Crazy Neighbours are flooding our foundations

ney001 said:
Alternatively long pole with nail in the end - keep making little holes in the hose when they are not there - make their own garden nice and soggy without trespassing.

Record Everything
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Except the bit with the nail on the pole........
 
Im fascinated with this thread..what a dilemma!!:eek: If theyre resorting to tactics like this at the foundation stage what else are they likely to do when the rest of construction happens! I know its not a good idea to resort to similar tactics (subwoofer thing and all that) but if they wont listen to reason and the guards arent listening..id be thinking up some pretty annoying things to do to them too...sometimes being nice gets u nowhere!
 
Teabag said:
When they objected to your planning - did they maintain that you were trying to build your house in ground liable for flooding or foundation too close to water table ? Is there water near your site (river, lake, drain) ?

If it were me, I would be 'immersing' myself in CSI Miami/Vegas/NY and then planning the perfect murder cos that is scandalous behaviour.

But the Law Society recommendation sounds good too.
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Jaysus I'd murder her too ! I'd be fuming !!
What county are you in as a matter of interest ?
 
Update - the Council ended up cutting thier water off and fined them for wasting water (about a week ago). They claimed to have only been gardening (!) and had "NO IDEA" what was going on ... despite using about 10 times a household's worth of water every day!

Anyway, the Council got them to say it'd not happen again ... and it hasn't yet.

Builders proceeding apace. BUT ... builders / engineer now want to excavate through the foundations / house to install a fancy all-singing / all-dancing drainiage system out to the mains drain at the front, on the road - at our expense - in case the Crazy Neighbours decide to do it again at some stage in the future.

They've not given us a price for this yet, but I really don't think we should have to pay for expensive work to protect against our neighbours' possible future illegal act - should they chose to put their tap on full belt again.

Or would we be better off just doing that drainage...?

But the Crazys could try something else next..?

What to do ... ?
 
RuthS said:
Update -
Builders proceeding apace. BUT ... builders / engineer now want to excavate through the foundations / house to install a fancy all-singing / all-dancing drainiage system out to the mains drain at the front, on the road - at our expense - in case the Crazy Neighbours decide to do it again at some stage in the future.
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Congratulations on thwarting the Crazies, I imagine (and hope) that the action taken by the Council will have put a stop to them attempting further flooding action, there is after all now an official repremand for their actions even if they have not admitted it was malicious. Best of luck with the remainder of the build.
 
RuthS said:
... builders / engineer now want to excavate through the foundations / house to install a fancy all-singing / all-dancing drainiage system out to the mains drain at the front, on the road - at our expense - in case the Crazy Neighbours decide to do it again at some stage in the future.

They've not given us a price for this yet
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A pump with a float valve in a sump in the floor with a pipe to your drain isn't going to cost the earth, unless of course you live in south County Dublin.
 
I think the reason it's going to be expensive is that the builders say they'd have to excavate through the foundations to bring a drain out to the front - there is a drain at the back, but it's for rain water over spill etc - it's not big. Also, our back is lower than our front, so gravity's going against us.

He's not given us a quote yet, but does mutter about it being expensive. I'm half thinking he's going to look to make back on this drain job what he's lost to date so far as a result of their flooding actions, and I don't want to pay a high price for a piece of work that we mightn't need / shouldn't need if the neighbours behave themselves ...
 
Maybe I'm being a bit naive here but reading this the first thing that I wondered was, have you approached your neighbour at all since this started happening? Is it at all possible that they genuinely did not realise they were flooding your foundations? Maybe you have and the response you got led you to the conclusion it was deliberate but if not is it not fair to at least give them a chance to explain themselves? It could save you a lot of money in the long term.
 
RuthS said:
This sounds unbelievable, I know - but it's true ... our next-door neighbours, 'till recently, fairly normal people, are actively flooding the foundations of the extension we're currently building. WHAT CAN WE DO???They are shoving a hose pipe into a gravel bed on their side of the garden wall and leaving the tap run and run and run. Our garden is lower than theirs and is flooding again and again and again. The builders are going spare! They've tested the water and have confirmed that it's treated, tap water, not rain water. They called the Council in, who also took a water sample, and have siad they'll meter next-door's water. The Council guy called to the house ref a 'suspected water leak out the back', but the neighbour told him he didn't know what he was talking about, and closed the door on his face,When we called to see the house last night, it was going on again, hosepipe jammed into wet gravel on their side of the wall - our site, dry on Friday afternoon was fill or water, and the 'lady' of the house was pottering about in her kitchen. (She's a solicitor, by the way!!).We called to the police station on the way home. They said they'd never heard the like - and told us to talk to the Council .... What's the best thing for us to do??(Neighbours objected to the PP, by the way, and appealed to ABP - lost out both times - but this is ridiculous!)
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If your looking for a quick solution just simply turn your neighbor stopcock off early in the mornin but over tighten it .ie really really tight so it can not be reopenened .it would take 2 days for council to call and reinsate stopcock with would probably be enough time for your builder to have foundation done or a membrain of some sort put in .I have done this before thats how i know it will work
 
shay24 said:
If your looking for a quick solution just simply turn your neighbor stopcock off early in the mornin but over tighten it .ie really really tight so it can not be reopenened .it would take 2 days for council to call and reinsate stopcock with would probably be enough time for your builder to have foundation done or a membrain of some sort put in .I have done this before thats how i know it will work
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Quick solution, the post was started almost 12 months ago....I should hope the OP has the work completed by now not still trying to sort out the foundation.
 
MOB said:
This does seem crazy. Get your solicitor on the job for goodness sake. Don't delay. And don't waste time with lots of letters - one warning letter and then straight to court. Tell your solicitor not to send the warning letter until the court proceedings are already drafted and ready to go- if you say that proceedings will issue in seven days, you absolutely must carry out the threat, so make sure thay are ready to go before that first letter. This will cost you more, but in these situations it is the right way to go.

It may be that the legal proceedings would be best coming from your builder - as the nuisance created by your neighbours is actually impacting on him in the performance of his contract. Your solicitor and barrister will be better able to advise.
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MOB, I like your style:D
 
dicey_reilly said:
Hmmmm what would Victor Meldrew do?

Probably wait until late at night (if they leave the hose running overnight) - take the business end of the hose and feed it through the neighbours letterbox/car window/downstairs window etc.
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That's what I was thinking......nyuk nyuk
 
shay24 said:
If your looking for a quick solution just simply turn your neighbor stopcock off early in the mornin but over tighten it .ie really really tight so it can not be reopenened .it would take 2 days for council to call and reinsate stopcock with would probably be enough time for your builder to have foundation done or a membrain of some sort put in .I have done this before thats how i know it will work
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well the council sorted out the problem 12 months ago.... so it may be overkill to do anything now
 
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