. Not only that, but there is a brick compost heap built into the ground at the end of my garden (and a raised path) that prevents any water from my garden going into his in this area. Funnily enough, looking through the hedge, his garden is bone dry at the common boundary.

the fact I plan to dig out a soakaway is irrelevant, I am mightily peeved at the BS he has fed the council. Not only that, he did not even have the decency to simply knock on my door and ask me what my plans were with regards to drainage.

Here's a link to a video of the garden as it is at the mo:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/73778785/20140906_171144.mp4

lee111s

Tell th council that what he reports is not true and that they're welcome to come and inspect the work you've done.

princeofpounds

Having looked at your video, I sympathise!

I too think that you should just reply briefly to the council:

- the drainage channel is nowhere near his garden (measure if poss).
- a soakaway will be constructed, work is not yet complete.
- no water has been discharging into his garden whatsoever.
- the council is welcome to come and take a look.

eddddy

Hi theyiddo

My advice would be to 'rise above it' - and avoid it turning into a petty squabble.

If you own your house, and this escalates into a dispute, you will have to declare it when you sell - which may scare buyers.

I would reply to the council with something very polite like "Thanks for passing on my neighbours comments... It seems he is mistaken about the trench... If you or he would like to come round for a chat, I'll happily show you what I'm doing in the garden...".

(And the council people aren't stupid. They will probably recognise who is the 'goodie' and who is the 'baddie'.)

theyiddo

Thanks folks. I've written back to them with pretty much the same as you all suggested. I've told them as well that I can provide video evidence if necessary, and to feel free to call me to discuss. I'd rather not have to take a day off work for them to come and have a look - so hopefully they will either take my word for it, or ask to have a look at the video.

lozzy81

How on earth could that neighbor have seen such a small amount of your grass being dug up? there appears to be trees or bushes blocking the view to your garden and at ground level i can't see how he could have?? i had imagined large holes and mounds of dirt being piled up!!

theyiddo

He's a busybody...no doubt just shoved his nose over or through the hedge at the bottom of the garden!

As I said, he has a history of complaining about everyone and everything in the area. One person I know lives in another council owned house a couple a couple of streets away from him. This lady and her family apparently made some alterations to the interior (I don't know the specifics or if they actually did), my "neighbour" found out, and complained to the council.

RAS

Have you ever complained to the Council about the fact that run-off from the road floods your garage?

This might be an appropriate time to raise the issue?

theyiddo

Funnily enough, I was very tempted to mention that in the reply I sent. Maybe if they actually call me, I will drop that one on them.

Mallotum_X

Perhaps also ask the council to do something about the drainage problem in your road. You shouldn't need to be responsible to dealing with water on the road that is flooding your property.