Shared rainwater downpipe question?

Hi everyone. I have done a bit of searching on here and on Garden Law forums, but cannot find an example of my exact query.

I live in a semi detached ex local authority house.
There is a shared downpipe between the properties both front and rear, exactly in the centre of the boundary line, but on my side of the neighbours fence (which is on their side of the line).

We have recently built a rear extension, part double, part single storey.

I initially assumed a duty to maintain the downpipe in its original location.

Where the downpipe enters the drain gully at floor level, there is an additional downpipe from my neighbours conservatory which comes through their fence into the shared gully.

Prior to our extension being built, the neighbours gutters where all blocked up and full of moss/plants etc so their water wasn’t getting away.
Also, their gutter wasn’t properly connected to ours and was just laid into the end of ours, loosely.
I replaced all our guttering with new and made an improved connection to theirs.

Since then my neighbours cleaned out the blockages in their gutters but then proceeded to fit an alternative downpipe at the gable end of their house. So I needn’t have bothered trying to maintain the downpipe as I could have diverted mine to my single storey roof and away from there.

My question is...
Now that they have provided a down pipe for their top roof, am I within my rights to relocate/re-route the (no longer) shared downpipe AND gully, or do I have a responsibility for the separate discharge from their conservatory into said gully?

Or, can I assume that I never had responsibility for the additional run off from their conservatory?
Was the original pipe though the fence arrangement trespass?

Any advice, comments appreciated.

Thanks.

If they are in shared use, then they should be kept or can be relocated. If redundant due to alternative drainage, they can go.

If you remove the trespass it could cause you trouble with damp.

Speak to your neighbour and see if they are happy for you to remove?

lt8480 said:

Speak to your neighbour and see if they are happy for you to remove?

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Unfortunately we had a fallout with our neighbours so we do not speak to them and they don't speak to us.

Just bear in mind that their gutters may get full of stuff again and not be cleaned out for a long time.

Is next door still Council owned ?

The extra down pipe may have been added because the existing shared one didn't have enough capacity. Also there may be a fall to the shared one. So removing the one in the middle may cause overflow.

The conservatory pipe through the fence was originally a trespass- the time for action was the day the pipe was installed, if its been there a few years then you're probably stuck with it.
EDIT If the conservatory was there before you moved in they might have asked for and received permission from the then owner to drain it that way

And if so that permission can be removed.... as then can the drain pipe.
Unless of course they have something in writing?

Re reading your original post I think you have no rights to remove.

If the downpipe was shared in use it will still be classed as shared, just because it may no longer be needed doesn't stop it being shared.

Arguing it is on your land probably isn't enough, as otherwise you could have removed it at any point.

It also sounds like it is still draining their conservatory, which as a shared downpipe they would most likely be within their rights to do assuming it has capacity under building regs.

Another thing to consider is the gutters to the main roof will fall to this original downpipe and therefore removing it will mean all the gutters will need adjusting to fall to the new downpipes. The added downpipes are basically acting as secondary pipes as they will be at the highest point of the gutter, and won't do much except in heavy storms/blockages when the central once cannot cope and backs up the gutter. If you remove the central one and don't adjust the gutters you'll end up with toppling in the middle of the house.