water problem

[susi c]

Hi all
What do I do? We live at the bottom of a hill and up until a couple of months ago had a spare block above us. This block was sloped in such a way that a lot of the water from the blocks above was directed to the road.
Now we have a house which takes up the whole block to the boundaries and no allowance made to allow any run off to be direct to the road. This site has been excavated to such an extent that it looked like a mine site. In doing this excavating they cut through 2 pipes which brought water from the house behind his block (the people behind used to own this block) to the road in front. This water as well as the water from the houses on their upper side now flows through the construction site cutting away the ground and it is like a waterfall, the block has been sloped towards our drain.
We have always received a lot of water from the properties behind us and have build a open drain to take this water to the road. The construction site planned to use our drain for their use also ,no consideration given to what it might have done to our house footings. I feel that they are now planning to send all this water our way, I don't mind sharing but please not the lot.
My question is do I get some legal advice or would it be a waste of time.
regards susi c

 

[craigb]

talk to the new owners,and the builders, and explain the issues.
Failing this get the council water and sewer works to make avisit to your home,

 

[wylie]

What craigb said......

My parents had an issue with a neighbour who altered their yard in a manner that "directed water onto the lower block" and were made by BCC to fix the problem.

Water always flows downhill, and you have acknowledged this, but when an uphill neighbour deliberately changes the way the water flows, it can be seen as being "deliberate".

We have also had issues with water from our own IP into the neighbour's yard. We had blocked stormwater pipes, and dug a rubble pit to deal with the stormwater. Our own yard gets waterlogged from uphill properties but our downhill neighbour tried to say the water from "our" yard was undermining his footings. Nice try. We have done our bit and he has to deal with the rest of the uphill water, just like everybody else on the same hill.

I would definitely bring the council into it, but speak to the neighbours first as a show of being neighbourly.

 

[susi c]

talk to the new owners,and the builders, and explain the issues.
Failing this get the council water and sewer works to make avisit to your home,

Firstly thanks for replying. I went to the council they said they could come in after the house is finished but my problem is the house actually takes up the whole of the block to the mm. I have a retaining wall against my property with the drain they were going to use on my land next to the retaining wall is their path I already had a drain there and our property was fenced half way down the block about half of that fence went when they were excavating with huge construction machines( every mm is precious is their moto) small block big house. The builder has told me it would cost too much to drain the property properly and as they have constructed a besser block wall at the end of the path which cuts the backyard off from the road I feel sure I am on the right trail in my thinking.
So I am not sure what the council can do at the end? I have taken photos to show they knew this was a problem from the beginning. The BSA said they only work for the person that the builder is building the house for so that option is gone also. regards susi c

 

[craigb]

Talking to the neighbors now might allow you to see the big picture, most drainage goes in in the end , and retaining walls to stop the flooding may have drains added as well, the reason council inspect at the end is because its the last thing on the agenda,
Talk to your neighbors, and discuss the issue, and if nothing is yet planned then somthing could be set in the plan.
if all else fails , get the concil in but at the end of the project

 

[fernfurn]

Its amazing how much water comes through from a little change. Next door neighbour ,up the hill, always had a waterlogged back garden. They put in an extensive drainage system, and ended it into their side garden. This resulted in a constant little steam coming through and under our house. They wouldnt believe it was from their changes and was going to result in me having to spend $$$$ to put in a drain the entire 150' side of my land. I spoke to this guy and said it hadnt been a problem til they put in the drainage and they altered their drain to run out the front of their place. This resulted in a continuous stream into the gutter. It really was amazing. In the end they had it put professionally into their stormwater

 

[susi c]

Talking to the neighbors now might allow you to see the big picture, most drainage goes in in the end , and retaining walls to stop the flooding may have drains added as well, the reason council inspect at the end is because its the last thing on the agenda,
Talk to your neighbors, and discuss the issue, and if nothing is yet planned then somthing could be set in the plan.
if all else fails , get the concil in but at the end of the project

Hi Craigb
Thanks for listening. Since I was last on this site a few things have happened.
The wall that cuts off the back of this house from the road to the front has been filled in with an ag pipe going to a pit with clay covering it and as no water gets through clay and my problem is flowing water this is of no help to us but looks good if you don't look too closely. You can imagine ,some of this water comes from the large house at the back behind them and us (it takes up 2 blocks)and is the result of next door breaking the above houses downpipes. The people above use to own this block and used it to get their water to the road below. The builder has told me that they should be able to use the land which is ours behind the retaining wall and seperates their place from ours even though they cut into our land and pulled our fence down. The water they want to divert into our drain (we had one there before all this) was all their water including this flowing water.
I just can't believe that this sort of thing goes on and no one will help except to say this is illegal or they can't do that.
A lot of this problem seems to be because on the sunshine coast you can go through a private certifer and the builders seem to be able to make the rules up as they go especially as far as drainage goes.
It will be interesting to see how this all ends , it has been such a stressful year (10 months and still counting) . Their neighbour on the other side has said to me that we just have to wait and see what they throw at us next.
All I want is the enjoy our home we had just bought 6 months before all this happened.

 

[Perp]

susi c, I'm sure this is all distressing, but I must say I can't remotely picture what you're describing. Are you able to upload some photographs or a diagram? If what they're doing really is outrageous, and we can see it, we may be more motivated and able to provide helpful advice.

 

[fernfurn]

Council regulations in Vic wont allow you to have the wrong percentage of permeable land. In other words you are only allowed to concrete or cover with house a certain % of land. You have to use pavers so the water will sink into the land. Perhaps you could find out what % of land this house covers and see if it if legal

 

[Dazz]

we just have to wait and see what they throw at us next.

susi c,

I'd be surprised if the builders were constructing something that wasn't already approved by council and firmly cemented into the plans. Ican't imagine them throwing anything at you at all. They shall simply continue constructing what is in the approved building plans.

The opportunity for comments and input from neighbours is usually well before anything is approved.

Once the council has approved the building plans, and construction starts.....she's pretty much all over in terms of comments. It makes the council's individual specialists (in this case drainage consultant) look like a bit of a goose if what he has already approved and signed off internally within the council suddenly is no good.

Is your "water problem" viewpoint fully shared by the council staffer who approved the drainage portion of the overall building plans ??

I am not fully offay with these Qld hilly things....they seem to cause quite a bit of grief...but, I think the horse has well and truly bolted on this one.

All I want is to enjoy our home we had just bought 6 months before all this happened.

Given that timing, and the snail paced authority timings, I would say that the opportunity for input from neighbours had already passed before you even first looked at purchasing your property.

Did you conduct any due diligence on the vacant block next door with council to see what construction had been approved, if any, prior to offering on your property ??

 

[susi c]

Council regulations in Vic wont allow you to have the wrong percentage of permeable land. In other words you are only allowed to concrete or cover with house a certain % of land. You have to use pavers so the water will sink into the land. Perhaps you could find out what % of land this house covers and see if it if legal

Hi thanks for answering. Apparently because blocks are getting smaller and houses bigger you can with our council apply for special dispensation to build right to the boundry on either side of your block. It is a condition with this special condition that as the house goes up the hill it comes in more from the side boundries but this doesn't help with water problems if there is a wall across the block on our side on the lower level of the building. We live on a hill so this house is cut in on three levels into the hill going up with the slope being graded towards our place as this house takes up to the boundry on the other side and the other side is higher. It takes up to the boundry on the other side because on getting every inch out of the block they undermined the neighbour on the other sides retaining wall and it came down in the rain. They went down at least 10 feet beneath this wall and consequently had to build a 3 level retaining wall to hold up the other side of the hill. The water on this block flows because apparently the large house above that had it's down pipes going through this block can not be expected to change all its guttering they have to build a pit and let it flow. Is this right? I would have thought the guy next door and the above neighbour would have had to work something out with what to do with the water.

 

[susi c]

susi c,

I'd be surprised if the builders were constructing something that wasn't already approved by council and firmly cemented into the plans. Ican't imagine them throwing anything at you at all. They shall simply continue constructing what is in the approved building plans.

The opportunity for comments and input from neighbours is usually well before anything is approved.

Once the council has approved the building plans, and construction starts.....she's pretty much all over in terms of comments. It makes the council's individual specialists (in this case drainage consultant) look like a bit of a goose if what he has already approved and signed off internally within the council suddenly is no good.

Is your "water problem" viewpoint fully shared by the council staffer who approved the drainage portion of the overall building plans ??

I am not fully offay with these Qld hilly things....they seem to cause quite a bit of grief...but, I think the horse has well and truly bolted on this one.




Given that timing, and the snail paced authority timings, I would say that the opportunity for input from neighbours had already passed before you even first looked at purchasing your property.

Did you conduct any due diligence on the vacant block next door with council to see what construction had been approved, if any, prior to offering on your property ??

Hi thanks for answering , I have spoken to council and they don't have anything to do with this house ,apparently in Queensland you can go through council for your inspections etc or a special certifier and the council has nothing to do with it. I think the plans have to be submitted to council in the beginning but the only drainage they worry about is the buildings down pipes not any runoff . There was no mention of this house being built from the council , actually the house on the other side was for sale and had a buyer who wanted to buy this block as well and when they couldn't the sale fell through ,it was the first either side knew about what was going to happen, not quite all. I would have thought since they were given special permission to build right on the boundry( our boundry fence went so they could get to the very mm ) that we might have been informed but alas no. People building next to you I would have thought apart from a bit of noise should have no impact on the next door neighbours.
I have no problem with having neighbours but as we get a lot of water already from the house above I don't see why we should have to get the water from the people living next to us. When asked why he wouldn't put a drain down his path to the road with a grate in it or a pipe he said it doesn't look good!!!

 

[rugrat]

Unfortunately, considering the other parties reluctance to do anything, it is starting to look like your only option might be to get in touch with a lawyer and see what legal avenues are open for you to pursue - either that or do something about the excess water yourself. Either way I don't envy you position. Good luck.

 

[susi c]

Its amazing how much water comes through from a little change. Next door neighbour ,up the hill, always had a waterlogged back garden. They put in an extensive drainage system, and ended it into their side garden. This resulted in a constant little steam coming through and under our house. They wouldnt believe it was from their changes and was going to result in me having to spend $$$$ to put in a drain the entire 150' side of my land. I spoke to this guy and said it hadnt been a problem til they put in the drainage and they altered their drain to run out the front of their place. This resulted in a continuous stream into the gutter. It really was amazing. In the end they had it put professionally into their stormwater

Thanks sounds like what we will end up with and what I'm afraid of but I know our neighbours are not going to be that helpful unfortunately. It is going to be interesting with our summer rains in Queensland to see where this water goes and maybe I can get a waterfall built in our garden with drainage to the road . I'm trying to turn a negative into a positive the only thing that upsets me about that plan is the people (you couldn't call them neighbours) will get the benefit of looking at it but they say what goes around comes around so maybe I will have to do this and see what happens.

 

[craigb]

keep the counication ? open lawers earn too much already?

try not thinking about an issue as it tends to grow, inside , keep talking , be nice as their budget will be rather washed out at the moment , perhaps you might ask them if you could help them with the problem , remember they might be you neighbors for a long long time

 

[susi c]

keep the counication ? open lawers earn too much already?

try not thinking about an issue as it tends to grow, inside , keep talking , be nice as their budget will be rather washed out at the moment , perhaps you might ask them if you could help them with the problem , remember they might be you neighbors for a long long time

Thanks for listening I have a feeling that in the end the problem will be ours. I think they will probably sell after a year ,no tax, as the lady of the house told me before any dirt was broken they didn't know how long they will be there. I am assuming that this is the reason for their attitude towards both sides of their property. I really think that on the sunshine coast there should be rules that are upheld like I have been told are in other states that make each person responsible for their own run off to get to the road without upsetting anyone else.
Again thanks I feel a little better having got this off my chest again and hopefully next time I write I'll have a few nice things to say . take care

 

[wylie]

Even if the neighbour's house has gone through a private certifier, it still has to have proper drainage etc.

Have you had the council on your block to see the problem?

The only experience I have is when uphill neighbours at one of mum's IPs concreted a lot of their yard and changed the course of the run-off. Council made them change it.

It would be worth following it up with Council, unless you have already run into a brick wall there.