Drain access covers on neighbour's property

Helonwheels

The access covers for our drains are inside our neighbour’s boundary, I understand that we have a right to enter their property under the Access to Neighbouring Land Act 1992 and we should give her notice of our intention to enter under the Act for routine maintenance.

But what is our legal position in an emergency (blocked fowl drain overflowing into house, as happened in a previous property) if she is not home and the gate is locked, can we or our insurance representatives “break in”?

The 1m fence panel between our properties used to be across the back of our two houses so that the drains were all accessible from the front of the property as per the planning application DC_11_13_SCA-Proposed_Site_Layout-726248 but when the current owner moved in she hired landscapers to lay a patio and re-turf the front and back garden and they used the 1m gap between our houses for access, once the work was finished she had them fit the 1m panel at the front of this gap.  We pointed out that this meant that our window cleaner would not be able to clean our en-suite, the cables from our satellite dish were not accessible and that we would not be able to periodically inspect the drains (there was a fatberg at one of the junctions when we moved in), she just swore at my husband saying it was her land and she could do what she ***** liked and if there was a blockage she would call out the water board but we know they do not clear blockages on private land.  As it is the landscapers have turfed over two covers at the front of the property, I notified them of this error and the said they would come and uncover them but they never have.

diystarter7

Hi
Have you tried the emergency council number for environmental health?

Years ago about 30+ yrs ago we had a problem like that not sure if it was a Saturday or Sunday afternoon as we were all at home - we contacted the above they went to the other property next door but the problem was another two doors down and they knocked on their doo and cleared it same day - I'm not sure who paid though but as it was not us causing the problem it was not us.

Thanks

ProDave

The description is not clear.  A 1M fence would not be a hazard to climb over nor would it block a window so I am failing to understand your description.  Post a photo perhaps?

In a similar situation for routine work I would arrange with the neigbour, but when I had a blockage and the neighbour was not there, I just climbed over the fence and unblocked the drain (the blockage in my case happened to be firther along under the neighbours garden to their drain would have been blocking up as well, so I did them a favour)  they did not complain.

Helonwheels

ProDave said:

The description is not clear.  A 1M fence would not be a hazard to climb over nor would it block a window so I am failing to understand your description.  Post a photo perhaps?

In a similar situation for routine work I would arrange with the neigbour, but when I had a blockage and the neighbour was not there, I just climbed over the fence and unblocked the drain (the blockage in my case happened to be firther along under the neighbours garden to their drain would have been blocking up as well, so I did them a favour)  they did not complain.

I shoud have been more clear, the fence is 1m wide but 2m high.

Alter_ego

The water authority actually do clear blockages on private land, if the drain is shared

Woolsery

Alter_ego said:

The water authority actually do clear blockages on private land, if the drain is shared

And the neighbour would have a good reason to cooperate, if upstream of you in that situation.

ProDave

Helonwheels said:

ProDave said:

The description is not clear.  A 1M fence would not be a hazard to climb over nor would it block a window so I am failing to understand your description.  Post a photo perhaps?

In a similar situation for routine work I would arrange with the neigbour, but when I had a blockage and the neighbour was not there, I just climbed over the fence and unblocked the drain (the blockage in my case happened to be firther along under the neighbours garden to their drain would have been blocking up as well, so I did them a favour)  they did not complain.

I shoud have been more clear, the fence is 1m wide but 2m high.

I would still climb over that using 2 ladders to form a Cumbrian stile.

user1977

Helonwheels said:

But what is our legal position in an emergency (blocked fowl drain overflowing into house, as happened in a previous property) if she is not home and the gate is locked, can we or our insurance representatives “break in”?

I would just do so, yes. What's she going to do about it (other than moan at you) if she wasn't there at the time?

(btw, it's a "foul" drain, unless it's been blocked with a turkey...)

Helonwheels

diystarter7 said:

Hi
Have you tried the emergency council number for environmental health?

Years ago about 30+ yrs ago we had a problem like that not sure if it was a Saturday or Sunday afternoon as we were all at home - we contacted the above they went to the other property next door but the problem was another two doors down and they knocked on their doo and cleared it same day - I'm not sure who paid though but as it was not us causing the problem it was not us.

Thanks

This similar to a recent issue we had.  We are at the end of the street and our downstairs toilet started "sucking air" when flushed but the access point for that was on our drive, when we lifted it the drain was full so we went down our shared drive to the next access point 4 houses down which was also full.  The next point was in the road so I called the water board and they came out the next day, there was a blockage caused by wet wipes at the far end of the street but was we were the last house on the drains, upstream of the blockage, we were the only one affected.

Helonwheels

user1977 said:

Helonwheels said:

But what is our legal position in an emergency (blocked fowl drain overflowing into house, as happened in a previous property) if she is not home and the gate is locked, can we or our insurance representatives “break in”?

I would just do so, yes. What's she going to do about it (other than moan at you) if she wasn't there at the time?

(btw, it's a "foul" drain, unless it's been blocked with a turkey...)

Thanks for point that out, yes I meant foul as in sewerage.  Though I am sure some people might try to flush a turkey carcass 😒

Section62

Helonwheels said:

The 1m fence panel between our properties used to be across the back of our two houses so that the drains were all accessible from the front of the property as per the planning application DC_11_13_SCA-Proposed_Site_Layout-726248 but when the current owner moved in she hired landscapers to lay a patio and re-turf the front and back garden and they used the 1m gap between our houses for access, once the work was finished she had them fit the 1m panel at the front of this gap.

Is this a relatively newly built property?  If so, have you checked the planning consent(s) to see what they say about alterations to landscaping, boundary fences etc?

It is relatively common for there to be a condition requiring no alteration to landscaping, and/or the removal of permitted development rights.  Although very often no enforcement happens proactively by the council for breaches of these conditions, they nevertheless can remain in force.  If the design of the development was such that the fronts were open plan (which would allow access to the manholes etc) then the neighbour may be in breach of a planning condition by placing a fence at the front of the property.  (The devil is in the detail though)

Helonwheels said:

We pointed out that this meant that our window cleaner would not be able to clean our en-suite, the cables from our satellite dish were not accessible and that we would not be able to periodically inspect the drains (there was a fatberg at one of the junctions when we moved in), she just swore at my husband saying it was her land and she could do what she ***** liked and if there was a blockage she would call out the water board but we know they do not clear blockages on private land.  As it is the landscapers have turfed over two covers at the front of the property, I notified them of this error and the said they would come and uncover them but they never have.

As others have alluded to, if your drain crosses over the boundary onto your neighbour's property then it may* be a public sewer (from that point) which is the responsibility of the local sewerage undertaker to maintain.  If it gets blocked the water company would arrange clearance and/or repair.

For this reason they also take a dim view of people landscaping over the top of manholes and inspection chambers, so if this is a public sewer then you could complain to the water company that the neighbour has covered over the manhole on the sewer serving your property.  Water companies take this seriously, as in the event of blockages and/or flooding it is essential they can access the sewer quickly to minimise the impact of flooding or foul sewage discharge. They don't want to be playing 'hunt the manhole' under turf or paving stones.

*May, because if the development is very new it is possible the sewers have not been adopted (yet), and there are some cases where shared drains are not public sewers because they discharge into a private treatment plant.