Blocked down pipe with council house

pkmid

Hi all, just after some advice. I privately own a semi detached ex council house with a council house next door. At the back we've got shared downpipe for the roofs as part of the guttering. Am I able to have my own downpipe which goes into the drain on my side? It's blocked completely to the top which meant I've had to recall my roofers back as it's affected my new roof. Am I allowed to do this so the council tenant has to call the council to sort out their side? I am going to get some leaf catchers to stop this becoming an ongoing issue. The neighbours pipe would remain untouched albeit the waste would have no drain to go into. Worried the council would not be happy?

ThisIsWeird

They won't be happy.
Think of this as a normal neighbouring issue, so the correct thing there would be to agree shared costs to have the gutter and DP cleaned.
If, however, you do have your gutter cleaned but the tenant next door does not, and that is the cause of the issue, then you may be able to oblige them to act.
I'm pretty sure that this is a tenant's responsibility, part of them 'behaving in a tenant-like' manner, which includes keeping waste pipes and gulleys and stuff like that clean and free-flowing.
If all you want to do is add a new, additional, DP, then that shouldn't cause a problem. But if anything you do directly -negatively - affects the other property, then you shouldn't.
I think I'd contact the council in the first instance, and ask them. If they point you to the tenant, then ask what you should do if they refuse.
Do you have LegProt on your house insurance?

ThisIsWeird

Oops, just seen pic - that's surely a council repair job?

pkmid

ThisIsWeird said:

Oops, just seen pic - that's surely a council repair job?

yes potentially, it's been taken apart because my roofers have dismantled it to find the source of the blockage. The blockage can't be linked directly to either of us as there is only one pipe however it's completely blocked at ground level. I'm thinking I probably don't have the right to do it but it's frustrating because I am not happy paying out for something that is shared. I've done it enough and the council should offer to come clear it. Thank you for your response.

MikeJXE

Ask your neighbours to complain to the council 

pkmid

MikeJXE said:

Ask your neighbours to complain to the council 

I can try but no guarantee they'd actually do it. I’m happy to have a moan to the council myself. Depending on what they say (if I’m wholly liable) then i may look into seperate my pipe and paying for the clearing myself.  I’m awaiting the water board to come and have a look. I managed to unclear what’s at the top but the rest of the pipe is completely jammed. 

ThisIsWeird

I think Mike's advice is best. Tell the neighb there's an issue (literally...), and that the LA should sort it. Ask them to report back to you as soon as they hear. Give them, ooh, a week?

No response - contact the LA yourself, and tell them there's a risk of damage to your property.

The good news is, chances are the LA will sort it themselves, and not even ask for any contribution from you. Unlike what you would expect to happen if both properties were privately owned.

There's nothing to stop you then asking if you can split the gutter, adding your own DP on your side, and fitting stop-ends to separate the two, but I'd expect them to say 'non'. Not 'cos they are bolshie, but because it adds complexity that they'd then have to work around.

Overall, it's probably a 'good thing' that the next door neighbour is the LA :-)

Good luck - and please let us know how it pans out.

pkmid

ThisIsWeird said:

I think Mike's advice is best. Tell the neighb there's an issue (literally...), and that the LA should sort it. Ask them to report back to you as soon as they hear. Give them, ooh, a week?

No response - contact the LA yourself, and tell them there's a risk of damage to your property.

The good news is, chances are the LA will sort it themselves, and not even ask for any contribution from you. Unlike what you would expect to happen if both properties were privately owned.

There's nothing to stop you then asking if you can split the gutter, adding your own DP on your side, and fitting stop-ends to separate the two, but I'd expect them to say 'non'. Not 'cos they are bolshie, but because it adds complexity that they'd then have to work around.

Overall, it's probably a 'good thing' that the next door neighbour is the LA :-)

Good luck - and please let us know how it pans out.

Thank you! Yes I will leave the guttering alone for now, it's for the best it's been taken apart to stop any further problems. I am waiting for Wessex Water to come by and have a look, I am hopeful it will come under their jurisdiction to resolve. If not, I will contact the neighbour and let them know to contact the council and I will do the same. You're right about it being good they are LA. Thank you, I will update

dekaspace1

I have worked in social housing, basically call the council first because if you do your own work and an issue occurs the council won't be able to help i.e lets say there is a dispute over if something is the fault of you or council tenant, the council may take a bit longer but then you can go direct to them for any issues and MIGHT be cheaper.

One that came up often when I worked in social housing was blockages of downpipes and if a owner was involved regardless if they were the ones that caused it they got quite rude with the staff as just expected us to do everything, even had people who had plumbers do work internally and not connect pipes that causes issues outside but the social housing LL had to pay.

Bigphil1474

OP, if I read this right, there is a shared downpipe with your neighbours, that goes into a drain on your side and you want to split it so that you have a downpipe on your side that goes into your drain and next door has a downpipe that doesn't go into any drain? If I was the housing officer, then the polite answer would be no chance. The downpipe has to go into a drain somewhere, and I expect you wouldn't be too pleased if it was the other way round. As others have said, contact the council. 
About 15 years ago, our shared downpipe on the neighbours side went into a drain on their side but the drain was broken. The broken drain wasn't picked up, and it lead to subsidence on our side and an insurance bill of over £20k in repairs. Water board's responsibility for the drain but not the downpipe. 

teaselMay

As above you can't expect the council to change it so that next door's roof drains into thin air.


Could I ask a side question, I learned on here recently that shared drains are covered by the water authority. Would a drain that accepts a downpipe on my property, draining mine and next door the other side's roof into a ground drain, that starts on my property and goes toward the road be considered a shared drain? The water in it is shared but I think the drain physically sits only on my property