Water from neighbour's property into mine. Help needed

Discussion in 'Repairs & Maintenance' started by property_noob, 23rd Nov, 2021.

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  1. property_noob

    property_noob Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    25th Jul, 2019
    Posts:
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    Location:
    Sydney
    Hey guys. I need some advice. I am in NSW. I am having an issue with water from my neighbour’s side of the house coming into my side. Whenever they wash their side of the house, water comes into my side in 2 places:
    1. - Over the retaining wall that is on my side
    2. - After a certain point, there is no retaining wall. Water then comes in underneath the fence gap.

    This always used to happen, and I was willing to compromise and let it go. They washed once or twice month and did not bother me much.

    But lately has been happening more even since they slightly raised their side [ using sand and cement ] due to tiling their side. Ever since tiling, they wash their side of the house 3 or 4 times a week. I have reached the level of compromise I am willing to do.

    Water coming over the retaining wall on my side and then further down underneath the fence:
    https://i.imgur.com/kBxLr5Y.jpg

    Water coming underneath the fence gap:
    https://i.imgur.com/ZjCKkHI.jpg

    The red arrow shows the flow of the water.

    Here is the video of the whole issue:


    Some photos near the retaining wall on my side:
    https://i.imgur.com/YSoS5I7.jpg [The part where the water comes over the retaining wall has mould growing because of it]
    https://i.imgur.com/DPTOsPu.jpg
    https://i.imgur.com/4JjOyO0.jpg
    https://i.imgur.com/Oqlo1oj.jpg
    https://i.imgur.com/ZlgaXAc.jpg

    Some general photos of the water coming into my property:

    https://i.imgur.com/ov62n6A.jpg
    https://i.imgur.com/LmWPrKw.jpg
    https://i.imgur.com/iiqo9Lo.jpg [ This is when they clean for a long time ]

    Few additional issues:

    -Their sand/cement under the tiles, peeling off and coming over to my side with the water.
    -Timber fence constantly wet from their washing.
    -Mould on my retaining wall in the area water is coming over.
    -Slip hazard for us due to area being constantly wet.

    I am not sure what to do. I have tried talking to the neighbour, but he is not interested in doing anything. This neighbour has some friends in council in the compliance/housing and development section. So, I am not sure asking council for help is a good idea?

    This whole situation has severely started effecting my mental health. Constantly having a side of my property wet makes me extremely anxious and stressed. Every time I hear them working in their backyard and hearing them cleaning has started giving me panic attacks. Their cleaning has been happening multiple times a week. I have never experienced such mental issues ever in my life.

    Thinking rationally, isn’t it my neighbour’s responsibility to contain their water on their side?

    Can you guys please advise on how I get this issue resolved?

    Thank You.
     
    Last edited: 23rd Nov, 2021
  2. vbplease

    vbplease Well-Known Member

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    Yes and no.. it's your neighbour's responsibility to not concentrate/direct surface water into your property causing damage.. you need to accept some surface water from a neighbour due to the natural topography of the area. Even if they have changed the ground surface with a new hard surface, I don't think it's worth your mental health in fighting them to prevent water coming through. I know your council won't want to know about it, that would be a waste of time, the only other option would be to engage a solicitor, which would only make things a whole lot worse..

    I'd engage your own tradie (perhaps a brick layer or concreter) to build a small bund/spoon drain (a long lump in laymans terms) along the top of the masonry wall to direct the surface water down to the front (boundary?). For approx. $500 this should fix it..
     
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  3. property_noob

    property_noob Well-Known Member

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    Sydney
    How would I go on about challenging them?

    If the spoon drain fixed the top of the masonry wall, how will the water coming from underneath the fence further down where there is no retaining wall get fixed?

    Do you mean make things worse financially for me?
     
  4. vbplease

    vbplease Well-Known Member

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    I don't recommend doing this.. but if you insist on it, I believe you would need to engage your own solicitor to send them a notice saying it is damaging your property, or mental health.. bit hard to prove, unless you start booking counselling appointments. It won't necessarily work, and you will just be out of pocket, and more stressed.. meanwhile water is still coming under the fence.

    just continue the same concrete bund along the bottom of the fence. You could get the concreter to paint on a grey waterproofing membrane to make it look neat.. I think for the small cost it should fix it and your mental health.
     
  5. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    Your path looks like it might slope towards your house.

    A shallow spoon drain at the base of the retaining wall would work. We have one at the base of a retaining wall at our house. Hubby hired a concrete cutter, cut a straight line about six inches from the retaining wall (like you see in the photo below). He mixed up concrete, laid it in that gap and used a poly pipe to shape the drain to gently slope towards our grass. Ours goes into a drain that is already there for other drainage (we are built into a hill).

    I can try to send a photo tomorrow but this is the closest I could find on the net.

    It cost just his time, hire of a concrete saw and a bag of cement. But a builder could do this and it shouldn't cost much.
    Image 23-11-21 at 10.40 pm.jpg
     
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  6. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    We had bare concrete, but we did tile this path a year or so ago (after the spoon drain went in) and ensured the tiler graded it so it didn't sit against the house. That is another thing you could do to stop it pooling... either tile it with a slope away from the house, or top that slab with a layer of concrete to do the same thing.
     
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  7. property_noob

    property_noob Well-Known Member

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    Sydney
    Can you kindly send me a photo?

    Ideally I would like to avoid cutting my concrete work.

    Would putting timber sleepers or concrete sleepers along the edge of the fence to block of the gap help?
     
  8. vbplease

    vbplease Well-Known Member

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    Good point. The pathway slab should slope away from your house as a requirement of the building code i.e. 50mm over the first 1m.

    Although, putting a topping slab over may not be ideal as the internal floor level needs to be a minimum height above the external slab, and modifying this may compromise this height difference.
     
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  9. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    I just took this photo of our side path, taken from our top deck. The retaining wall is on our property where we cut into the hill to turn under the house dirt floor storage into waterproofed and well drained living areas.

    I'd forgotten that hubby made the spoon drain and then we had the drain tiled over. Further back the wall steps up higher and higher and is holding back our own soil and behind our downstairs rooms is a battered earth wall with even more ability to hold water and direct it to either side of the house and out to the street.

    In heavy rain we cop overflow from several houses further uphill, so the drainage has been a long term job of tweaking and allowing more storage and easy flow to the street.

    Unseen here is a pit in the very back corner holding water drained to the pit from behind our block wall under the house. That pit directs water along the now hidden spoon drain (now with a tile hiding it) which empties into that pit you can see beside the grass. That pit holds water and drains into a long slotted drain that forms a garden edge and empties into the street drain. The grated top is missing in this photo (hubby has been gardening and removed it for some reason).

    If anything blocks the spoon drain it is simply a matter of pushing a hose along it to clear it (which is why tiling over it isn't an issue as it is accessible both ends).

    image.jpeg
     

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