Permission/rights drainage issue

SteveMutts51

Hello all,

Would be interested in what you all think of this.

I live in a ground floor flat. It is a freehold flat (note, not share of the freehold but each flat in the block has its own freehold) So i own all the area listed on the deeds/land registry and where any wall is shared we own half way in to it.

We have just finished adding an extension and thinking about removing the drain outside of our kitchen. In the past it serviced our bathroom and kitchen but we have knocked the bathroom and kitchen together to make a bigger kitchen and connected the new bathroom later on.

The problem now lies with the upstairs neighbours, they have a kitchen waste water pipe leaving their flat and down my outside wall to that drain. In the covenant it states that all drainage must be held within the property's boundary and then it meets a shared space to meet the sewage network. The neighbour has forgotten about a discussion we had where they were going to remove it and drain it in line with the rest of the flats drainage system. and is now saying
"The waste pipe from the kitchen at ******* has been connected and has drained to the drain on the east side of the building for the last 25 years and as such to have the right to continue to drain into it. If you do wish to divert the kitchen sink waste to another waste drain then I would not object"

There isn't another drain to divert it to without incurring costs from digging out and installing a new one.
So my question is that can they claim "squatters" rights on the pipework as its been there for so long, or can i tell them to remove it as its not what the covenant details?


Thanks for reading

Davesnave

If this drainpipe has been in the same position for 25 years, the owner of the other flat may have aquired a prescriptive easement.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/easements-claimed-by-prescription/practice-guide-52-easements-claimed-by-prescription

brightontraveller

You can tell them and they can ignore you and trying to enforce anything is a fools path, (should have been done prior to works) Rights/ownership pretty irrelevant when you equate cost of court battle winning being awarded cost, winning the other side paying, winning no cost , losing etc against moving it is normally a no brainer and by far cheapest option