Thread: Advice Pls - Neighbour wants to put drainage on my property

you know my views on this problem. I would be very careful of letting him or his workers on my property. Say you let him build this drain and we all know that it won't solve the problem then he might come back at you by saying that by letting the drain be installed you knew that the problem was yours
les

If its a normal house block you shouldn't have a natural drain path running through it. His construction of he wall may have disrupted a drain.
We cant direct any water toward any property. (I do subdivisions for a living)

The council engineer is whose advice you should be taking. The root problem is the wall and that is what should be fixed, there shouldn't be need for additional drainage etc if the wall is right... Tell (nicely and politely) your neighbour to get the wall fixed, or put extra drainage on HIS property...

Definitely don't let the fencing bloke start diggin trenches you'll be in a world of pain before you know it.

Originally Posted by Gingermick

(I do subdivisions for a living)

you poor bugga

Come on Hybrid tell him to bugger off I can't wait to hear his reaction.

As has been said before his wall his problem.

HH.

That council advice is simple CYA - imagine sending people off to talk to lawyers as a first step?!

It actually comes from common law precedents, but there are a variety of governing laws and they will vary state by state.

As has been said - it seems like an OK deal and the bloke is one to stay on the good side of - neighbour disputes are a big money earner for the legal fraternity and are some of the most common matters in mediation centres and small claims courts.

The reason to be cautious is to CYA when work is being done on your property - and anything that arises from that work that affects you or others.

First test of all law is reasonableness - what would a reasonable person do in any similar situation. So as I said, chat with him and work out a solution together - any solution that is imposed by others will be likely unsatisfactory to one or other parties - and often both!

Hybrid

I have to mostly agree with Silent

The situation as described is two adjacent blocks yours and his.
From the front of your house to the rear of your block the land naturally slopes towards your neighbour's block.
When it rains, surface water will follow the natural fall of the land, i.e. it will run from your block onto his. Such is life and one of the reasons properties higher up a hill are more sought after.

Your neighbour has built a retaining wall, from the description it is well within his property and less than 500mm high — usually very good pointers to no DA being required or sought. If the wall were on the boundary there would be a DA and with conditions that addressed the potential run-off problem.

So now when it rains, the water ponds on your land and runs along his wall and then across his front yard and then out into the street.


The problem is wholely your neighbours.
DO NOT let him build a drain on your property because if he does the problem will become yours unless you cede (either by sale or easement) the land occupied by the drain to him.

You don't want to become involved because the obvious solution — a drain to the street — is not necessarily the solution.

In parts of Sydney — North Sydney and Baulkham Hills are two areas I know of — you are not supposed to even pipe roof run-off to the street. Your down pipes are supposed to connect to an absorption trench (which will overflow in heavy rain).
The reasons being that the natural surface and ground water flows are retained and storm water drains away slowly rather than hitting the local creek in a rush and causing flooding.

Added to which are minor "technical" details such as directing water from one catchment to another. You don't want flooding two streets away to be traced to "your" new drain.


Lastly, the idea of not directing storm water onto your neighbour's land only applies to water in a pipe or drain. (or flowing along the base of a wall)
In practice you terminate your down pipes into an absorption trench.
When the trench overflows the water becomes surface water which is allowed to flow in accordance with the natural surface contours until it meets a drain (or wall) whereupon it becomes the drain owner's problem, that is until the drain discharges into a creek.


I'm a road engineer and spent much of my early professional life dealing with this precise issue — turning water collected in a culvert back into surface water so it can be discharged.



ian<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

In your discussions with the council engineer did you ask

* Was the retaining wall approved by council?

* Was it built to the approved specifications?

* Is council concerned by the interruption of ground water flow?