Living next door to a BTL - my rights

martinbuckley

I live next door to a property owned by a BTL LL, who I've never met.

Over the past month I've noticed that the downpipe (their side of the boundary) from the shared guttering appears blocked and water has been spilling over onto both sides of the boundary. The rainfall over the past couple of weeks has meant a waterfall has been cascading over onto our patio and blowing onto the brickwork, absolutely soaking it.

I've been round to next door, who were extremely sympathetic - to the point they revealed they are moving out next month because the LL isn't interested in repairs, and the letting agent have been told to refer all repair requests to the LL. I have also spoken to the agent who assured me my concern for my property has been passed to the LL, yet nothing has been done, and next door tell me that nobody has been round to either view the problem or rectify it.

What are my rights here to force this issue to be fixed?

da_rule

You’ll need to look at the covenants benefitting your property. Usually when there’s shared gutter there is a covenant that either the party with the down pipe has to keep it clear or that the other party can enter the neighbouring land to clear it.

eddddy

martinbuckley wrote: »

What are my rights here to force this issue to be fixed?

The only way of forcing the neighbour to fix the down pipe would be to get a court order - but the cost and hassle of that is likely to be prohibitive.

More realistically, put the owner on notice that their blocked downpipe is likely to damage your property, and if it does you will claim damages from them. (i.e. write a letter to the owner.)


Then if further damage does occur, you can try claiming from the owner (in the small claims court, if the repair bill is under £10,000).

snilloct1957

From your conversation with the tenant of the house, the LL appears to be an absentee LL whose only interest is the rent money. I don't know about your rights to get things fixed, but at the end of the day it may be easier to shimmey up a ladder (with the permission and help of the tenant, who you said was sympathetic) and clear the blockage yourself; a cheap and relatively easy fix. No point in trying to argue with an ignorant LL, you'll be blue in the face before he gets round to it. NB, heavy rain is expected in the next few days.

martinbuckley

That's my thoughts - to get up there and do it myself, but if I then cannot do it, or make the situation worse, then where would I stand?

eddddy

snilloct1957 wrote: »

a cheap and relatively easy fix.

...as long as the guttering etc is in good condition, and you're confident you can do it without causing any damage.

If it's old brittle guttering / downpipe, fixed with rusted weak screws, to rotten fascia boards - poking a rod hard into a downpipe might break something.

(Or if you're unsuccessful in clearing the blockage with a rod, the owner may claim that you've compacted the blockage, and made it harder to clear - if they find out.)


Edit to add...
If that happened, I think you would find it very hard to argue that you're not responsible for the cost of repairs.

getmore4less

martinbuckley wrote: »

That's my thoughts - to get up there and do it myself, but if I then cannot do it, or make the situation worse, then where would I stand?

If you have the tools(ladder) get up and have a look.

If an easy fix ie. remove a load of junk from the gutter then job done.

if it look like it is blocked down the pipe then that starts to be a bigger job.

Where does the bottom of the pipe go?
EG. ours go into ground based fittings so getting a down pipe off means undoing the brackets.
but ours go into the drains so can be flushed
If into soakaway I would prefer to remove.


While up there a gutter cleaning kit may be useful, £5 from Wickes.


https://www.wickes.co.uk/Home-Valet-Gutter-Care-Cleaning-Kit/p/183501

ProDave

First thing I would do is get my ladder out and go up and have a look.

I am guessing the downpipe is close to the party line but on the neighbours side. Chances are you can clear enough from your side to make sure the overflow happens on the neighbours side, or you might be able to clear it and stop the problem if it is just moss blocking the downpipe and you can reach it from your side without over stretching,

Chances are your side needs a bit of a clean out as well so do that at the same time.

martinbuckley

The pipe is about 3 feet beyond the fence, so too far for me to reach, even with my ladder as close as possible to the fence, which as been put up behind a brick wall on my side, which makes the distance I have to lean over 4 feet. I cleared my side out at the time I was up a couple of weeks ago.

It goes directly into the drainage system (or not at the moment!).

Fire_Fox

martinbuckley wrote: »

I live next door to a property owned by a BTL LL, who I've never met.

Over the past month I've noticed that the downpipe (their side of the boundary) from the shared guttering appears blocked and water has been spilling over onto both sides of the boundary. The rainfall over the past couple of weeks has meant a waterfall has been cascading over onto our patio and blowing onto the brickwork, absolutely soaking it.

I've been round to next door, who were extremely sympathetic - to the point they revealed they are moving out next month because the LL isn't interested in repairs, and the letting agent have been told to refer all repair requests to the LL. I have also spoken to the agent who assured me my concern for my property has been passed to the LL, yet nothing has been done, and next door tell me that nobody has been round to either view the problem or rectify it.

What are my rights here to force this issue to be fixed?

Have you written to the landlord to inform them? Care of the property itself, care of the letting agent, care of the address on land registry? To cover your backside consider sending letters 'Signed For'.

If that fails you might take the advice of your buildings insurer.

You have no right to do anything beyond addressing dire emergencies without making reasonable attempts to contact the owner.

ProDave

It might be "wrong" but I would ask the neighbour if I can put the ladder on their land and unblock theit gutter and downpipe. I would only unblock that bit which is necessary to stop it overflowing my side no more.

Some will say that is wrong, because the neighbour should look after it, but if it is simple and quick it will be a lot better for your blood pressure doing that, than constantly nagging the neighbour to do it.