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Garden flooding after neighbours extension
Beebop164
Posts: 40
Hi all,
I'm seeking some advice on behalf of my parents who are very distressed. The house next door had a rear, single story extension built and they also worked on the large garden. The garden work was basically removing everything (mature but massively over grown garden which hadn't been maintained for at least 15 years). They put plastic based fences all the way round and laid turf. This was done over winter and it looked like a complete quagmire.
This year, for the first time in about 40 years my parents garden flooded, it starts around half way down the 60 foot garden - so not near the house.
Initially it looked like a water logged lawn after heavy rain but it just didn't clear like usual. They dug a pit and started pumping water out ....but it just keeps filling up, even in the recent dry spell...we are talking weeks and weeks that the pump has been going. The water is being directed away from the soggy patch.
I suspect the clay soil is compacted after the building works, but given the water keeps coming... could it be a spring or a burst pipe? (seems odd given nowhere near house).
Coincidence doesn't prove causality but it is a bit suspicious.
How would people recommend investigating this? I suspect water company won't be interested as in a private garden, the local council? A gardening firm? I'm just not sure who to contact.
I think getting to neighbour to contribute to fixing this issue is going to be impossible? After all people are allowed to work on their houses and gardens. They haven't been interested when my parents have made polite enquiries.
The neighbours garden isn't flooding..I believe builders put in a soak away before laying the turf.
Putting in drains and soak aways is a huge and expensive job so I think we need to try and find out what has happened first.
Any advice gratefully received
I'm seeking some advice on behalf of my parents who are very distressed. The house next door had a rear, single story extension built and they also worked on the large garden. The garden work was basically removing everything (mature but massively over grown garden which hadn't been maintained for at least 15 years). They put plastic based fences all the way round and laid turf. This was done over winter and it looked like a complete quagmire.
This year, for the first time in about 40 years my parents garden flooded, it starts around half way down the 60 foot garden - so not near the house.
Initially it looked like a water logged lawn after heavy rain but it just didn't clear like usual. They dug a pit and started pumping water out ....but it just keeps filling up, even in the recent dry spell...we are talking weeks and weeks that the pump has been going. The water is being directed away from the soggy patch.
I suspect the clay soil is compacted after the building works, but given the water keeps coming... could it be a spring or a burst pipe? (seems odd given nowhere near house).
Coincidence doesn't prove causality but it is a bit suspicious.
How would people recommend investigating this? I suspect water company won't be interested as in a private garden, the local council? A gardening firm? I'm just not sure who to contact.
I think getting to neighbour to contribute to fixing this issue is going to be impossible? After all people are allowed to work on their houses and gardens. They haven't been interested when my parents have made polite enquiries.
The neighbours garden isn't flooding..I believe builders put in a soak away before laying the turf.
Putting in drains and soak aways is a huge and expensive job so I think we need to try and find out what has happened first.
Any advice gratefully received
0
Posts
I’ve a feeling this falls within @raisingirl’s sphere of expertise … hopefully she’ll see this when she pops in …
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Burst water main. Are all the houses in the area on water meters? The service main almost certainly isn't in the back gardens - the water company need regular access so if it is there your parents' deeds would show it because there'd have to be a wayleave to give the water company the right to come in and dig it up with no notice. But it could be a broken pipe on the private side of a supply (an old supply to a shed or the like). If all the houses are metered, then someone owns that water and will be paying for it so they will come looking for it. If there are no meters, it may take much longer. The water company probably would be interested, depending where you live (some are more keen than others). They are generally quicker to pursue leaks caused by their customers than the ones caused by themselves - it wouldn't be their responsibility to pay for the repair. It's worth a try.
Broken drain/sewer. Less likely. You can usually tell when it's a sewer leaking, by the smell, and the amount of water you describe wouldn't be usual in a foul sewer. If the sewers locally carry rainwater then it could happen, but that's normally only the case in city centres - are they in the middle of a big town? And anyway, you'd only expect to see that much water immediately after rainfall, which you said wasn't the case.
Compacted ground. Possible but again, you'd expect to see run off speeding up and slowing down depending on the rainfall.
Highest probability from what you've said is a soakaway problem. Either they've put in a new one and it is badly built and sited, so it's discharging onto your parents' garden. Or the work has caused damage or blocked an old one. That would be my prime candidate. Especially if there was some heavy rain while the work was going on, silt and mud washing into the soakaway may have blocked it so it's no longer soaking away.
If it's a soakaway problem or if compaction of the ground has caused the issue, you do have some legal redress. rainwater disposal is the responsibility of each householder and you're not allowed to discharge onto the highway or onto neighbouring properties without express permission. It's essentially a form of trespass. The hard bit is establishing the cause.
I would be inclined to write a polite letter saying your parents have had a sudden significant increase in water and you are concerned they may have a broken water main on their side (the neighbours' side) which might be expensive, given water charges these days. And see how they react. They might be really nice and concerned. It's worth a try?
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I will get them to move the pump away from the new fence though. My father was all for pumping it back into their garden (!) But two wrongs don't make a right, and it was unlikely to be helpful anyway.
I guess it will be solicitors if the council and water company aren't keen.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”