Daughter lives in a 3 bed semi, with shared soakaway roof drain front and back, the front fence is her responsibility, and the rear the neighbors.

At the front we stopped the fencing short of the house wall so as not to interfere with the soakaway and hopper etc.

At the rear, his fence has blown down, and he now wants to take the soakaway hopper out to put in a concrete fence post, then divert the fall pipe into a water butt.

Bearing in mind this is half a pair of semi's worth of roof water, a water butt would fill up in no time, overflowing into patios footings etc.

Their lease covers shared utilities such as this, I have told him he must not remove the existing arrangement, he can either stop his fence short of the house, or, divert the underground pipe and fall pipe to miss the new fence post.

He is adamant his fencer is going to put the new fence post in place of the soakaway hopper tomorrow, I have told him he will have an expensive legal battle if he does.

Question is really, am I right, and would we have a leg to stand on in court? the relationship with the neighbour is wrecked now so nothing to loose there......

[Edited on 6/3/14 by r1_pete]

Might be worth a quick phone call to the local council planning office as I'm sure removal of rainwater come under specific rules.
http://www.eden.gov.uk/planning-and-development/building-control/building-control-guidance-notes/rainwater-soakaway-design-guidance/
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/drainssewers/

Paul H

prevention is the best cure, but its his responsibility, and therefore so is any damage caused
any signs of damp appearing, tell him to get it sorted

why cant he fasten the post to the wall above the hopper and cut the fence around the hopper

Exactly what Jacko said. Just tell him he needs to fasten a treated timber post to the wall at the back of the house to be the last fence post. If he insists he is going to carry on regardless then you need to call the local council and ask to be put through to building control. A visit from a building inspector will soon stop him in his tracks.

Thanks guys, yes the timber screwed to the wall was something my daughter suggested, there is even one still there from the old fence, but he's dismissed that out of hand.

I think he thought he could just bully my daughter into submission.

No, I'm not an expert (in anything), but I'd have thought you're paying water charges that include discharge of runoff into the sewer system. A water butt isn't a sewage system...

Sound like you've got a neighbour that you don't want, plenty around. The greedy, me, me, me social situation on the Septic Isle. I've had several, some I've had to move away from, some have thankfully died after making my life their primary concern in their final days/months/years.

If the house is a new modern shoebox on an estate, there are often covenants, etc., preventing the stupidity that seems to be taking place (I have a said shoebox, but there's now no 'enforcement' of any covenants).

Your friends here are probably the council, water company, or any building control, etc. These people have time on their hands and may well welcome the opportunity to tick a bonus box somewhere.

I have a large water butt, I recently had to move it & hence emptied it, when replaced it was empty & after one night of heavy rain it was full again!!! It only collects the runoff water from my conservatory roof so I think that answers how quickly you can fill a water butt.

I would suggest try approaching him reasonably one more time with the suggestions made above, pointing out that if he does what he's intending to that you will involve the council & they will make him change it back at his expense. Last thing you want to do is to go the legal/solicitor route as that is just a money pit

Also take pictures of the existing arrangement & any work subsequently done, unless he's a complete idiot he will see he is on a hiding to nothing.

My garage roof fills a 40 gallon water butt in a few hours in a downpour like the ones we had recently so the house roof would fill as least 10 of them overnight

Tell him to get a Waterbury that overflows back in to the drain.

quote:

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Originally posted by daveb666
Tell him to get a Waterbury that overflows back in to the drain.

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