Change in elevation of soil between neighbour and my property causing
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Nan14282744
+4
Neighbour has changed elevation between our houses with gravel,soil,stones etc and now I have water in my basement after heavy rain etc. He also has a downspout that is a collector for his second story draining onto property without a diversionary extension that I believe is adding to the hydrostatic presssure causing leakage into my basement. He doesn’t agree.Just wondering who to contact before having a company come in to try and solve this problem
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Start with your municipal building inspector. They might be in conflict with property standards or bylaws. In most areas you cannot raise your property height without a swale or drainage ditch to keep water out of your neighbours yard. Same with gutters. You normally cannot discharge water in such a way that it populates in neighbour's yards.
I think I would take some videos of the water coming onto your property, and then visit the City Planning & Permit Department to see if there are any codes on his changing the grade of his property and the downspout moving water to your property. Otherwise its visiting a lawyer and having him draft to the owner. Can you negotiate the two of you installing a french drain along the property line to move the water out to the street storm drains?
if you are in the USA, go to your city hall to the building codes department and ask who you should contact for help. You will get more help in person than on the phone/online.
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you have a plat (platt?) at your county. See if there are any drainage easements already there. If you're in city limits contact your stormwater engineer. You can also cut a swail in your yard (ditch 6' wide 1' deep) to carry the water to a safer location. Also, ask an attorney. Doesn't hurt to KNOW and not guess. My last problem was $3500 to fix, the attorney said I came out ahead doing it and not hiring her.
Your next door neighbor is not well informed, to put it nicely. It is flat out illegal, under any circumstances to have run off from his property onto yours. Start with your local inspectors office and it would not hurt to consult an attorney either. I get no one wants bad blood between their next door neighbor, the local building codes will be in your favor, but you need to protect yourself and your property.
Contact your county to resolve this issue. It is illegal to divert water like your neighbor has onto another's property - especially if it is doing damage. Take pictures!!. The county will most likely send out an soil engineer.