Hi everyone,
I just have a quick question related to a potential legal dispute that may be brewing and thought I would ask to see what everyones thoughts are.
– One of the neighbours down the road has blocked toilets.
– It seems the row of houses share a common sewer line, which then connects to the main sewer.
– The sewer pipes are apparently quite old, and made of clay/ceramic type material
– The neighbours place is the lowest one on the slope, and so apparently because of the blockage crap is coming out of his waste drains in the back
– The neighbour used to have a *large* peach tree that used to sit smack on top of the junction joint (may potentially have caused the damage??)
– Plumber he engaged said there were no tree roots, and the pipe could have burst because of a build up in pressure (bull sh-!t detector went off)[baaa]
– Neighbour repaved/concreated the back and dug up the back yard last year. Dont know if they went as far as far down as the sewer…but that makes me suspicious. The tree was removed in the process…maybe damage could have been done during the removal etc…)
– Plumber said he would do up a quote
– Neighbour wasn’t going to get any additional quotes (bull<edited> detector going off again)
– Neighbour wants all 5 connected houses to foot the billA few questions:
– as a neighbour who is unaffected, am I legally liable?
– it sounds like there are a few other reasons that may have caused the damage (particularly the tree…if not the roots, even the sheer size/weight)
– what recourse do we have?
– what recourse does the neighbour have ?
– what sort of tribunal would resolve this sort of dispute ?
– what does the law say ? what regulation/legislation would be relevant here ?
– has anyone else had similar disputes? how were they resolved?am very interested to hear from anyone…
regards,
aptamOn the basis of ” Find out whose problem it is, and give it to them ” it looks like the owner of the problem already has possession of it.
You don’t have a problem at your property, and you have not interfered with the pipes so
there appears to be no reason why you should be paying for repairs or replacement of pipes at someone else’s property. [thumbsdownanim
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Hi there,
thanks for the reply. I thought this would be the case, notwithstanding it had nothing to do with our property.
I suppose i was just querying it because I wasn’t sure what the implications were, given that it was a common line that terminated on his property before going out to the main street.
Our toilets etc flush perfectly, but apparently his are all blocked (and causing a right royal stench mind you…)
I guess I am interested in what his next move is going to be if we (and we should) refuse to share in the cost. He mentioned that his next step was to take it to “the tribunal” but I was wondering if he had any legs to stand on etc or whether it was more of a hollow threat.
cheers,
aptam[cap]hi aptam
I am interested why you would think it was your problem.
Are you also thinking of paying for the paint job on the house across the street or the guy down the road who needs new tyres on his car.
If somebody can to my door with your post I would tell him to s-d off and close the door in his face and when I met him next, tell him your sorry put you get angry at stupidity and leave it at that.here to help
Hi Aptam,
My first thought would be, assuming that the 5 houses are all green title properties, would that sewer line be classified as a mains anyway and be the responsibility of the water authority?
The problem that you face is that even though the problem lies with your neighbour, they have the ability to give you some headaches as well. What if they go ahead to get the problem fixed and the sewer line is out of action for a week? Could start an even bigger s#@t fight so to speak.
As for what caused the problem initially, its hard to say. If the 4 properties up stream are draining properly and only the 5th that is experiencing problems, you can probably assume that the line hasn’t collapsed completely as then you would all shortly be having the same problems. Sounds like a blockage which most commonly is caused by tree roots.
My first port of call would be to contact your local water authority to see whose responsibility it is.
Hope this helps.
Hi there
thanks for the replies.
GrossRealisation:
That was the perspective I was coming from. More bugged by the fact that the guy came up to us in the guise that he was “consulting” us about it. Consulting is not necessarily shoving a bill in my face and telling me how much to pay, particularly without getting additional quotes…but thats another issue.I did tell the guy it was his property and so therefore it was his responsibility to fix it…no replies…I’m guessing he is off investigating what he can do legally…
jhopper:
when you say green title, I assume you mean standard torrens title ? I dunno weather there are any easements or anything like that for this common pipe…will investigate and get back to you…
I agree with you when you say the line probably hasn’t collapsed completely. The plumber that the neighbour got said that it had. But as you say we are flowing/flushing without any probs…and the smell seems to have disappeared now that the plumber has left.
I think the guy is just trying something shifty…ie getting the capital work done on his property and claiming a full deduction whilst getting the neighbours to contribute for it…(but this is the realm of speculation now… [cap])
will keep you updated…
thanks,
andrewAndrew,
Just so you are aware, you don’t necessarily need to have an easement for the sewer line if it is owned by the authority. I think they just need access to the pits.
cheers
Jan
Jan,
thanks for the tip.
Just out of curiosity, if you had issues such as this…who would mediate? is there a tribunal for this sort of thing ?
andrew
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