Guttering issue

DonPoppleton

Good afternoon.

I have a little guttering issue so hoping for some good advice as ive heard this is the forum to be a member of.

I live in a 4 block terraced house, im at one end of the terrace so my home is a semi detached house. I share a gutter with the house next door so the down pipe is on my property and in practice I take the water from 2 houses, my own and the house next door. On the other end of the 4 terrace the house again has a down pipe but the house joining onto them have updated their guttering and made their own downpipe but does not flow into a drain as it seems they have made a way to distribute the water from the roof, this is beside the point in my little issue so i'll move on.

Over the last few years ive noticed more rain fall and my down pipe is becoming blocked 2 or 3 times a year due to debrit such as leaves and moss etc. So I bought myself a ladder and unblocked the down pipe when I can, im getting too old really to be up and down ladders doing this kind of task though. Now, during December its hardly stopped raining and ive noticed in one of my bedrooms a damp patch has formed and suspect my drain pipe has blocked again, so going to get up there hopefully tomorrow and have a look. In the mean time I have bought a gutter brush to install as soon as it comes, but I'm only going to install it on my part of the house so in a few months time I'm going to see water spilling over the neighbours guttering when the end of the gutter brush becomes snared with leaves and moss.

The house next door is managed by an agent and in the past when ive had some minor problems they arent really helpful, so im not going to ask them to go halves on a gutter brush system for them to say no. Hopefully it will solve my blockage issues though. Anyway, onto the part that ive started to write all this. Am I legally bound to have water running from my neighbours house into my gutter from their gutter? Baring in mind its myself thats doing all the unblocking work all the time. In reality I would like to block my end of the gutteriing at the start of their property so I dont have this issue anymore and let them sort out a way to get rid of their water. If this was a owned house with the owner living there I would talk to them about this issue and see where we could go, but as I say im getting too old to be going up ladders and doing this job myself all the time.

So can I end my blockage issue by replacing my guttering only and putting a stopper so no more water from someone elses house is going down my drain.

Doozergirl

Your deeds will almost certainly dictate that shared services remain as such. You can't just block part of it. Aside from the fact that next door will suffer, your house will almost certainly be hit by the water gushing over the sides next door if you block it.

My roofer is not complimentary at all about gutter brushes.

The guttering was adequate when the terrace was designed - this should not have changed. It won't be raining any harder than it did years ago.

If the guttering is blocking then the problem is whatever is blocking it - leaves from nearby trees?

Managed houses are the worst neighbours. You can download a copy of the title register from the land registry for £3 and this will tell you who actually owns the house. You could contact them directly and explain. They may (or may not) be more helpful than the letting agent. A downpipe on their side will reduce the volume of water across your side, but won't stop it from blocking.

DonPoppleton

Thank you for the reply. Maybe worth checking my deeds.

But, is there any issue me just doing as I said with a gutter brush? Surely I can put something on my property. I can then through politeness inform the agent of the dwelling next door that I have installed a guttering item and would suggest you spend £20 on completing the section to avoid further issues.

Doozergirl

Nothing wrong with that. You may not find it works though.

My roofer says that leaves can form a sort of roof over the brush and then the water just rolls straight over the gutter and down the front of the house. I've never installed the stuff so don't have experience, but it makes sense to me.