fixing Neighbours drain pipe

T

thelad77

Registered User
Messages
90
Theres a small tree growing in a neighbours drainpipe about 2x2 ft ,
the pipe is about 22 ft high.
the drainpipe is on the border wall .
the wall and the roof belongs to him.
the drain pipe over hangs my back yard .


eg on one side theres a part of his house ,eg on top of his roof theres a drainpipe,
who is reponsible for cleaning the pipe ,and removing the tree .
the pipe is 10 ft long , it over hangs my garden.
to work on the pipe ,someone would need to walk on his sloping roof .
or else he could put a 12 ladder on top of his extension .
eg his extension is about 11 ft high approx ,
so i think he could remove the tree from his side

the tree is about 1.5 ft away from the corner ,
the corner overhangs my garden.
i don,t think he has any ladders over 10 ft in height .
he has 2 cars , he is well off on a high income.
in the last month he installed a brand new front door made of metal .
And plastered and painted the front of his house by professional painters , decorators .

to remove the tree i ,d need to rent out a long ladder .

he says i should remove it.
Since its on my side of his house ,
the pipe is attached his wall,
although it may not be visible from his back garden
unless he stands on top of his extension roof .


if its left there in a few months it could get larger and cause damage to the pipe ,the pipe seems to be made of metal .


id be happy to remove the tree if i owned a ladder that was 18 ft high .

he told me about the tree 4 days ago,
i did not notice it as i have not been out in the back garden since february or march.

i,ll upload an image to make it clear,
his house on one side forms part of the boundary,
so the drainpipe is over my garden , on that part of his house.
 
Last edited:
I initially thought this was modern poetic verse from the lay out.

In any event, you can only remove branches / overgrowth that overhang the boundary into your garden. You cannot remove anything on the other side of the boundary.
 
We'll need a photo!

How far into your garden can his drainpipe be hanging? I would have thought this is his drainpipe/his tree and unless you share the drainpipe as in semi detached house I couldn't imagine how it could be right for you to go doing anything to his drainpipe even if it was for the greater good of removing a tree that clearly shouldn't be growing there.
 
He is asking me to remove the tree ,
as its not possible to acess it from his land,
unless he places a ladder on top of his extension roof .
and he says its my responsiblity to clean the pipe ,since it ovehangs my back yard.
i suppose he could employ some person to do by going on his roof ,
his roof slopes down about 40 degrees .

i hope this image shows the pipe is on his building ,
the side part of the back of his house .
 

Attachments

  • DSC_000777.jpg
    DSC_000777.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 410
Last edited:
Now I'm not a solicitor, hopefully one will come along and clarify but it's his house, his downpipe attached to his house, I presume it drains into his property, how on earth could it be your responsibility to clean it? He should simply be asking your permission for a workman HE is employing to put a ladder in your garden to facilitate the removal if that is the easiest way to do it.

On the other hand is the tree causing you a problem, if not ignore it as it's his problem really and if it gets big enough to do damage then it's to his house!
 
its attached to his side wall, its purpose is to collect water from his roof,,
its 1-2 inchs ,eg slightly under his roof,
lets say if the pipe falls off in 2 months,
i,ll ask him to pay for the cost of replacing it .
eg its not really visible from his garden ,
unless he stands right at the back wall, eg at the furtherest point back on the roof of the extension,

the only way to fix it is to place a ladder on his extension roof ,approx 14ft ladder ,

or else have a worker stand on the sloped house roof with safety ropes,

or else i rent a 20 foot ladder and remove the tree myself.
i am presuming the trees is growing inside the pipe as the pipe

under the pipe is the side wall of the back of his house.

i had 2 old trees growing in my yard .
i cut em all down today .
say one tree is a elm ,

i notice the tree in the pipe is also an elm,

i,m not a gardening expert,


so its possible the elm tree 17 ft tall, in my yard.



may have spread somehow , eg seeds from the elm tree
blew into the pipe which is 15 ft away ,
and the seed grew into a tree which is 3ft wide approx .

eg a stong wind blows elm seeds into the pipe
it seems logical to me

eg the large elm 17 foot i cut down looks to be older than the elm tree in his drain pipe.

so he blames me for for the existance of the elm tree ,
in his drain pipe and he wants me to remove it in the next 2 weeks .

by the way that drain pipe is never cleaned by anyone ,
i have no ladder longer than 12 ft.


i do not think he ever thought about cleaning that pipe ,
if he wanted to clean it he,d have to pay someone to do it while standing
on his roof i think .
or maybe use a power hose on it from his side .

i did not notice the tree in pipe until i was told about it .
 
thelad77 said:
so he blames me for for the existance of the elm tree ,
Click to expand...

He may, but you are in no way liable.

thelad77 said:
or else i rent a 20 foot ladder and remove the tree myself.
i am presuming the trees is growing inside the pipe as the pipe
Click to expand...

Don't do that. Any damage done to the roof you rest the ladder on, guttering or downpipe then become your responsibility.

It is his responsibility to ensure water collected on his roof is managed appropriately. He can be held liable for any damage to other property caused by his negligence.
 
Purely just so people don't get a crick in their neck or so you don't have to turn your monitor on its side. :D:D


5042
 
So the drain pipe is not attached to any property of yours and the tree growing in the drain pipe has no affect on your property?

If so,

His problem.

I really can't see how you are responsible.

You could suggest that the easiest solution for you is to remove any part of the pipe that is overhanging your property.


I think he's mixing it up with an overhanging branch from a tree.


All I'll say is that thank God I have decent neighbours when I hear the pettiness of some people like this.
 
OP it's your neighbours problem, don't go renting any ladders to remove the tree yourself. I'd suggest to him that you'll allow someone he employs access to your back garden to clear the gutters. If he's not interested maybe remind him that if the gutters block and overflow in heavy rain it'll be the side wall of his house that'll have damp issues.
 
the pipe is about 20ft up,
the tree seems to be growing in side the drain pipe,
As to removing the drainpipe ,
that makes no sense,
,if i do so when it rains all the water from his side roof would fall into my garden.

i do not think he even knew the pipe was there until he noticed a large tree growing near the corner at the end of the pipe.

i think he is annoyed at me because i i had trees growing in my back yard and did not cut them, back ,
in the last week i cut em all down .
i did not go outside in the yard since january,2020 .
i did not notice the tree growing in the pipe till i was told about it .

he thinks its my job to replace the tree as it maybe was there because of seeds floating over
from the other elm tree in my yard .
eg its probably my fault the tree is there

tree is yard is 17ft vs tree in pipe is 3-4 ft high .

the mw should be my = my yard

i,m going to try and buy a 15 ft second hand ladder on adverts.ie
or some other website .
it would be useful to meas i could use it ,
eg i intend to install 2 new windows on the 2nd floor in the next few months and i,ll
need a long ladder to do so
his side wall has not been painted for the last 30 years,
it does not look good .
i presume its not my job to paint it as its his property .
 
I would really be careful about doing anything to a property that is basically not yours and his drainpipe is not yours. Birds could have pooped out seeds, wind blown them in from anywhere, yes in all probability it might have come from your trees but either way you don't own his drainpipe, if you want to contribute to the cost of somebody that he employs removing it then that would be very neighbourly but I would not be touching his property in any other way.
 
so no one cleans the drain pipe for the last 10 years,

if i want to clean it i would need a long ladder .
if pipe is not cleaned maybe once a year dirt or debris from a roof rolls down into it.
if a seed lands in the dirt ,then what happens it grows into a tree .

i asked him, is the pipe on YOUR roof,
Am i supposed to clean it ,?
conversation lasted maybe 1 minute,
he says the pipe is on some word , ,....... i did not hear it due to traffic noise ,
so its your job to remove the tree .

if its not removed it will at some point damage the pipe .

he is nice and polite , he is not being rude or loud at all ,

we only talk maybe once every 6 months if theres some minor issue .


i think hes annoyed at me ,
he thinks the seed came from my elm tree ,
floated into the pipe, and now theres a small elm tree growing inside the pipe,

so its my job to remove it.

if i had cut down the elm tree,
then the seeds would have landed in the pipe,
pipe uncleaned full of dirt = perfect place for a tree to grow .
 
Last edited:
thelad77 said:
he thinks its my job to replace the tree as it maybe was there because of seeds floating over
from the other elm tree in my yard .
Click to expand...
Has he said this to you? Where the seeds came from and whether they came from your tree is not an issue for you to worry about, if the gutters had been cleared regularly (by your neighbour, they're his gutters) there'd be nowhere for the seeds to grow, and if it wasn't your tree's seeds it'd be some other random weeds seeds blowing in the wind.

thelad77 said:
his side wall has not been painted for the last 30 years,
it does not look good .
i presume its not my job to paint it as its his property .
Click to expand...

I have a similar layout with the neighbours gable wall being part of the boundary of my property, and one of my gable walls being the boundary with the neighbours the other side. When I get the house painted I ask the neighbours for access to paint that side wall even though I can't see it, as it'll protect it from the weather/damp and I don't want the side of the house to look horrendous, even if its only those neighbours that'd be able to see it.
So to answer your question, no its not your job to paint the side of his house.
 
thelad77 said:
He is asking me to remove the tree ,
as its not possible to acess it from his land,
Click to expand...

I think you are being very foolish OP. You should not be doing maintenance on another person's property.

You could end up being liable for bigger issues that may arise.

His property. His problem.

And if you do give permission for a worker to enter your property to remove the tree/clean gutters, be sure that they carry public liability insurance.

Lots of accidents off ladders lately. One slip could be life altering or life ending.

I think you are mad to be even considering what you are considering! Your neighbour is also foolish to be asking you do remove a tree (from a height) on his behalf....
 
What he said was remove it its part of missed word due to traffic noise,
If its left there it could damage the drain pipes
..... End of conversation
He can see the tree maybe by standing on a ladder in his yard his roof is sloping down above the side gable
We spoke maybe for 60 seconds

I am assuming he might think the seeds came from the 17 ft elm tree
I cut down on Saturday

I have not been in yard since Jan 2020
So to some extent I let 2 trees grow
Out of control
On Saturday I cut down
all the trees apart from the one in the drainpipe
Unless he stands on his extension
Roof he can only see the tree
Eg there's a corner side of the gable too about 6ft
Then side gable is 10 ft long approx
 
To be clear he could employ a worker to clean the gutter and remove the tree standing on the gable roof
The worker would need to use safety gear like ropes strap to avoid falling off a sloping roof that 25 ft high
The roof has old fashioned black tiles 30 to 40 years old
One small crack can cause a leak its
Easy to break or crack them if you are not really careful
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top