Next Door Neighbours new boiler

silverchoice

Last night I noticed that my next door neighbours have had a new boiler installed on their outside wall which is next to my drive.

Someone has been in my property without permission and put a black pipe under part of my drive.

Is this even allowed under building regulations ?

http://tinypic.com/1r55laif

Le_Kirk

silverchoice wrote: »

How do I include photos?

Use a hosting site like tinypic or imgur and then post the URL.

EssexExile

Have they done any damage?

bris

That's the condensate soakaway and has been installed correctly so yes it meets the building regulations.


It would normally be completely covered, did you dig it up to take the photo?

Soot2006

Is that photo of your driveway? i.e. you drive over that pipe when you park and had you been home they couldn't have installed it like that?

shortcrust

I'd check your deeds. My neighbours have both right of access and use* of a sliver of my land for exactly this sort of stuff. Even so, they're polite enough to ask!

*I think it's actually 'use and enjoyment'. They could probably have a very narrow party on it if they wanted to.

EssexExile

shortcrust wrote: »

Even so, they're polite enough to ask!

That would be favourite, but if the neighbour knew nothing about the need for a condensate soakaway until the heating engineer turned up to fit the boiler, & the OP wasn't home, the only options were get it done or send him away & have to pay for another days work some other time.

It's a bit cheeky but not the end of the world & nothing to fall out with the neighbour about.

tacpot12

Perhaps you could use this as an opportunity to build a better relationship with your neighbour? Just pop round and say "Your chap has installed the condensate soak-away into my drive. It's not really on for this to have happened without you or them asking me if this was ok. As it happens, I don't mind it being there, but next time please ask if you or a contractor needs to come onto my property."

moneyistooshorttomention

So what happens then if (when.....!) you (or a future owner of your house) need to dig up your driveway?

Presumably the tradesperson concerned slams straight into this pipe and breaks it and I would imagine that is not a very safe thing for them to do and the owner (at that point in time) of YOUR house could have a safety problem on their hands. Well - both houses could have a safety problem and it's down to the neighbour if they do.

But - your house shouldn't be at risk of a safety problem because of something a neighbour has done (even if they aren't aware of it - but it was their tradesperson that did it and it was for their benefit = they are responsible).

Personally - I think you need to get this sorted before your house has a safety problem somewhere along the line (even if it's after your time) because of what that duff tradesperson did.

molerat

A damaged condensate pipe is hardly going to cause a major safety issue. I would be more worried about the driveway damage at that point due to the size of the hole. https://mcalpineplumbing.com/traps/condensate-traps-and-fittings/soak1gr-soakaway

moneyistooshorttomention

Personally I don't quite understand also why it's underneath the ground??

I've got a pipe that I think must be a condensate pipe coming out of the wall my new-to-me boiler is fixed on inside my house. That pipe goes up the wall of my house and not underneath the ground. I'm assuming that's how things are supposed to be done?