Laws on boundary of storm drains?

Question

My Neighbour has filled in the ditch and cliam the land now my garden is waterlog. He put a small pipe in its place.

Answer 1

It is a common misconception that people own to the middle of a ditch, this is not normally the case common law has by case law firmly established that ditches belong to the boundary owner, ie if you own the hedge the ditch is yours as well even if it is not your side of the hedge, unfortunately there is always the odd case thats different so this would need researching but if the boundary belongs to your neighbour the ditch probably did and he therefore will not have stolen land.

To fill or pipe a ditch you do need the permission of your local internal drainage board or environment agency who charge a small fee give permission and advise on the size of pipe that has to be installed, you might try contacting these to see if permission was granted.

If your land has always drained to the ditch you will have extablished what is known as a prescriptive right to drain to it and he cannot take that away from you if he does he should make alternative arrangements.

Land drainage laws can be a bit woolly in my work i took a property to court as they had piped a roadside ditch with a 4 inch pipe when the other pipes in the street were 18 inches, unfortunately the judge decided that they hadnt interfered with the flow of the water????

I presume you have already tried discussing this with your neighbour with no luck? you can always fall back on the tort laws for recompense but it may just be simpler and easier to put yourself a small french drain in to deal with the problem you have been left with.

One final thing unfortunately it is unlikely that any authority will have any great interest in this problem the way the laws are none of them have a duty with regard to land drainage so they wont spend money they dont have to, with land drainage people are very much left on there own the best you can hope for is a bit of advice

Answer 2

What a cheek. Get in touch with your Council right away. and tell your neighbour you are going to call them.

Answer 3

your neighbour as no right to fill in ditch needs council approval to do so phone them he will be told to put it right,

Answer 4

Check with your local city or county ordinances

Answer 5

no matter where you live no one can solve their problem by giving someone else a problem. I would call your city now.

Answer 6

speak to the enviromentalhealth people