to shop my neighbour to the water board for moving a manhole cover?

[kikibroom]

Sorry if this is boring. I've been on the internet all morning trying to become an expert in drainage regulations.

My neighbour is building an extension across the back of his house. It's within permitted development and he's been friendly but not particularly considerate about it. I'm generally willing to put up with it in the interests of being neighbourly, and in case I want to do any work to my house in the future.

However there's now a drainage inspection cover in my garden, and I don't think it was there before. If I hold my nose and have a look in there I can see drains coming from at least one other property, so I assume it's not a private drain.

I asked him about it and he said it was on the boundary line and he's just moved it a few inches. Chinny reckon. I think it was on his side.

Assuming it's a public lateral drain, he'd have needed permission to move it. I don't think he got it, because the cover is only 250mm away from his wall and it should be 500mm.

Why do I care about a stupid little plastic cover? Well, I've already got one! It's only about 3 metres away from the other one. Why should I have two ugly covers on my patio so he can get his garden exactly how he wants it?

I don't know if it'll cause me any bother when I come to sell my house. And what if his plumbing packs up and a load of gubbins comes out in my garden?

I called the water board this morning and they're (apparently) going to call me back so I can speak to someone in planning. Is it worth me making a fuss about all of this? Or should I just put a plant pot on it?

A relative wanted to move their's. They were given permission, but it had to be inspected. It cost them around £600.

They were told that if they did it without permission they could be prosecuted if they moved it.

It has to be signed off as part of the building regulations, which is part of the cost.

Unless you report it, you will be responsible for the cost.

That was some years ago. Phone today, or it could cause you problems.

How old are both properties? It used to make a difference (when I worked in the water and sewerage industry).

OP, don't speak to him before you speak to the Water Board.

Even if the extension is within permitted development rules it has to be built to specific building regulations and inspected by the LA Building Inspector. Issues regarding boundaries and drains are closely monitored and have to abide by the rules.
From what you describe the Builing Regulations haven’t been adhered to.
The Water Authority have to give permission for sewage and foul water drains to be moved, regardless of where they are. They can also insist that their own workforce do the work.

Lift the cover on the "new" drain, it should be fairly obvious if it's old or new (no cobwebs/detritus)

I would be surprised if they care to be honest. We are having building work done, discovered a blockage, called the water board out and it turns out both neighbours either side have built their extensions over their man cover and drain covers. No access to clear the blockage but luckily they was able to clear it from the man cover in the street. Employee was very annoyed but they aren't taking any actions over it.
I will say yabu about having issue with them parking in the road, no one owns the road and anyone can park in it!
If they are drilling at 9pm, just ask them to stop, that is taking the piss.
I'm aware my building work is noisy and dusty but I'm also aware my neighbours have noisy dogs, noisy parties and most have short memories of the associated noise when they did their own extensions.

I have some experience of the operations of water companies.
They will have a plan of where all "apparatus" is or should be - including pipework and manholes.
Water companies HATE formal complaints because they affect their OFWAT-determined annual budgets. So call the water company, they are usually incredibly helpful, and if you don't get the help/info you need, complain. In my experience those who complain the loudest get all sorts done for them that they aren't actually entitled to. Witnessing this has really opened my eyes to the workings of water companies.

You need to check now because this is when it happened and you did not give permission.

If there is any liability that would fall on you or cause property problems you need to bounce it back at neighbour right now via solicitor or forever hold your peace.

If there is a problem and neighbour tries to give you hassle play the innocent and say your solicitor told you to check it out.

Thanks for all the comments. I was second guessing myself and thinking that maybe it wasn’t that bad really. Bit of an update:

The neighbours are actually away at the moment (fed up with the building work maybe) so I haven’t been able to talk to him, but yesterday a man from the water company came round to have a look. He pointed at it and said ‘what’s this?’ which I thought was a good start. He scratched his head a bit then went to his van and got his special camera a la Maddie off Cbeebies. Having given my neighbour’s drain a thorough colonoscopy, he discovered that it’s private. It only serves my neighbour’s house, and the pipe I thought went elsewhere is actually capped off. That means it’s not the water company’s responsibility.

However, by moving it into my garden, it’s become part of the public system! The water company don’t really want people adding new manholes to its network so he took a lot of photos and is pushing it up the chain (or up the pipe?). Basically this thing should definitely not be in my garden. He said that if it were him he’d be putting rocks up there and then denying access to come and unblock it.

When my neighbour gets back I’ll go and let him know the water company have been round checking the drains and didn’t like the look of it, and that he should find a different place to put this thing. Hopefully he’ll be reasonable about it but if not at least I’ve already reported it and it’s clear I don’t want it there and neither do the water company.

Personally if I had a private drain and I blocked it up the last thing I’d want is to have to go round to my neighbour’s garden to fish out a congealed fat/tampons/bits of sick/something else embarrassing from the inspection cover.

Wow, even more cheeky than he initially seemed!

Thoroughly cheeky! At least you know he definitely moved it to your garden, and has committed a clear trespass.

Don't forget that if it blocks it will overflow into your garden and possibly your house.

Has your neighbour committed "criminal damage" digging up your garden?

I wouldn’t accept it- why on earth are they putting a manhole there given that it’s a private drain??? Surely they’ll have all the pipe joins inside their property and then run the pipe as a single straight run (even if it crosses into your property). If they can’t make the whole thing roddable without putting a manhole on your property then try again and don’t presume that other people’s land is yours to do with as you like.

15star Alright, projection. Were they asking if they were being unreasonable in being annoyed at the noise long into the evening or it being difficult to pull off their drive? No, they were asking if they were being unreasonable in reporting a neighbour moving a drain cover into a garden they don’t own.

The OP sounds like a very fair neighbour. You on the other hand sound defensive and petty.

Any update OP?

Even shared pipes if they’re on private land do not belong to the water board Oh yes they do! We have shared drains and the water board were very insistent, and swift, to be the only ones working on it. The company who came out via our insurance contacted the water board as soon as they realised the drain was shared... they just put the lid back on, made a call and left!

Not much in the way of updates. He's been round and put stones over it. I thought maybe the water company had told him to get rid of it and this was his solution, but apparently they haven't spoken to him yet. Just waiting to see what they want to do really. It's the water company's line so I'll take their lead. I'm glad I reported it early!

I had a dream about this last night. I do not want to spend so much of my time thinking about drains!!

I have no words of advise about the topic of the thread but I love “chinny reckon”

Did your dream entail you shoving ndn down the drain?

In my dream he and his friend sliced down into his front garden with a laser and severed a pipe. They then fixed it with some straws and a margarine tub, so I went round and said that this probably wasn't a good long term solution.

hehe to the margarine tub!

Shame your neighbour thought putting stones over it would fix the issue .

I hope the water company get in touch with him soon and you all find a solution that works for everyone.

Cheeky fucker! Definitely get him to move it back! I wonder why he put stones on it?