Downpipe to nowhere...

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Hi all,
I'm in the process of buying a 1930-40s terraced house which has a downpipe from the front guttering which on closer inspection leads nowhere... just empties onto the ground. I've not been having much luck trying to research if this is normal for a house of its age? Is this something I should be concerned about or need to rectify? Most of the neighbours have foliage overgrowing so I cannot see where their pipes go although one did look like it was going into a drain

Any advice much appreciated!
 

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If you dig out the ground at the base if the pipe, you are pretty sure to find the remains of a gulley. It will be cracked or broken and leaking, may have been thrown away or buried.

You will have to dig it out and fit a new one. This is normal.

Replace the gutter and downpipe too. The neighbours is even worse and is leaking, resulting in the damp brickwork. Observe that the water is trying to run uphill.
 
Depends on what the ground surface is. A lot of rain water down pipes do just drain onto a hard surface and then just run away from the house. If it's emptying just into soft ground at the base of the wall then that's not correct and can promote damp and should have a drain/gully to draw the water away from the foundations.
 
I’ve seen some terraced houses with downpipes leading to the footpath under concrete.
 
Most of the neighbours have foliage overgrowing so I cannot see where their pipes go although one did look like it was going into a drain

Go and talk to your neighbours, explain you what you want to look at and why. Most people are quite helpful.
 
Where I live in that sort of situation the downspout would have an angle bend on the bottom connected to another length of pipe running along the garden party wall & through the front boundary wall out onto the pavement where the water would then drain across the pavement down to the roadside gullies.
 

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