Neighbours (lack of) drain damaging my property

gimpotronitus

Hi all,

I have a question. When I moved into my new house (which is a terraced house close to the cc), one of the first things I did was completely strip the plaster and cement from the Kitchen wall closest to the party wall. It was completely damp from above i.e. we are not talking rising damp here. The leak was somewhere on the wall and the water was coming in there. So I recemented and replastered this part of the wall.

We also plugged any holes we could find outside. The only other thing left to do was ask my neighbour to put the drain up on their side. This drain is *really* close to the dividing wall and has not been connected to the gutter since I moved in about a year ago.

Since there is a gaping hole in the gutter, when it rains a stream of water flows down my side usually (even though the drain is on her side). The new plaster (getting old now) I put up in the kitchen is not drying as a result or drying really slowly. This is putting back my plans to repaint etc..

Sooooooo, basically I asked her about 7 weeks ago to put the drain up on her side. I offered to pay half of any expenses and to loan them (she has a boyfriend) my ladder. They were very positive about it and said it would be done next day. Well, nothing happened for 6 weeks so last week I called in again and asked her if she could put the drain up and explained that I suspected it was not helping my kitchen wall. She said no problem, that they had tried to put it up and could not and needed a new pipe.

So, to the question:

Do I have any legal rights here ?

How long should I wait before asking her a THIRD time to put the drain up ?

If she does nothing after asking her for the THIRD time to do it, what should I do ?

At all times I was non-confrontational and was nice when asking etc...so they have no reason, other than ego, to be offended by my requests.

Any advice appreciated.

spongebob

I'd say she got legal advice NOT to do it because she then HAS to maintain it. Thats what the humming and hawing is about I suspect.

OTOH If there is any acrimony it can be Very Very Messy getting 'enforcement' of drainage so don't think of a solicitors letter or anything. Did your surveyor not spot this penetrating damp when you bought the house?

If the house is BRAND new, not simply new to you , it will be covered by the Homebond Guarantee as a bad case of penetrating damp which is a structural fault.. Did you get that Homebond when you bought ? The penetrating damp guarantee is only 2 Years , get onto it!

In that case you should have a natter with a civil engineer who does houses and stuff, who did your snag list back then? If you need acccess to her garden then full restitution costs are required in the quote.

Claim all your time and engineer/surveyor costs off Homebond, thats what its for.

M

gimpotronitus

House built in 1916, its an old dublin ex-corpo 2-up 2-down. There is no issue of who has to maintain the drain, its been on her side since 1916 as they say! It just fell down a while back and she is just too lazy to fix it.

spongebob

What about your Surveyors report ewhen you bought it , he shoulda spotted the damp and the reason for it and he would be indemnified for this kinda crap. I woulda been very pissed off if I bought somewhere with penetrating damp and had not had it pointed out to me.

Now you are in a messy situation, you need to access another premises to fix yer own. You can only ask nicely, again but this time Offer to do the WHOLE job yourself, how much is a length of gutter FFS.

M

gimpotronitus

ah no, I knew about it b4 I bought it! Its between me and the neighbour only.

Lucutus

Muck has a good point, just do it yourself as a neighbourly favour. This has two advantages:

• You get the job done, and protect your own property, thereby ensuring it doesn't get any worse and gives you the chance to tidy it up to the way you want it.
  
  
• Next time you go next door to ask if they'll tone down the screams from their bondage session, they'll be more receptive to your request.

A stitch in time etc.

Also, legal positions? solicitors advice? IT'S A DRAIN PIPE! IMO, legal professionals time should not be spent on this sort of thing unless it has esculated beyond the point of no return.

Luc

spongebob

The cheapest and quickest thing is to fix it yourself , the wall will rot otherwise. How are the bricks taking the battering ?

If she wont let your then there are remedies but you would need a lawyer who specialises in Property law as some of the law on this is ancient Common Law sh1t and case law. That won't be cheap, I would not get a junior solicitor onto it. She may be liable for transportation to Botany Bay for not fixing it under some ancient by Law for all I know.

Offer to do the whole gutter yourself, saturday morning, bright and early.

M

gimpotronitus

Yeah I was going to offer to do it, but changed my mind since I figured that that would be saying to her boyfriend "obviously you cant do it or are too lazy so let the master in at it!" and this might ruffle some feathers.

On second thoughts, I'll give it a week and then offer to do it for the lazy gits!

thanks for the advice lads.

Victor

The legal situation is they are responsible for the water they are directing onto your property (there is some case on this about farm land) - assumming none of this water comes from your roof.

In practice, offer to do it for them. Or if you want to be cranky direct the water back (without crossing the boundary line).

Victor

Terminology - gutter is horizontal, downpipe is verticle.

gimpotronitus

Yeah, I plan to offer to do it for them next weekend but I mean come on, they are not old dears. They are a young couple and are just too lazy or just dont give a **** about it i.e. they dont care about my property and dont want to be good neighbours so I am now going to turn around and do it ?

Also, what happens if they turn down my offer, do I offer them money then I suppose ?!?

Victor

Originally posted by gimpotronitus
Also, what happens if they turn down my offer, do I offer them money then I suppose ?!?

No, this is when you give solictor €50 to write nasty letter.