Can I ask neighbours to put in their own downpipe?

[LarryForPrimeMinister]

1950s houses, semi detached. Next door are housing association if that makes a difference.

Their guttering at the back is connected to ours and we share a downpipe down my side.
The problem we have is that when it pours heavily my guttering can't take all the water from two houses and overflows.
They also have a giant tree at least 50 ft in their garden that they said they would remove but haven't so that clogs it up too but even when not clogged guttering is struggling.
Can we ask them to put in their own downpipe to take pressure off ours? It happens every year and it's getting annoying.
Edit: no other houses on our street share downpipes so not sure why ours is the only one.

Well of course you can ask them 🤷🏻‍♀️

Do you know what the original gutter arrangement on your property was and who changed it?

It is the original guttering. Never been changed both houses were housing association till ours was sold.

How regularly do you have your guttering cleaned? It would be the housing association you would need to speak to, not the tenants.

Also, I’m assuming that the grid that the down pipe drains into is on your side. You can’t just put a down pipe in where there’s no drain.

Every 6 months. But even when it's clear it will overflow when heavy downpour due to the sheer amount of water.
Okay I will try and find out who to contact and ask them. Thank you.

They do have a drain at the opposite side, thats the strange thing about it!

I'm intrigued how this works as well - my neighbours have a place where a downpipe should be. When they got their guttering "fixed" they removed the downpipe. I'm not happy about this at all. Anyway, this has currently been solved by the fact their guttering has broken so the water just pours down the front of their house instead 🙄, which is at least better than my own gutter overflowing.

The gutters will be sloping towards that downpipe - is it in the middle or at "your" end?

The tree/leaves are obviously an issue - but I don't know whose responsibility clearing leaves would be (landlord or tenant) i am guessing because it's working at height, landlord their side, but of course you your side.

Climate change means that we now (and increasingly over the coming years get heavier downpours than most of our houses are designed for. Perhaps write to the landlord and suggest that under their "climate resilience strategy" (they probably have one, or will be preparing one now) they should be upgrading their rainwater goods and specifically the ones on the properties in your road which will very probably all be having the same issue.

The overflow could damage both houses, saturate the wall and any insulation - potentially leading to liabilities under Awaab's law etc if next door is affected. Remind them of that too.

Edited to add - as the gutters slope towards the current location of the downpipe, the best solution might be a larger shared hopper and downpipe. If there is no hopper (big bit at the top of the downpipe) there probably should be

I can't imagine a housing association tenant being willing to fix this problem at their own expense. I'm thinking it would be better to ask them if they would get in touch with whoever deals with council housing repairs so that hopefully they would deal with the problem. Alternatively you could get in touch with this department yourself. They housing association may be more likely to respond to their own tenant though.

Luckily it misses the house entirely and pours onto the shed bounces to the ground it's like a waterfall effect so no damage to house yet.. ah we do not have a hopper just the standard old guttering. I think I should get one installed then! Theirs is slopping to our end.

Probably not, they were on about buying it but not sure if they have actually brought it. I will try and catch them and have a chat about it before trying the HA myself.

Depending on how long NDN has lived there will depend on what their tenancy says.

The tree if its in their garden it is most likely NDN responsibility not the HA to maintain. Same goes for the guttering. HA has scaled back largely on what they do if the property only pays rent and there is no service chage involved. Likelihood is there will be no service charge if its a General Needs property.

Not sure as they asked HA about the tree and was told they would need permission off them unless it was a lie and they've reliesed how much it would cost to have the tree cut down.

Chances are they will need permission to remove it. Most HAs will not let you cut down a healthy tree. I don't agree with HAs putting trees in gardens of people that are not necessary going to have the money to maintain them, let alone have the money to remove them.

If you know the HA they are with you can check there website for policies on trees.
As for the guttering is it causing any damp/mould/wet patches in your house?

Watching, both my neibours gutters run into my gutter then my downpipe, it's bloody annoying hoe often my gutters get blocked.

Not causing damage just had bathroom (where the guttering is) redone back to walls and it was fine and attic is fine.
it's probably because we haven't had heavy rain in so long (only noticed yesterday as it poured down) but now the autumn/winter is coming it may do.

I don't even think its blocking it's just the sheer volume of water off two roofs and it's not coping. I don't understand as at the front they have their own downpipe so no idea why they don't have one for the back!

No you cant.
You can talk to the housing association about the guttering issues and the tree, what if any result you get from the HA will depend on quite how shitty a landlord they are though

Okay so you don't have Awaab's law to fall back on. As their property is not causing issues in your property.
Do you know if the neighbours have any issues on their side?

Can you ask the gutter guy what it would cost to do their's with yours and ask them to pay the difference.

No issues their side but i have never seen their guttering being cleaned out so it could be blocked and causing the issues our side? I will speak to them and explain and see if they can get theirs cleaned at the same time.

We have this in our terrace and I am the person without a gutter!

The problem is that there is no drain on my land, so I can't just add one in. The previous owner added a gutter and a water butt - but because there was no drain, it just caused damp and overflowed. So we removed the downpipe.

Our issue is that unless the neighbours' keep their guttering clear, then the rain backs up into our roof!

These arrangements are difficult to navigate!

Wondering now if it's their guttering thats blocked then and causing these issues. Wish I could get on a ladder and check myself.
It is really difficult but it's not fair since it will be mine (and yours!) Houses damaged due to neglect from neighbours. Luckily it's not expensive to get someone up there so will see if they will go half's with us and if that doesn't solve the issue then unfortunately I will need to lodge a complaint with the HA then.

I had a downpipe that went into a soakaway

After 60 years that had blocked so it now soaks away across out gravel drive with no issues

The downpipe would be into my back garden though, which is only 4 m across (by not much more!) so it would be most of the garden... don't think it's do-able!