Roof valley partially drains onto neighbour's roof

[Bartle]

Hi there.

I live in a 19th century mid terrace with a leaded roof valley gutter running sideways between the front and back parts of the house.

The back part of my downhill neighbour's property is a mid 20th century extension with a flat felted roof.

The leaded roof valley on my property sends about 3/4 of rainwater to my side where there is a down pipe, but the section nearest his side slopes down towards and drains onto his roof, where there is currently no downpipe or gutter beneath.

He is starting to have issues with damp and leaks and understandably feels the water from our roof isn't helping, although the water from the front part of his house which has a pitched roof, also drains onto the back and the overall condition of his ageing roof isn't great.

This is a long standing and historic situation which long pre-dates either of us living in the two properties. However, I would like to be able to resolve the situation with him amicably and installing a gutter/downpipe to catch the water from his end of our roof valley would seem to be an obvious solution.

I would though just like to be clear as to what the legal position is, particularly in view of the fact that the part of his house that is affected was clearly built some time after my house, thereby creating the problem.

It may well be the case that a downpipe was removed to enable his back extension to built or even that some provision was made at the time to catch the water but has since been removed.

Any comments or suggestions?

 

[catlad]

Not your problem tell him to redesign his extension without it being attached to your building.

 

[pete50]

Not your problem tell him to redesign his extension without it being attached to your building.

I honestly do not know why people ask questions on this forum when idiotic suggestions, such as this, are put forward.

You say, OP, that you want to sort this amicably with your neighbour then I would suggest you have a chat with your neighbour rather than asking the keyboard warriors on this site.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

A photo would help?

Might it be possible to arrange for his water to go down your fall pipe somehow, or would it be too much?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

You say, OP, that you want to sort this amicably with your neighbour then I would suggest you have a chat with your neighbour rather than asking the keyboard warriors on this site.

Nowt much wrong with seeking advice on here and one of the 'keyboard warriors' might just have a sensible suggestion.

 

[Leofric]

I would though just like to be clear as to what the legal position is, particularly in view of the fact that the part of his house that is affected was clearly built some time after my house, thereby creating the problem.

I don't see how anybody on here can answer that particular question.

A photo would help?

A photo might make it possible to make suggestions for a technical solution to the rainwater disposal though.

 

[Leofric]

Not your problem tell him to redesign his extension without it being attached to your building.

 

[blup]

I don’t know the legal position but unless the neighbour or his predecessors removed a gutter/pipe I would guess that you are responsible for preventing what might be regarded as a “nuisance”.

Go 50/50 with the neighbour on costs better than legal action which only makes the lawyers rich, or delaying further which will make the builders rich(er)

Blup

 

[blup]

A photo would help the experts make suggestions.

Blup

 

[datarebal]

the keyboard warriors on this site.

Better than Google warriors I'd say.

 

[noseall]

Nowt much wrong with seeking advice on here and one of the 'keyboard warriors' might just have a sensible suggestion.

Ignore Pete 50. He had an affair with a builder or such like and was dumped. He's never been overly fond of tradesmen since.

 

[noseall]

My thoughts are that the neighbours flat roof extension has interrupted the flow of water and poor design or decay is allowing in water ingress.

A well designed well built flatty, irrespective of the amount of water flowing onto it, will NOT leak.

 

[d000hg]

If the extension was built in such a way that it catches your water, then I think there's a valid point about it being their problem. But in reality it seems a cheap fix IF there is somewhere to drain the water into?

 

[Bartle]

Thanks for the ongoing replies. The situation seems to have been resolved for the time being as next door has taken advice and apparently been told that the issue is with his roof. He’s had some work done on it which will hopefully fix it.

I’m hopefully attaching a photo taken from the neighbours side which shows our valley. It doesn’t show the flat roof at the back of his house which is just out of shot.

 

[datarebal]

still needs a hopper and pipe