neighbors lean to building guttering in our garden

bubsha

I had an elderly neighbour who sadly she passed away recently leaving property to children who are in the process of selling it. When I brought the property (we did not notice this when we brought it) we discovered later that the guttering to neighbours lean to extension (our fence side) is in our garden and the rain water would make a gully in our part. When I spoke to my then neighbour she indicated that it was a verbal agreement with the owner of our house over 10 yrs ago. She had been there possibly 20+ yrs so we did not do anything because I read somewhere that if its over certain years then she has ownership of that airspace. But is it right for me to think that when they sell the property that it is no longer valid ie the verbal agreement between ex neighbour and my old owner will cease to exist if I raise this as an issue with the children selling the property.
Should I do this through a solicitor?

I have raised it with the son and thought he would understand but he says he will not do anything except remove the guttering which means all the rain from their extension (just a lean to ) will be coming into my garden. He says if anything else is to be done it has to be the new owners  but I don't think he can sell with an issue outstanding. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge pls?

ThisIsWeird

Interesting that he's removed the guttering! That was probably 'silly', if well-intentioned of him.
As you suspect, your neighbour may well have obtained an 'easement' - a continued 'right' - to have this gutter encroach over your land, just due to the length of time of uninterrupted use. Possibly this lad has scuppered that right by voluntarily not making it continued or permanent...
The bottom line, tho', is that I don't know
I presume you'd like this gutter removed, and for an alternative method for them to discharge their lean-to's rainwater? I look forward to seeing if the most likely to be successful way to achieve this is by challenging your current neighb with a potential 'dispute' - which I doubt - or just letting the sale proceed, and then knocking on your new neighb's door come next wet winter, and saying, "You need to sort out this discharge, pal. What happened to the old gutter? Why, the previous owner removed it...".
Interesting...
Is it likely that they will.wantbto extend, or improve this lean-to?

Brie

Maybe put the gutting back up with the down pipe going back over the fence?  

jonnydeppiwish!

Out of interest, is the fence actually on the boundary line, and/or who owns the fence (if applicable). It might be that the fence is in the neighbours garden and therefore the gutter, although over the fence, is actually still on the neighbours property.

Don’t forget, if you raise this, you will have to declare if you sell in the future.

p00hsticks

ThisIsWeird said:

Interesting that he's removed the guttering! That was probably 'silly', if well-intentioned of him.

I'm not sure from the OP whether the guttering has actually been removed, or if it's just been proposed as the only action they are prepared to take prior to selling it. 

Albermarle

p00hsticks said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Interesting that he's removed the guttering! That was probably 'silly', if well-intentioned of him.

I'm not sure from the OP whether the guttering has actually been removed, or if it's just been proposed as the only action they are prepared to take prior to selling it. 

That is how I understood it as well.

For me the issue would be if the guttering was causing a problem, such as partly obstructing a narrow passageway.
If it was not actually causing any problems, then I would let sleeping dogs lie . Probably not worth souring relationship with the old, or especially new neighbours, over it and getting solicitors involved.

As the OP said this.
(we did not notice this when we brought it) , or apparently for some time afterwards. It sounds not to be a major issue.

bubsha

the guttering hasn't been removed but that was what he offered to do but I said "where would rain water goes?" he said in your garden!  That side of the fence is my responsibility. The guttering does have a down pipe which goes in their garden but it has created a gully (gutters over flow) on my side until recently when I had the side redone with paving.
true we did not pick this up when we moved in until the gully started forming from overflown/blocked gutter.

Albermarle

bubsha said:

the guttering hasn't been removed but that was what he offered to do but I said "where would rain water goes?" he said in your garden!  That side of the fence is my responsibility. The guttering does have a down pipe which goes in their garden but it has created a gully (gutters over flow) on my side until recently when I had the side redone with paving.
true we did not pick this up when we moved in until the gully started forming from overflown/blocked gutter.

Have you asked the neighbour to have a look at the guttering to stop it overflowing on your side. I think that is a very reasonable request.

Yorkie1

Do you have legal cover on your home insurance?