Ground floor flat, upstairs waste pipes

[Wateringpan]

I've recently moved into a ground floor maisonette. The upstairs properties waste pipes (kitchen and bathroom) currently run down into what I can only call an open drain in my garden. The drain also takes the kitchen and bathroom water from my property. It is foul. In the recent rain I had to unblock the drain and had to clean the toxic scum, neighbours long hair, food bits and the like. I've asked them to be mindful of what they put down the drain.

I've never seen this sort of open drain before, what can I do to resolve this? I wouldn't mind paying for the work to cover it up but with the amount of debris coming down I suspect this would be a recurring problem. There is a drain fly problem as well understandably as it foul water. I worry about the health hazards. I intend on staying at this property for a long time but this is grim.

Are you a tenant or an owner occupier?

https://community.screwfix.com/threads/outside-drain-keeps-blocking-again-and-again.261582/

Read the bottom comment.

If the upstairs is a rental (and it probably is given the cheap drainage solution) you need to go to the letting agents/landlords to resolve it. If you don't know who that is contact the freeholder and ask for the details of the other leaseholder so you can contact them.

I meant to say that I am the owner occupier.
The upstairs flat is tenanted though I am I touch with the leaseholder.
Both leaseholders are responsible for all maintenance and repairs 50/50.

The problem is coming from the plumbing from inside their flat. This is a them problem not a you problem.

Do you mean their waste pipes should be plumbed to another waste pipe, rather than coming down to mine?
Should I be asking the other leaseholder to be fixing this?

https://drainchecker.uk/blog/how-does-drainage-work-in-a-flat-or-apartment-whose-responsibility-is-it/

Everything I'm finding is saying upstairs are responsible in every way for this. Both for the damage and the repairs and the prevention.

Yes but unfortunately I am dealing with it right now as I cannot go into my garden without watching the dish, bath and God knows what other watter coming down into the drain. It's literally an open pipe into a drain.
My wonderful dad helped me out a temporary cover on it fashioned out of plastic but obviously can't live like this for long. As I said it's grim as foul water going into an open drain...

If it keeps clogging up you need to get it cleared back to the manhole. You may be able to rod it through yourself or get in dyno rod or someone. Once it's properly clear it should run away easily. Not your fault or their fault drains do clog up over time. Presumably they have normal plug holes that stop bigger debris getting into the drains? You can get covers to go over the drain, my FIL made a wooden one you could lift off, it kept leaf debris out which also leads to blockages.

Contact the leaseholder of the upstairs flat then. You're saying you're in contact with them, so call them and explain there is an emergency at the property and their tenant is responsible for it so can they pay for the repairs. Then call dynorod or similar.

It may be you will have to agree to split the costs.

Remiss of my not to post a photo.
My issue is the open drain to which all the kitchen and bath water flows to. I wanted to cover it up but now thinking there's a more fundamental issue with this? I guess I want to know what I am within my rightsa to ask the other leaseholder.

Excuse the typos

Perhaps speak to the leasehold advisory service

I'm fairly sure the right-hand pipe, the one that has an opening just above roof level, is the soil stack from upstairs? Surely that should be sealed all the way down into the drain?

Did you have a survey on the property?

That looks normal to me for an old property. The situation in the Screwfix link is different because they say that the rainwater drainage and the waste water drainage share the same pipes, which isn't supposed to happen. As far as I can see from your pictures, yours are separate.

That looks pretty normal to me too on an older property, I’m guessing the pipe bend will be partially blocked and it backs up easy , it needs cleaning out properly , could be clogged with grease/fat.

That’s not the soil stack, it’s the drainpipe with the hopper on top.

Yes it's the left drain pipe (one with the hopper) is the one in question and you can see it then flows into the open drain in my garden. It flows all easily down the roman looking terracotta bit but where it goes down into the actual drain is where the hair, food debris and all manner of things gets clogged.

My question is what can I reasonably do to sort this, I don't want to have to periodically go in and unclog the toxic mess. Is there a plumbing solution that means this is covered or even better their waste diverted to an other waste pipe?

I don't think there's any plumbing solution that will cope with fat and other stuff that's not supposed to go down drains. One way or another they need to realise what's happening and change what they're doing.

I have a similar drain that takes water from my utility room and washing machine. It's also liable to clog from leaves in the autumn. I don't put any nasties down there but fabric conditioner plus leaves can build up. I got someone in to clear it (all it took was a decent plunger) and then I laid some plastic canvas like this https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/plastic-canvas-7-count-34cm-x-27cm/6517281000.html in the bottom. The water drains through and any nasties get caught before they block the drain. It doesn't eliminate the problem but it does make it much easier to deal with as I don't have to go grubbing around in mucky water, I just lift the plastic canvas out and scrape it into the bin. I probably don't have to do it more often than once a year and I haven't had to plunge it since I put the canvas down.