Advice Please

mrsngill10

Hiya

So my husband and I are currently in the process of buying our first house, and so far everything is going as well as can be expected. The solicitors have started their searches which they say should take around 2 weeks, so that’s where we’re at.

When we first viewed the property and on subsequent visits, our detached neighbours wall appears to have some water leaking through, causing a pool onto our patio. There’s been water there both during dry days and wet days. Their house is uphill so it raised, so we expect it’s from some kind of drainage.

We have raised this with the solicitor but, I’m just wondering is this really a big issue? What exactly can we expect from raising this? Knocking money off? Expecting it to be fixed before me move? My concern is that by raising this, we’re going to cheese off our neighbours before we’ve moved in, but on the other hand, if this wall collapses eventually we will have bigger problems!

I’ve never bought a house before, so if I’m asking a stupid question please try and be kind with the comments!

Any advice is gratefully received.

Socajam

My concern is that by raising this, we’re going to cheese off our neighbours before we’ve moved in, but on the other hand, if this wall collapses eventually we will have bigger problems!

Best to cheese off the neighbour now before you buy, than wait until you actually buy and you have a load more problems on your hands.
I would get it checked out before going any further.

[Deleted User]

.., the detached neighbour's wall. Its not your house.., yet lol.

Davesnave

Wilfully causing water to flow onto a neighbour's property from a downpipe would be what's legally called a 'nuisance,' so that might be challenged, but the action of gravity on natural ground water is not so easy to apply the law to. Ground water has to go somewhere, and if it doesn't and a wall's containing it, that's when the wall eventually collapses.

So, you need to find out what you are dealing with here. You have no relationship with the person who owns the wall; therefore it's the vendor who needs to supply answers after your surveyor and/or yourselves raise the matter.

On a practical level, you also need to decide, perhaps with a surveyors help, whether this is a permanent or temporary thing and what can be done about it. The state of the patio should give some clues on the former and it's a practical decision how the water might be re-routed if it's a natural phenomenon.

It might be that digging up that side of the patio, making a French drain and gravelling the last 200mm, instead of paving it, solves the problem. That wouldn't even involve the neighbour. Whether that could be used to ask for money off is impossible for us to tell you at this distance, but it's the sort of job some families could do in a weekend, provided it's straightforward.