Waste water - continual discharge from next door neighbour

[JillKidd]

Parents neighbour built a single storey kitchen extension and waste water pipe is sitting above a grill but this obviously isn't plumbed into the drainage system so what looks like washing machine waste is constantly spilling onto my parents patio. They are elderly and Environmental think it is just an inconvenience and building control who signed it off are not interested what can we do?

[Randy Winkman]

I was taught when I studied garden design that discharging even rainwater onto another property is not allowed.

[JillKidd]

It's definitely not right but who can I get to make him put it right if the environmental health and building control of the LA are not interested and now do not reply to my emails. EH think it is just a nuisance and my parents should just put up with it. Building control signed it off but obviously didn't inspect it properly and now they have signed it off they say that they can cannot redress it. I just want to know who I can contact to sort this out for us please.

[Spydaman]

Ask them to fix it and if they don’t put a cork in it.

[HappySilver]

Can you add a flexible pipe to divert it back onto their land?

[randlemarcus]

Spydaman said:

Ask them to fix it and if they don’t put a cork in it.

When you say cork, you mean terrible accident with a can of expanding foam?

[JillKidd]

They are not near enough to attach anything so it soaks through the ground until it reaches my parents property which is 3 foot lower and just keeps coming through the wall onto their patio which has now turned green and smells.

[KAgantua]

Could you post a picture?

I would be very careful with applying expanding foam on another job at your parents house... its messy stuff and gets everywhere...

[JillKidd]

[bennno]

JillKidd said:

Parents neighbour built a single storey kitchen extension and waste water pipe is sitting above a grill but this obviously isn't plumbed into the drainage system so what looks like washing machine waste is constantly spilling onto my parents patio. They are elderly and Environmental think it is just an inconvenience and building control who signed it off are not interested what can we do?

Have you spoken to the neighbours?

[OutInTheShed]

It might help to talk to the Environment Agency and/or the Water Co which deals with sewerage?
The EA are responsible for regulating discharges of waste water.

Unfortunately, in my experience they are a bit clueless.

[number2]

bennno said:

JillKidd said:

Parents neighbour built a single storey kitchen extension and waste water pipe is sitting above a grill but this obviously isn't plumbed into the drainage system so what looks like washing machine waste is constantly spilling onto my parents patio. They are elderly and Environmental think it is just an inconvenience and building control who signed it off are not interested what can we do?

Have you spoken to the neighbours?

Not being sarcastic but this is a first step. Point out the waste isn't directed into a drain so is ending up on your parent's patio. They may not be aware.

[sunbeam alpine]

Can you clarify a bit?

In your first post you seem to suggest that the outlet is dicharging directly onto your parents' patio (which I can't imagine is in any way correct or legal).

In a later post you seem to be suggesting that the outlook is discharging onto the neighbour's land and then soaking through to your parents' patio.

Can you confirm which is correct (or maybe I'm totally wrong in my interpretation).

[anonymous-user]

Offer to fix it for them
Will cost under a tenner for the bits & take all of half an hour.

Alternatively spend hours reporting it to people who aren’t interested!

[KAgantua]

wheres the actual pipe though? All i can see is a bit of damp patio. Am I the only person who tried to 'play' that JPG?

[surveyor]

Nope. Me too.

I wonder if this is legal nuiscance. Do your parents have legal cover on their insurance?

Talk to neighbours first though.

[Scrump]

James6112 said:

Offer to fix it for them
Will cost under a tenner for the bits & take all of half an hour.

Alternatively spend hours reporting it to people who aren’t interested!

Sounds to me like the neighbour is discharging into their soak away. This is causing water to soak through the ground onto the parents’ patio (which is on a lower ground level).
If this understanding is correct then I cannot see now it can be fixed in half an hour and cost only a tenner.

[Ian Geary]

So a gully has just been stuck into the soil with a pipe above it.

(Rather than an outlet not aligned to a gully that's properly plumbed in.

Yeah, that won't be £10 to fix

If it was me, and not a pair of elderly parents, I'd probably try and intercept the water as it reaches my boundary, and divert it into a proper surface drainage.

I guess the other way is home insurance legal cover? And see if a surveyor can assess any likely damage?

Or your parents get to know their councillor and try and get the council to act that way.

There are some politically savvy individuals who can their councillor to raise all kinds of stink on their behalf, yet typically only a handful of people get this service.

[QuickQuack]

KAgantua said:

wheres the actual pipe though? All i can see is a bit of damp patio. Am I the only person who tried to 'play' that JPG?

You're not!

[JillKidd]

Thanks for all your helpful replies and Sorry I didn’t explain myself properly the pipe is dispensing waste water on their land which seeps through the earth to my parents property which is lower. He is not a nice man and cuts corners so we know he hasn’t plumbed it into a drain because he got rid of the drain and diverted it. The suggestion of the environment agency is a good call. We have called the water board and they just send someone looking for blockages. Have tried local councillors and they don’t want to know.