Neighbours gutters

jimpwarsop

sevenhills said:

john.h said:

If it was my neighbour I would turn the guttering around so it was flowing down her wall 

Just get some ladders and block the hole with a crisp packet.

I had a problem with guttering, when I had a look there was a tennis ball, neatly blocking the flow.  As though it was designed for the job

Ant555

Ref the water now flowing over your property when it rains  -I guess its possible that if there is still a partial blockage over on the the left and your immediate neighbour has angled their guttering down towards yours then there could be an additional couple of roofs worth of rain heading your way, not just from your immediate neighbour.

Bendy_House

Mistral001 said:

Just to get this right, before the recent work to your neighbour's gutter, there was only a stop end at the end of their gutter and no short length of downpipe feeding water into your own gutter.  If that is the case you could ask the question why was that done.  As Bendy_house suggests you could say, that if any water damages caused to any part of your building as a result, that you will know who to contact to pay for the damage.   Note this could have been a simple mistake by a roofer who was copying something he had done before and nobody noticed on that occasion or permission had been obtained by the next door neighbour.

That's my understanding - this LH neighbour's gutter normally terminates there, and empties via her LH neighbour's gutter and DP - a very common arrangement with shared DPs in terraced houses.

If the whole terrace was on the same level, then it'd be quite common for ALL the houses' guttering to be joined together, with shared DPs, roughly one every 2 houses. That's not the case here due to the height differences - the OP's gutter continues - and drains - via their RH neighbour, I understand.

OP's LH neighbour had problems with their gutter due - seemingly - to their LH neighbour not keeping their gutter clean, so what the LH neighb should have done is put this LH neighb 'on notice' to sort it. And, hopefully, offer to go halves, since it's a shared system.

But, LH neighb took the 'easy' way out by, instead, emptying the contents in to the OP's gutter, hence this issue.

DanDare999

Alderbank said:

...in which case that neighbour could send you a 'put on notice' letter for any subsequent damage caused.

Is that actually a thing or something you've made up?

It's a thing.

Got a link to back it up?

If you know about law, the first thing you go to when there is a dispute to do with the boundary between two terraced houses is the Party Wall Act 1996. The Act deals with issues ranging from foundations to gutters.

A formal dispute begins when one neighbour serves the other with a Party Wall Notice.
These notices have not been 'made up' by Bendy_House. They were 'made up' by Parliament 25 years ago.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/40/contents

It was the on notice bit I was asking about, the party wall act won't cover trespassing as per another thread. 

Bendy_House

Putting someone 'on notice' is an established method of evidencing that the miscreant has been unambiguously informed of what they have done, and that they are therefore liable should subsequent damage be caused if they don't take steps to rectify it.

It removes the 'They said this'/'no they didn't' malarkey.

It is often enough to sober folk up - a clear, written outline of what has been done, and the consequences should they not address it. It would be foolish to ignore it.

The next step would be a 'Letter before Action'.

gorbalsgerry

Ant555 said:

Ref the water now flowing over your property when it rains  -I guess its possible that if there is still a partial blockage over on the the left and your immediate neighbour has angled their guttering down towards yours then there could be an additional couple of roofs worth of rain heading your way, not just from your immediate neighbour.

The 2 neighbours to my left got new gutters done at the same time and shared the cost and had them realigned and put on the downspout which is now feeding into my gutter therefor I have 2 extra houses water going into my gutter. The problem was the house to the left of them wouldn't clean the gutter so instead of dealing with said neighbour they have made the problem mine now. Baffling

gorbalsgerry

Bendy_House said:

Mistral001 said:

Just to get this right, before the recent work to your neighbour's gutter, there was only a stop end at the end of their gutter and no short length of downpipe feeding water into your own gutter.  If that is the case you could ask the question why was that done.  As Bendy_house suggests you could say, that if any water damages caused to any part of your building as a result, that you will know who to contact to pay for the damage.   Note this could have been a simple mistake by a roofer who was copying something he had done before and nobody noticed on that occasion or permission had been obtained by the next door neighbour.

That's my understanding - this LH neighbour's gutter normally terminates there, and empties via her LH neighbour's gutter and DP - a very common arrangement with shared DPs in terraced houses.

If the whole terrace was on the same level, then it'd be quite common for ALL the houses' guttering to be joined together, with shared DPs, roughly one every 2 houses. That's not the case here due to the height differences - the OP's gutter continues - and drains - via their RH neighbour, I understand.

OP's LH neighbour had problems with their gutter due - seemingly - to their LH neighbour not keeping their gutter clean, so what the LH neighb should have done is put this LH neighb 'on notice' to sort it. And, hopefully, offer to go halves, since it's a shared system.

But, LH neighb took the 'easy' way out by, instead, emptying the contents in to the OP's gutter, hence this issue.

That's it in a nutshell. Now the LH neighbour doesn't see what's she done wrong. This is a neighbour I've lived next to for 16 years and never had a crossed word in that time. 

Eldi_Dos

You need a lot of patience sometimes to deal issues like this and stopping them from snowballing.

If you get in touch with council or housing association and get them to put their bit right then neighbour's have no reason not to put things back as was.

Out of curiosity is three doors down a bird feeder and is that why gutters there are getting blocked?

Bendy_House

gorbalsgerry said:

Ant555 said:

Ref the water now flowing over your property when it rains  -I guess its possible that if there is still a partial blockage over on the the left and your immediate neighbour has angled their guttering down towards yours then there could be an additional couple of roofs worth of rain heading your way, not just from your immediate neighbour.

The 2 neighbours to my left got new gutters done at the same time and shared the cost and had them realigned and put on the downspout which is now feeding into my gutter therefor I have 2 extra houses water going into my gutter. The problem was the house to the left of them wouldn't clean the gutter so instead of dealing with said neighbour they have made the problem mine now. Baffling

Blimey! So TWO neighbours have undertaken this action! Lawdie!

I think your subsequent post has it - these folk just don't realise the consequences of what they've done. To them, rainwater is just rainwater, and heads down a DP somewhere...

With climate change, you can almost certainly bet that weather conditions will become more extreme, and that will include heavier downpours. Your guttering having TWO EXTRA houses'-worth landing in one spot is unlikely to cope even in 'normal' conditions, and will certainly overflow during heavier showers. And this will, almost certainly, damage your property.

I'm pleased these folks are otherwise seemingly ok, but they do need to understand that what they've done is not only wrong, but WILL have expensive consequences - YOU cannot avoid this; "Sorry, folks, but I WILL have no option but to make claims for any damages that WILL, almost certainly, occur. And these could EASILY be in the £1,000's. The correct solution is to oblige your other neighbour to make good their gutters - offering to help with the costs as it's a shared system - and even legally force them to do so if necessary. The same way as I have to - put them on notice of what's happening, and that they will be liable if they don't sort it."

Alternatively, perhaps these two neighbours can sort out a DP for just themselves? But it would need to get to a soakaway.

There are correct ways of sorting this, but it doesn't include what they have done.

I hope they are reasonable about it so you don't have to start the legal process, but just make it clear that you have 'no option'.

gorbalsgerry

Eldi_Dos said:

You need a lot of patience sometimes to deal issues like this and stopping them from snowballing.

If you get in touch with council or housing association and get them to put their bit right then neighbour's have no reason not to put things back as was.

Out of curiosity is three doors down a bird feeder and is that why gutters there are getting blocked?

No not at all I just think they either don't realise or didn't know they had a problem with their gutter. I just think the whole situation has been handled wrong and something that had nothing to do with me is now my problem. When the problem is at its worst the water is literally in my house. I have just recently had my whole house roughcasted.