Next door blocking gutter

oldtractor

So we live next door to a guy who, ever since we moved into this house has tried to "rule the roost". Our place was used as a holiday cottage and then empty for a while before we bought it. he used to look after it which included letting his relatives stay for free we later found out. Anyway once we moved in he treid telling us what we could and couldnt do even what we could and couldnt plant in the garden. All this was politely ignored. We've got along by mutual ignoring except for good morning and isnt the weather nice sort of thing.
More recently ie this last 2 years we've managed to aquire exptra land and this seems to have irked him and hes started to do silly thigs. he had a garden wall built at thr front of his property which he had extended onto our land. we had him take this down and keep it on his own land. now we descover that hes blocked the gutter. the gutter along the front of our house goes along the front of his where there is a downspout which goes into a grid next to his front door thenit goes further along and to a downspout at the end of the row ( its a terraced row of 3 cottages) he lives in the middle. so on the dividing line between us and him hes had his freinds the builders place an end stop and fix it in place with mastic to stop any water from our gutter getting away and down the down spout. Ironically its his garden its been dripping and running into not ours all winter. We've only just discovered this when we went up a ladder to fix a climbing plant to the front of our property and saw the thing. our gutter, meanwhile is perminemtly filled with water.
Is he allowed to do this? and can we remove the blockage?

molerat

No he can't do it and you cannot remove the blockage on his property. Unless he is going to remove it if asked nicely this is going to get messy and likely involve solicitors at some cost and declaring of neighbour disputes. Is it possible for you to fit your own downpipe ?

Jackmydad

He's obviously one of those people who thinks he's always in the right. As molerat says, speak nicely to him about it. (Although it makes me grit my teeth, sometimes a bit of "niceness" works.) If he won't do anything about it, if possible I'd fit my own downpipe.

missile

I would fit my own downpipe. You may need to relocate the gutter if you change the direction of drainage.

southcoastrgi

I'd either remove it or drill a hole in it

Annie1960

You may need to install a soakaway if you fit your own gutter. Building Control are likely to want to inspect this unless there is an existing one you can link a new downpipe to.

missile

If gutter(s) is permanently filled with water and dripping into his garden, how does this inconvenience you?
Presumably you have gutter front and back.
Do both run past you neighbour?
Have both been blocked?

oldtractor

no just the front. it inconveniences us in so far as it is always full will get green and smelly in summer and the sheer constant weight might bring it crashing down. if we fit our own downspout than it will run into the road and/or over their front garden so its not an option. As far as I am aware the downspout on the middle property has been taking water from our roof for a couple of hundred years at least.

Keep_pedalling

missile wrote: »

If gutter(s) is permanently filled with water and dripping into his garden, how does this inconvenience you?
Presumably you have gutter front and back.
Do both run past you neighbour?
Have both been blocked?

It could certainly lead to a damp problem for the OP, and having the gutter permenanty filled with water could lead to it eventually collapsing.

It may be possible that your idiot neighbour may be in breach of building regs himself. Have a word with with your local building control people to see if they can do anything.

getmore4less

When they are out get up there and drill a hole in the lower part of the end cap or prize it off a bit so it looks like it has done that itself.

When it rains you want it to over flow a bit so they don't realize it is still draining slowly, but when it stops raining it will empty fairly quickly.

[Deleted User]

Try ringing building control to ask if you need planning permission for a new downpipe/soakaway, and then see if they take the bait and start asking why you need to do it.