Nightmare neighbours next door!

Jepersky

Hi everyone,

We’ve been dealing with a sewage smell in our home for the past few weeks, particularly bad in the top floor en-suite and downstairs kitchen. We live in an end-terraced townhouse, and at first, we thought the issue might be a faulty toilet seal. However, the smell would disappear every time we flushed, and we couldn’t figure out what was causing the issue in the kitchen.

A few days ago, the smell got much worse, and my husband noticed that the drain in our back garden was full and overflowing. We called out a plumber who discovered that the blockage was caused by wet wipes, and that it was coming from our next-door neighbour's property (which is a rental). They have small children, and without thinking much of it, we paid £120 to have the issue resolved and texted the landlord to inform her of the situation. I also politely asked if she’d be willing to split the bill, as the blockage originated from her tenants’ usage.

The landlord is now disputing the charge, claiming her tenants aren’t using baby wipes since their kids are older. Our plumber didn’t specifically mention baby wipes in his report, but it was clear the blockage came from their property. The tenants even admitted to having issues with their en-suite shower, which connects to ours. It’s also worth noting that her tenants never informed her about the en-suite shower issue—had they done so earlier, it could have eliminated all this drama.

She’s also upset, claiming that we didn’t notify her of the blockage in advance, but we didn’t even know the blockage was caused by her tenants until the plumber investigated. I’ve tried explaining that we were just looking after our own property. I also mentioned to her that if the blockage had been caused solely by us, we would have been happy to cover the whole bill ourselves.

We’ve had other issues with this neighbour in the past as well. For example, our other neighbour has frequently complained about the noise coming from the rental property, and we’ve even had pictures fall off our walls due to the noise/banging at times. On top of that, the landlord is unhappy that our plumber accessed their garden (with permission from the tenants) to clear the blockage. I’m concerned this might become a recurring issue due to the state of their back garden.

Additionally, we’ve noticed that their washing line is affixed to our side of the house without our permission. My husband has drafted a letter asking them to remove the washing line within the next 24 hours. If they don’t, we’re planning to charge them for unauthorised use of our property.

My questions are:

1. If the landlord refuses to split the bill for the drain blockage, is there anything we can do to recoup the costs since it was caused by their tenants?

2. Can we legally ask them to remove the washing line and fill the holes, and what options do we have if they refuse? Can we charge them for unauthorised use of our property?

I’m trying to handle this civilly, but I’m worried about ongoing problems with the drains and the misuse of our property. Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

tacpot12

You can sue the landlord for the whole cost of the plumber's visit, but there are costs to do so. You will definitely need something in writing from the plumber that confirms the blockage was caused by your neighbours. 

If you have home insurance, check to see if you have legal expenses cover as part of the policy. If you do, you can call the legal helpline provided by your insurers for advice. 

I think that the best option is to pay the bill yourselves, but keep it and the evidence that the neighbours were the cause, and if you have cause to start a further court case for similar costs in the next six years, you can add this claim onto it. 

You seem to be overracting to the landlord's poor handling of the situation. Having older kids doesn't preclude the use of wet wipes, and landlords are running a buisness and should be used to their tenants to do all sorts of things that cause problems, including making noise and causing plumbing problems. 

I don't think forcing the tenants to take down the washing line is a good idea. I think I would be happier having tenants that were prepared to use a washing line - it suggests that they are not lazy. Just ask them to be more proactive with contacting their landlord now that you are both aware that they can cause a blockage that affects you.   

Jepersky

We’ve been very patient with our neighbours since they moved in, despite the noise and general mess, and haven’t complained once. However, our other neighbour was really upset the other day because his daughter’s ashes nearly went flying off the mantelpiece due to the noise/banging, which shook his home. He has already complained to the property management company, but they dismissed him, saying he’s exaggerating.

We’ve also received a plumber’s report that clearly states the blockage was caused by their tenants, but again, the landlord doesn’t seem interested in addressing it. As for the washing line, we had a look today, and it’s very poorly installed—screws have been attached to our house, and water is starting to get in. If they refuse to remove it, can we look into charging them for any damage it might cause?

Keep_pedalling

For future reference, if you have a shared drain on your property you can call your local water company and they will clear it free of charge. 

Green_hopeful

If it’s a sewer that travels from your neighbour’s property through your property it might belong to your sewage company. Perhaps contact them to find out. It’s likely to be called a transferred sewer because in 2011 shared sewers automatically transferred to the sewage companies. At least that would mean you wouldn’t have to pay again if it blocked. They might also provide some information on appropriate things to put down a sewer. They also have rights of access to maintain their pipes. 

It sounds like a generally stressful situation but probably best to try to let it go rather than get into a neighbour dispute. 

ThisIsWeird

Hi Jepersky.
Very little (any?) of this is the Landlord's issue.
If the tenant blocked the drain, then they are liable, and should foot the bill.
Or, if what Keep-Pedalling says is the case, then next time call out the W-B, and they will have words with the tenant if they are doing things that block the drain.
For this bill, you either accept it, or ask your neighbour to foot half - or more.
The clothes line issue is annoying, yes. Why would they attach it to your house, and not their own?! Does the line actually cross your boundary?
Anyhoo, can you make them remove it? Yes you can. Will it be easy? Hmm, that depends - do you have the threat of LegProt that you could use? If so, you can insist they remove it, and make good the hole in your wall (good luck if they DIY this...). If they refuse, you can get a 'builder' to do this instead, and sue your neighb for the cost. But not the LL.
Of course, even without LegProt, you can do this. Good luck...
Seriously, tho', your neighbourly issues appear to be relatively minor, might be largely sortable with a friendly chat, but in any case is now't to do with the LL. But, you'd be doing the LL a favour by keeping them informed of what's going on - they'd want to know if drains were being blocked and stuff, and other such issues, and this may affect decisions they make moving forwards.

outtatune

Why should the landlord pay any of your bill? If you choose to pay for a service that the water company is responsible for and will do for free, that's completely down to you.

Veteransaver

In what way is the washing line affixed to your house?
Do you mean that it is fixed beyond their boundary to your wall? Is there no fence boundary between the rear gardens?
Seems odd that someone would attach it to your wall deliberately, unless they had merely tied it to some pre-existing bracket on your side, for simplicity.

Bigphil1474

Is it attached because there's no where else to attach it? If it was me, I'd probably go round and fix it properly so it isn't damaging my house, grab a cuppa as well, and maybe make friends and get an opportunity to deal with some of the other 'issues'. Having worked in a noise team for years some people genuinely don't know that they are noisy beggars, some do but just don't care though.

ThisIsWeird

Yeah, if I was BIG Phil, I'd go round and have a quiet 'chat' too...

Jepersky

The neighbours attached their washing line directly to the side of our house. When I raised this with the landlord, she insisted it was attached to the fence. After I sent her a photo clearly showing the line had been moved and fixed to our wall, her only response was, “Well, I don’t live there anymore.”

I’ve also been dealing with her regarding a plumber’s fee. She claims to have an “independent” report saying nothing was wrong with the en-suite, which is pretty hard to believe considering there was a blocked drain. It would have been simple for them to move the washing line back to the fence where it originally was or at the very least ask for permission before attaching anything to our property.

We’re not the kind of people who like confrontation, but dealing with our landlord has been beyond frustrating.