# Neighbors Downspout Directed 100% into my Yard



## Thick n Dense

All, as the title says, my neighbor recently discovered that the existing ower of their house put drainage that seems to directly spill over onto my side of the fence. I even saw the pipe as they were making some changes, just havent dug up on my side of the fence to see if its terminated or what not.

I am low man from ground level so inevitably their water will find a way to get to in my yard regardlsss however simce its not getting filtered throught their backyard on top of the soil, it al,ost immediatly floods my yard.

Our neighborhood is setup whete there's a drain every forth house and the water flows along the fence line east to west. So I was planning on putt a french drain along this route so that I can add soil and get a flatter looking lawn.

In all, the water isnt really a threat to my home, but I need to not only renovate but landscape this back corner and need to solve the drainage issue before doing so. And also would like a more even lawn.

Would it be wrong to cap off the pipe coming into my yard?
Is their setup legal?
Should I ask them for money for the additional cost of integrating their system with mine?

Any adivse is appreciated!


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## daganh62

It is illegal in my state and I would assume most if not all states to run water off into someone else's yard. While your neighbor didn't approve or put in the drainage system he is still liable. I don't think you can cap off his drainage unless actually on your property but you can ask him too. Which is what I would do either way just to help keep the piece. I think it's fair to ask him to pay to rectify the situation within reason (putting down new grass and building any wash out back up). If you can prove what owner did it and didnt disclose your neighbor or you may be able to sue them for the cost of rectifying the situation.


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## Thick n Dense

Right, liability...

I went and did a couple shovel stabs and couldnt hit the pipe on my side of the fence. Unless I missed this thing quite literrally ends on his property but is directed towards mine underground.

Ill have to dig and see what exactly is going.


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## Babaganoosh

First thing I would do is walk over there and talk to them.


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## hsvtoolfool

This may or may not apply to your case @Thick n Dense...

Most developed subdivisions have "utility and drainage" easements between lots. When planning a subdivision, the builder gets county approval to handle water runoff (among many other issues). Storm water handling is a serious problem in my area. Subdivisions are often required to build ponds just to hold storm water. These pods tend to be quite ugly since they're always dry and full of weeds unless we're getting heavy rain.

In my neighborhood, the U&D easement goes 6-feet either side of each side-property line, and 15-feet at the back. While you might legally "own" the land on your side of the line, you can't build anything "permanent" within that easement. For my county, minor hardscaping like fences and small retaining walls are allowed since they aren't considered permanent and water won't damage them.

Go to your county court house and get the "plat" for your lot in your subdivision. The plat will mark out all easements for utilities and drainage. Directing his downspouts into the planned drainage easement on HIS side of the property line is probably allowed and cannot be considered equivalent to directing runoff onto another person's property. After all, his water's got to go into the easement regardless.

We have a similar drainage setup in my subdivision. I and my neighbors have the exact same problem. Overall, our houses and yards are high and dry. But those drainage easements are soggy bottom boys except in drought conditions. For this reason, I mow the drainage areas about 3" HOC and don't worry about it much.

My long-term plans are to install french drains, culverts, and work with my down-stream neighbors to resolve water handling for all of us. We're all friends so that helps. The water eventually leaves our subdivision at a low spot 3 houses away from mine. From there, it dumps into an open ditch and slowly finds it's way to a nearby creek. If we can all get our runoff water into that creek faster, we'll all be better off.


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## mattw10517

Am I your neighbor, haha. Seriously though, our neighborhood is setup with a drain roughly every two houses. Rather than have mine drain in the rear corner of my lot, I talked to my neighbor and we agreed that I could put a drain pipe all the way to the main drain. This completely solved the issue of a wet and soggy lawn. Of course I had to fix my neighbors lawn where the pipe was ran, but it was relatively trivial.


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## ThomasPI

Either way look at The French Drain Man on YouTube.


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## Thick n Dense

@hsvtoolfool 
Yea, so sounds like a call to the city is order.
Whats interesting is that the word on the street is that the old owner supposdely tied the pipes into the city drain(how does one even do this?!) but that doesnt seem to be the case. Maybe its clogged? Or the guy was covering up for te fact he was just dumping into my yard.
If there is an easement, he's defitily breaking it. I mine from what I saw this thing terminated right at the fence.
I also prefer not to get too polical about it but learning whats allowed and whats not is leverage.

@ThomasPI 
French drain man works pretty close to my area lol. 
Honestly, I've spent way more hours watching him and apple drains then I should Lol.

@mattw10517 
Did your solution work out?
One long pvc pipe or did you add frenchs in drain it out?
How did you connect the pipe to the city sewer? 
Or dis you put the pop up right by it?

The thing tripping me up is that their yard has a good grade so not even sure why the old owner deemed this as required.

Im also considering just making a french drain with gravel the length of my backyard from fence to fence instead of strategically planning out catch basins and pop up emitters. Most the time, it would just eat up the water. Seems like the best cover all situations option. Except gravel moving will take a lot of work. Id have to way the pros


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## mattw10517

I have a long run of pipe connecting directly into the storm sewer. The contractor said that was permitted by the city.


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## Thick n Dense

mattw10517 said:


> I have a long run of pipe connecting directly into the storm sewer. The contractor said that was permitted by the city.


How though?
Is this on the surface?

Did the contractor drill a whole into the storm sewer?

For reference im wxpecting a big pipe that runs underground,


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## mattw10517

No, it's buried 4" pipe. Yes, I believe the contractor drilled into the storm sewer. Your area may be different but the drainage contractor I used said it's permitted here and done all the time.


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## hsvtoolfool

Thick n Dense said:


> If there is an easement, he's definitely breaking it. I mine from what I saw this thing terminated right at the fence.


Either I misunderstand this sentence, or you need to re-read my earlier post more closely.

I strongly suspect your neighbor (and you) *may legally steer storm runoff water into drainage easements and storm drains*. One of the purposes of such an easement is to reserve a path for storm water runoff. So long as his pipe system remains on HIS side of the fence, then he's not probably not violating city or county codes. If the pipe was on your side of the fence, then he's technically in the wrong, but it hardly matters in the big picture. The underlying issue is that the easement doesn't move water away fast enough.

All this assumes that such an easement exists. While I think it's unlikely, there may be no drainage easement between lots for your subdivision. In which case, your neighbor must remove the drain pipe. This is what you need to find out: Is there a drainage easement? Can storm water be directed into any easements which may exists?

*In my area, the city does NOT handle plats.* That job is handled by the county deed record office. There's a specific office in the court house where all the physical deeds and plat books are found. I went to my county web site web site and accessed the online GIS tax data to determine my "lot and block" number. Plats do not use street addresses in my area. I found my house on the satellite view, then switched to the tax view to look up the information (tax ID number, lot, and block). I then drove to the county court house and visited the records room. I asked a helper lady for a plat copy of my subdivision for my lot and block numbers. The lady looked up the book and page, made a copy, and bob's your uncle, I had measurements of all easements for my house.

Finally, the county engineers were also very helpful to me when discussing storm runoff. It's their job to solve these problems. They know the watershed, creeks, and how it's all supposed to work. They also know the law regarding code violations. They can probably tell you in a second if your neighbor's pips is kosher or not.


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