Water butt or soakaway, old conservatory

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81882774#Comment_81882774

"Run off" ?

…which property owners have a legal duty to manage.

Whoever from the council has written to the OP hasn't done it for fun. They will have looked at the law and the circumstances and decided there are some grounds for making the request.

Even if it turns out the council has no enforcement power, if the water butt is overflowing and the water is getting onto the neighbour's land, then they may have a civil remedy.

Ignoring the problem won't make it go away.

WIAWSNB

As always, it would help to know the full circumstances, the actual 'issue', the layout, the possible solutions.

But if digging a soakaway is easier, then hey.

Boohoo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81883258#Comment_81883258

That can be expensive if you have to make the soak away 5m or more from the conservatory.

As you say depends on the layout and what you have in your garden.

This could be an expensive roof upgrade.

WIAWSNB

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81883428#Comment_81883428

Soz, I was being sarcy about the soakaway.

Pretty much last resort.

Ectophile

If there's a big storm, is that hosepipe enough to take away all the water? If not, the water butt could overflow. Depending on the lie of the land, the overflowing water could flood the neighbours garden.

It sounds like a bit of a shonky solution relying on you to connect the hosepipe and open the tap every time there's a storm on the way.

ellenpal

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81882710#Comment_81882710

They didn't though...it was signed off with a water butt attached. Many months later, neighbour complained.

ellenpal

As far as I'm aware, it was the council that signed off. She visited the property and viewed the roof, discussed the gutter situation and all was good. But the neighbour hasn't been happy with anything, harassed trades people we get in and so forth. So I think it's easier to just install the soakaway even though neighbour will feel vindicated in some way.

ellenpal

Water is collected into 2 water butts and when they get full, we drain it farther down the garden. It's not a huge roof, so it's not as if we are talking about a swimming pool sized problem.

Boohoo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884029#Comment_81884029

If the council have signed it off and it's all legal then the council can't do anymore can they?

If it was me I would leave it as it is because if you pay £100's or 2 grand to do a soak away then your neighbour will think they have won the battle and then find more things for you to correct on their behalf.

Do you have a photo of the conservatory and the garden layout so we can see the issue and where you could put a soak away.

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884029#Comment_81884029

So what exactly does the letter/email from the council say? Without knowing exactly what grounds the council are saying you need to install a soakaway we can't give you meaningful advice.

Can you post a copy (with personal details redacted)?