Neighbours gutters

Bendy_House

If either of the three houses to your left (ie the two 'naughty' neighbs, plus the 'ole one) are council-owned, then that should be easily sorted. Call them up and explain.

theoretica

I wonder if your guttering is just mentally complicating things - simply put, your neighbours have diverted water to flow onto your property without permission and it is causing damage.

DE_612183

Gerry - have you spoken to your neighbour and asked them why they did what they did?
If it was done for them perhaps they didn't realise?
And ask them to get it changed back.

sevenhills

If you block your own down pipe for a few months, that could encourage others to sort their pipe work.

DanDare999

Bendy_House said:

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'.

If that's a legal term do you have a link to any legislation?

DanDare999

sevenhills said:

If you block your own down pipe for a few months, that could encourage others to sort their pipe work.

Not a good idea.

gorbalsgerry

Bendy_House said:

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'.

Thank you so much l. Your information has been fantastic and at least makes me feel I'm in right and they need to seek an alternative arrangement. 

gorbalsgerry

DE_612183 said:

Gerry - have you spoken to your neighbour and asked them why they did what they did?
If it was done for them perhaps they didn't realise?
And ask them to get it changed back.

I have spoken to them and they asked for time to seek advice on the matter, that was a number of weeks ago and as yet I've beard nothing. I don't want to take matters into own hands and remove the pipe, but I wonder if I'm within my right to put a cap on the end of both downspout front and back of my house in the meantime to stop anymore water going into my gutters and causing further damage to my property. 

gorbalsgerry

theoretica said:

I wonder if your guttering is just mentally complicating things - simply put, your neighbours have diverted water to flow onto your property without permission and it is causing damage.

Yes that's it exactly 

gorbalsgerry

DE_612183 said:

Gerry - have you spoken to your neighbour and asked them why they did what they did?
If it was done for them perhaps they didn't realise?
And ask them to get it changed back.

I've done that and no conclusion yet.