To ask neighbour not to use their 'tiny house'

[Notnowjo]

My neighbour has a huge house and a small additional dwelling in her back garden, we think it's used when family and friends come to stay. It's pretty small like a studio so couldn't really be lived in long term. It's not attached to the main house. She has 5 bedrooms, multiple bathrooms, 1 teenage boy so space isn't an issue

We discovered yesterday that all the dirty sewage & water from this studio has been draining across our property for the last 3-4 months.
It filters through a large garden (hers then ours) and our retaining wall then across our garden (gravity!)

It has taken her over 2 months to get a draining guy to look at it, it took him about 15 minutes to find the issue (yes we have been continually reminding her)

This morning I'm disappointed to see another stream of water across our patio, I think they shouldn't use the water in the studio until the problem is fixed.

Am I being unreasonable to ask her not to use the studio?

This.

I had a very similar problem with a neighbour who backed on to me, who first agreed to fix the problem, then prevaricated, then just refused to do anything about it.

Env. Health got it sorted within days.

if they have people staying in it, they need to be careful as if council tax get wind that this is being used - they’ll be out wanting to see if they can charge council tax 😂😂

Whatever your country's equivalent of Environmental Health - raw sewage not going into a proper drainage system is a public health issue.

A "cease and desist" letter (can pay a lawyer to make it more carefully worded, or can do it yourself. Needs to state very clearly that all sewage and waste water from their Tinyhouse dwelling is coming on to your property and is leading to you having their poo on your kitchen floor. Be that blunt, as this will make it clear how unacceptable their behaviour is.

Nonsense, what snobbery. We have two sheds and a summer house and two other storage units in our garden, and all are needed and utilised for garden furniture and storing tools and bikes to doing yoga in. We are five people in a very full 4 bed semi detached house and need the garden storage/extra space too. You can do all that without creating a tiny house or an enviromental health hazard.

Bugger paying for a cease and desist letter from a lawyer. This is what Council’s Health department is for and it comes with powers of enforcement.

Where are you OP? In the UK?

Grey water and sewage are not usually treated in the same way. You could do a dye test with the loo to check...

But she still needs to fix it and the council / environmental health / party wall solicitor would all be options for moving this forward.

Letter before action might also be required... send it registered post and make it clear that she needs to stop, assess the damage and fix it.

Loads of people have advised correctly. Environmental Health will serve a notice that requires works, within a stated timescale. If the person responsible fails to resolve it the council can do the works and charge the owner. If there is an ongoing issue with sewage in the meantime that is causing you a nuisance they can require the person responsible to stop, particularly given that they have alternative provisions.

Personally I would be doing this before contacting my insurer. However the integrity of the retaining wall should be checked.

One other observation. It would be unusual to get a steady stream of water in the way you have described from a small summer house. Is the sewer possibly shared with other properties eg over the back?

@Sausagenbacon

"We're overseas & the last few months have been very, very, very wet."

What country are you in? Do you have an Environmental Health equivalent?

I ask because it's pointless asking people to give advice when they don't know where you are.

I'd be reporting her quicker than you could say "cholera"

We're overseas & the last few months have been very, very, very wet."
This could be literally anywhere

We discovered yesterday that all the dirty sewage & water from this studio has been draining across our property for the last 3-4 months.

If you had sewage flowing onto your property for 3 - 4 months you'd know all about it! You wouldn't be just assuming it was water.

It's clearly not sewage but is a leak or malfunction in her plumbing. For example, my down-pipe at the side of my house is where water from the downstairs bathroom comes out, washing machine runoff etc. occasionally the drain gets clogged with leaves; the water will start to run down the side passage until I sort it out.

You need to clearly define the problem & then write to her asking her to resolve it.

Ah. Didn't see you are overseas. Fingers crossed for an Environmental Health equivalent.

If you are in where I am in Australia (and probably everywhere on Aus), all water - sink, shower, toilet etc go into a main line which is the sewer.

So if you are in Australia, your neighbour is behaving badly. Ring your local council and tell them. And let them know how long it’s been happening etc.

same thing happened to me at the last place I lived. Sewer water was running down the hill from 4 houses on the hill above me. The council told me they’d send someone out the next day but they turned up within hours.

After repairs were made at the source (that day) they came to my house, removed all the effluent and the effected lawn and topsoil, and laid down some chemical stuff to sanitize it.

we’ve had a heap of rain these past 2 years in Aus (climate crisis) and places that have never flooded before are flooding repeatedly.

Best of wishes OP and hope your problem is fixed very soon.

Whoops, unless it’s a water pipe burst. (In which case your neighbours water bill will be eye watering) But your plumber said dirty water, I believe?

Report to Environmental Health 🤷‍♀️

all water - sink, shower, toilet etc go into a main line which is the sewer.

I don't know about Australia but yes, in general all water ends up in the same place.

However, it does so via separate pipes.

There is simply no way a sewage pipe has been overflowing into OP's garden for 3 - 4 months and that not being very obvious - and requiring immediate attention.

It's either a leak in a water pipe or overflow from another pipe draining eg shower water.

Still needs resolving but it's v unlikely to be sewage. (If it is OP is very calm!)

Definitely a health issue and should be reported. Local water supplier turned up within 24 hours when similar issue happened to my neighbours. Separate dwellings need planning permission. Outbuildings shouldn’t have kitchens and bathrooms without permission.

If it has plumbing etc as a habitable room. there should have been a requirement for planning permission, building regs etc. You can go back to he council and express concerns about the building's use and impact on you,

Definitely do this, and as other PP says, report the water leakage to environmental health department.

gardenlaw.co.uk is a useful site for advice.

Has she got planning permission for this building. Seems unlikely inview of the plumbing. Report to local council as a public health hazard

You poor thing, of course you are not being unreasonable.

I hope it's all sorted soon. What a cheek of her to continue using it when she knows the waste is entering your garden.

Check if the 'studio' is on AirBnB. With a house that big and only a few people living in it I would doubt that its only being used for when friends and family are visiting.