Neighbours gutters

Norman_Castle

gorbalsgerry said:

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. 

Capping their pipe should speed up their response. They are either allowed to do this or they are not. When they prove its acceptable they can do it. Until then they can live with the problem.

I'd start by removing the end cap from your gutter to see if the water flows back to them.

DE_612183

Norman_Castle said:

gorbalsgerry said:

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. 

Capping their pipe should speed up their response. They are either allowed to do this or they are not. When they prove its acceptable they can do it. Until then they can live with the problem.

I'd start by removing the end cap from your gutter to see if the water flows back to them.

If you capped their end pipe - would that not just make the water build up in their gutter and then overflow anyway?

gorbalsgerry

DE_612183 said:

Norman_Castle said:

gorbalsgerry said:

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. 

Capping their pipe should speed up their response. They are either allowed to do this or they are not. When they prove its acceptable they can do it. Until then they can live with the problem.

I'd start by removing the end cap from your gutter to see if the water flows back to them.

If you capped their end pipe - would that not just make the water build up in their gutter and then overflow anyway?

I'm not certain, maybe it would back up into their gutter instead of mine. 

Section62

DanDare999 said:

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?

Not everything 'legal' is defined in legislation.

shiraz99

gorbalsgerry said:

DE_612183 said:

Norman_Castle said:

gorbalsgerry said:

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. 

Capping their pipe should speed up their response. They are either allowed to do this or they are not. When they prove its acceptable they can do it. Until then they can live with the problem.

I'd start by removing the end cap from your gutter to see if the water flows back to them.

If you capped their end pipe - would that not just make the water build up in their gutter and then overflow anyway?

I'm not certain, maybe it would back up into their gutter instead of mine. 

The most likely thing to happen is it will overflow at the end cap on to yours anyway. In fact, on closer inspection of your pic I can't see an end cap anyway and it seems it would just drain off into your gutter regardless.

DanDare999

Section62 said:

DanDare999 said:

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?

Not everything 'legal' is defined in legislation.

Only two people use that term bendy and his AE. Just wondering if it’s actually a legal term. 

theoretica

If you do decide on physical action, another option might be to see if you could move your gutter over slightly (does it overhang their property at all?) and maybe put a temporary vertical barrier to deflect water coming out of their pipe away from your property - not doing anything to their property - just yours and all your side of the boundary.

And, of course, tell them you will get someone in to do that in X time...

Norman_Castle

DE_612183 said:

Norman_Castle said:

gorbalsgerry said:

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. 

Capping their pipe should speed up their response. They are either allowed to do this or they are not. When they prove its acceptable they can do it. Until then they can live with the problem.

I'd start by removing the end cap from your gutter to see if the water flows back to them.

If you capped their end pipe - would that not just make the water build up in their gutter and then overflow anyway?

Yes, but hopefully not onto the ops property.

OP is there the option to extend her new downpipes to ground level or to a suitable drain which is what she should have done rather than presume she can feed into your gutters?

Bendy_House

From what we have been told, these two neighbours acted together to have their whole rainwater gutter replaced, with the presumed intention of outleting it in to Gerry's gutter. Presumably, therefore, it was installed with the gentle slope leading towards Gerry's house...

If that is the case, it'll need to be completely redone, so that it now empties towards the further-LH property, where the DP is located.

If this job was done by a pro, I'm amazed they thought Gerry's gutter could cope!

Gerry shouldn't do anything to physically alter what's there if (a) it means touching someone else's property (which it likely would), or (b) could, in itself, lead to damage to the other property (which some of the suggestions given here likely would).

A cunning neighbour - and they often are in such cases - could simply give Gerry notice of the damage likely to be caused by his action, and Gerry would be liable if damage were to subsequently occur. Unfair, yes. But right, because 'two wrongs' and a' tha'.

There is only one physical action that I can see being possible by Gerry which is unlikely to lead to 'harm' and therefore action - although it still would involve interfering with another person's property - and that would be to turn that short angled DP around so it aims outwards away from the house, and over the neighbour's lower roof. (Good chance the joints would need gaffa-taping together to stop them falling apart, of course...)

If the subsequent cascade lands harmlessly enough on their lower sloping roof - but it's hard to tell what's actually there - the neighbour would struggle to complain about this, but might still find it unsatisfactory enough to prompt them to find a proper solution. Gerry could justify that move by it preventing damage being caused to his property whilst the situation was being resolved properly - he didn't want to land his nice neighbour with a hefty repair bill - whilst it still shouldn't cause damage to anyone else's property either. I think it would be considered a 'reasonable' action, especially if Gerry were to paint it as move designed to prevent the situation from escalating. Ie, if actual damage were to occur to Gerry's house before this situation was resolved, that would clearly escalate the whole situation, adding complexities like financial claims. Gerry's actions would have prevented this = reasonable and justifiable.

Gerry should not do anything that he knows is likely to cause harm or damage or nuisance to his neighbour - that would be a statutory or even criminal offence. Unfair, yesish.

There are a few solutions to this, but non of them should involve Gerry. His rainwater system is completely separate, and is presumably shared with folk to his right?

gorbalsgerry

Norman_Castle said:

DE_612183 said:

Norman_Castle said:

gorbalsgerry said:

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. 

Capping their pipe should speed up their response. They are either allowed to do this or they are not. When they prove its acceptable they can do it. Until then they can live with the problem.

I'd start by removing the end cap from your gutter to see if the water flows back to them.

If you capped their end pipe - would that not just make the water build up in their gutter and then overflow anyway?

Yes, but hopefully not onto the ops property.

OP is there the option to extend her new downpipes to ground level or to a suitable drain which is what she should have done rather than presume she can feed into your gutters?

From what I believe now she/they enquired about a downpipe and it was too expensive so it looks like they took the easier and cheaper option and landed me with the problem.