Rainwater downpipe subsidence

Holdonaminute

I'm going to get the helical restraints done but what can i do about my neighbours downpipe? They did their driveway almost 10 years ago now and covered up the gully. All other houses on the street have their gullies in place. I will speak to them but what if they say no to reinstating the gully? 

When i moved in, they asked me if paint was peeling off the interior wall around the base of the bay. I said no and I asked did they have water coming up or in the wall. At that time zi wasn't aware of their downpipe.

grumpy_codger

I'm no expert, but IMO you have to stop the subsidence first. Helical restraints without underpinning will be a waste of money.

Bigphil1474

Have you contacted your insurers? Is this rented or did you buy it? We had subsidence in 2012 caused by a leaking gulley drain and it cost in excess of £20k to fix. We did have a lot of artex that contained asbestos to be removed which added to the bill, but still a big cost without that. There's usually a high excess on subsidence claims, ours was £1k, but we sorted it out with the redecoration costs so dodged it. The insurers should sort the cause of the movement then fix the house.

Holdonaminute

@Bigphil1474 well we had a structural engineer come over and he said it's not subsidence yet but has the potential to become significant if not resolved now. So we will resolve but of course what to do about neighbours rainwater downpipe. We've recently purchased. Neighbour purchased 10 years ago with inheritance, no mortgage and no building insurance. I'm happy to do the works as part of other works to my house but what if they say no to either resolving themselves or letting us. Contacted building control to ask if they can enforce Part H3 building regs. But it not, then what? It's stressful 

FreeBear

Does this downpipe drain the guttering on both sides ?

If so, it might be worth moving the downpipe to your side of the boundary and take on the responsibility of directing the water to a suitable soakaway.

I have a similar arrangement  on my property where the downpipe is in the boundary. It used to drain water from both sides, but the neighbours opted to fit new gutters and directed the water to their own downpipe & drain. On my side, I've just replaced some of the underground drainage and ensured the soakaway is still in good order.

Holdonaminute

@FreeBear it's not shared. We have our own one draining into a gully. Each house also has their own man hole on the driveway/front garden. They built a wall between the houses and the wall whilst not attached to the front facing wall of the house has a gap where the gully would have been. Rather than moving it over their contractor just paved over