Leaking Gutter - who is responsible

JillyG76

A gutter that crosses our house and next door is leaking from a joint that is situated over her house. It has caused damp in our property. Her landlord wants us to pay for half of the repair to our house. Is that legal?

Bendy_House

I presume it's a shared gutter - ie it collects roof water from more than one property? Does it do more than 'cross' your property - ie does it also collect your rain water?

Check your deeds - that should hopefully make it clear whether it's a shared responsibility.

rob7475

Irrespective of what the deeds say, if it's the gutter above their house, they should fix it. If the gutters were failing on my house, I wouldn't expect my neighbour to pay towards it.

We had a similar issue last year with our neighbour. We have cast iron gutters and the section above their house was hanging down and could have dropped at any point. If it had finally let go, it would have probably dropped onto our garden where children play etc. They refused to repair it as they couldn't afford it. A quick call to the council and they sent an inspector out the same day who forced them to get it fixed as it was a danger to other households.

JillyG76

Yes it does collect our rain water too. Thanks for the tip.

Carrot007

If the only way for it to go it towards the neighbour then if you do not pay they may cut your off. (and your deeds will likely say nothing about this).

If they are the same age why not get it all replaced. PLastic piping is not a great expense so it's all labor anyway. That way you both gain nice new working guttering. (and if she disagrees to this then reroute and cut off your side).

EssexExile

Never mind about legalities, you want the gutter repaired - help out a bit.

Bendy_House

JillyG76 said:

Yes it does collect our rain water too. Thanks for the tip.

I'd be inclined, then, to treat it as a 'shared' responsibility, so be willing to pay halves towards the cost of repair.

However, I'd also want at least two quotes, and three IF the first quote is silly. And also an alternative quote for having it all redone IF it's obvious that the current guttering has reached the end of its 'natural'.

Guttering is not expensive stuff, so really worth getting quotes for a full replacement compared to a 'repair' of one joint. That does depend on the age and state of the existing stuff, of course.