Can a gutter downpipe exit onto a paved driveway

longwalks1

Our neighbours (not attached, they are slight higher up as houses on a hill) have just had a porch finished and the downpipe finishes on their driveway so all rainwater from their porch roof will naturally run straight onto our property (driveway and side alleyway). Is this correct?

Only asking as I’m currently planning a porch too, and 2 builders have said will need to dig out/or route downpipe actually into an existing drain.

Can a downpipe just terminate onto a block paved driveway?

Flugelhorn

I think quite a lot of people do do that for a small roof area eg a porch - some neighbours did it for a vey large rear porch and diverted the water in water butts.

I like the idea of rain chains down into a gravelled area but depends how big the porch roof is 

Suppose the actual answer is to ask the building regs people

FreeBear

Flugelhorn said: Suppose the actual answer is to ask the building regs people

Buidling Regulations Part H - Downpipes can discharge on to a hard paved area, but this water should be collected and directed to a soakaway, water course, or combined sewer. The water should not be allowed to run off in to the street or a neighbouring property, nor should it be allowed to pool against a wall.
In my opinion, it is irresponsible of the neighbour to allow water from his/her porch roof to drain in to the OPs drive, and the builder doing the work was negligent in not installing proper drainage. Getting this resolved may not be conducive to good neighbourly relations though.

mexican_dave

Following what FreeBear says about Regs and thinking about neighbourly relationship, since you look like having builders yourself, speak "nicely" to your neighbours about this rainwater run-off problem and suggest as you are having the builders in then they could fix the problem by combining both porched into one soak-away on your land (you are lower). IF the neighbour is amenable to the proposed scheme, then ask for a contribution to install the necessary drainage from their land to yours. Yes you will be collecting their rainwater from one downpipe, but you will be happier!

Section62

mexican_dave said:

Following what FreeBear says about Regs and thinking about neighbourly relationship, since you look like having builders yourself, speak "nicely" to your neighbours about this rainwater run-off problem and suggest as you are having the builders in then they could fix the problem by combining both porched into one soak-away on your land (you are lower). IF the neighbour is amenable to the proposed scheme, then ask for a contribution to install the necessary drainage from their land to yours. Yes you will be collecting their rainwater from one downpipe, but you will be happier!

Volunteering to provide a solution to a neighbour's drainage problem by accepting the water into an underground drain on your own land is usually a bad idea and best avoided.

If the neighbour can't be persuaded to deal with the problem themselves then a channel drain (or similar) on the OP's property to cut-off the surface flow would be a better approach, although better still would be some form of barrier (like a low brick wall) which keeps the neighbour's water out entirely.

In addition to the BR issue, the main reason discharging downpipes onto paved areas is a bad idea is that in cold weather there is a risk of the runoff turning the paved area into a skating rink.  Hopefully the neighbour has good insurance cover for third-party slips and falls.

grumbler

FreeBear said:

Flugelhorn said: Suppose the actual answer is to ask the building regs people

Buidling Regulations Part H - ... this water should be collected and directed to a soakaway, water course, or combined sewer. 

Makes no sense to me. I can understand this for a big roof, but if you add a small porch, the total amount of water getting to the paved area doesn't increase.
That said, it's not the first time when regulations make no sense to me.

ThisIsWeird

FreeBear said:

Flugelhorn said: Suppose the actual answer is to ask the building regs people

Buidling Regulations Part H - Downpipes can discharge on to a hard paved area, but this water should be collected and directed to a soakaway, water course, or combined sewer. The water should not be allowed to run off in to the street or a neighbouring property, nor should it be allowed to pool against a wall.
In my opinion, it is irresponsible of the neighbour to allow water from his/her porch roof to drain in to the OPs drive, and the builder doing the work was negligent in not installing proper drainage. Getting this resolved may not be conducive to good neighbourly relations though.

Yeah, OP - you just gotta suck it up.

stuart45

You don't normally need Building regs for a small porch.

Section62

grumbler said:

FreeBear said:

Flugelhorn said: Suppose the actual answer is to ask the building regs people

Buidling Regulations Part H - ... this water should be collected and directed to a soakaway, water course, or combined sewer. 

Makes no sense to me. I can understand this for a big roof, but if you add a small porch, the total amount of water getting to the paved area doesn't increase.
That said, it's not the first time when regulations make no sense to me.

If it is a pitched roof then the total amount of runoff may be greater than the equivalent from the footprint of the structure... rain doesn't always fall vertically.

ThisIsWeird

Hi Longwalks.
Always good to be fully informed/pre-armed in these situations. I don't know if BuildRegs covers rainwater runoff from a small porch, but I think it's worth calling them up to ask. If it does, then that's significant.
A separate issue is whether it's causing you a 'statutory nuisance' - and it sounds as tho' it may well be doing this - in which case start collecting dated, photo & vid evidence.
Next step is how you are minded to deal with it. The two options would appear to be to 'oblige' them to sort it, and the other is to put something in place to simply protect your property, as suggested by others. The former will almost certainly be more fraught, but shouldn't be avoided for just that reason; folk who are thoughtless need to be challenged on it.
So, would it be cheap & simple to place a slight raised ridge or barrier along your boundary to prevent this water from coming on to your land? If so, there's your 'easy' option.
If this cannot be done, or not without considerable effort or expense, then it's 'approach' time, armed with solid info.
I think a good approach would be to completely blame their builder, and not your neighbour; "I'm sure you don't realise, but the way your builder set up that DP runoff breaches regs, and it's all coming on to our land as a result - tsk, what ARE they like! Cough. BuildRegs state it should be diverted into either an existing surface water drain, or to a purpose-made soakaway (whatever the regs actually say). As it happens, we are planning to build a porch too, so perhaps we can come up with a shared solution and split the cost?"
You will likely pick up very quickly what your neighb's attitude will be...

grumbler

Section62 said:

grumbler said:

FreeBear said:

Flugelhorn said: Suppose the actual answer is to ask the building regs people

Buidling Regulations Part H - ... this water should be collected and directed to a soakaway, water course, or combined sewer. 

Makes no sense to me. I can understand this for a big roof, but if you add a small porch, the total amount of water getting to the paved area doesn't increase.
That said, it's not the first time when regulations make no sense to me.

If it is a pitched roof then the total amount of runoff may be greater than the equivalent from the footprint of the structure... rain doesn't always fall vertically.

Whatever roof it is, I cannot imagine how adding a porch can increase the total amount of water.
Yes, the area gets smaller, but the amount of water doesn't get bigger.