help with neighbour

trinity_enigma

It goes into a septic tank which is in our garden.

Davesnave

trinity_enigma wrote: »

It goes into a septic tank which is in our garden.

So, you're in the clear. Either your roof and ground run-off water goes to a soakaway that's now on the neighbour's land and the subject of an easement, or it goes there without any legal formality. A third possibility is that the soakaway is on your land.

There is nothing that the neighbour can force you to do in any of these scenarios.

I_have_spoken

A septic tank still needs a leach field, over and above disposing of run-off from gutters.

There's been so much rain this winter, there could well be problems with perpetually saturated ground and/or clogging in the pipes for the leach field.

The neighbour's gone in with both feet (see what I did there!), but that doesn't mean there isn't a problem with effluent breakout. An inspection may be necessary with a camera.

Davesnave

IHS is right as regards the possibility that your septic tank drainage field goes into the neighbour's garden, if that land which once went with your house was transfered to the neighbour.....

However, if this transfer happened via legal agreement, it's very likely that the easement for the drainage field was included , as above. Even if it wasn't, you may now have acquired that right by usage through what's called a prescriptive easement. You can Google that.

Unlike surface water, the amount of water going into a septic tank is unaffected by the weather, unless the tank or pipes going into it are faulty. It only varies by the number of people using the tank or a change in their habits. So, unless your use of the foul drain has changed, or you have old, faulty pipes, the neighbour shouldn't notice any increase of water from that source.

On the outflow side, if your septic tank does have a problem through the leach field becoming blocked with debris over time, it will be indicated by coloured, foul smelling water at the surface and black mud beneath. Your neighbour would surely mention that specifically. If they haven't, it isn't happening!

I have a neighbour with this problem. Their tank drains onto my field, fortunately in a place which matters little to me. That's how I know. They will need to fix it, but as they have a prescriptive easement, I won't make demands like your neighbours are doing and expect immediate results.

kingfisherblue

Sometimes neighbours are just plain awkward. Last year, my next door neighbour blamed me for the heavy rain running down her drive....