Directing Stormwater Onto My Property, Encroaching As Well

[ploughshares]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? The State of Maine.

My neighbor has built a new house with a drain pipe that opens up on a downslope 2 feet from my property line. The pipe pours one to two gallons of water a minute continuously onto my property. The border of my house is only 4 feet away, and the water is pooling and causing the basement to flood or seep, depending on the day. I have dug a trench to carry some of the water away, but the deposit site essentially allows water to seep into the ground saturating the area. The neighbor has been promising to bring the drain further down toward the street but has not done so in the last 4 months.

My question is how good is my case against this person to force him to render a real drainage solution on HIS property, given that he has created a point source of water that could potentially damage my foundation? To me, it is the equivalent of a neighbor who dumps his garbage in your backyard so he doesn't have to deal with the cost of transporting the garbage. He has actually suggested he is okay to build a drainage ditch on my property to carry his runoff away.

BUT THATS NOT ALL...

Over the weekend, I noticed that one of my backyard sheds had been gutted. My neighbor had trespassed onto my property (30 feet onto it) and had begun tearing down the shed. He apparently thought the building was on his property. Of course, he never bothered to ask anyone. He thought this because he never had the property surveyed and someone from the city let him build based on a site plan. What is my legal recourse against this person in terms of recovering damages, and assuring he will not be able to encroach on my property? I have actually given him a print out of the site plan. My impression is he knew all along and is trying to test his limits. He also has been burning brush on my property and has damaged or cut down five or six trees.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

 

[FarmerJ]

waste no time ,get a current boundry survey and then take pictures of the damage including if you must the services of a aborist to learn the value of the trees and brush that was damaged and locate a real estate atty with the links in this site and have the atty review your survey and documents pertaining to the damages and the value of the damage and plan on suing the them for the damage if you have to in order to get reimbursed . Also your city /county govt center zoning offices may have local ords addressing drainage issues with adacent propertys so check there to see what they have and if the ordinance was violated have them come out and verify the violation and write a order to have it corrected .

 

[ploughshares]

waste no time ,get a current boundry survey and then take pictures of the damage including if you must the services of a aborist to learn the value of the trees and brush that was damaged and locate a real estate atty with the links in this site and have the atty review your survey and documents pertaining to the damages and the value of the damage and plan on suing the them for the damage if you have to in order to get reimbursed . Also your city /county govt center zoning offices may have local ords addressing drainage issues with adacent propertys so check there to see what they have and if the ordinance was violated have them come out and verify the violation and write a order to have it corrected .

Much obliged, FarmerJ. I called a surveyor this afternoon. He's going to charge $1500 dollars to stake out a jagged acre, but at least I will know where I am. The map I'm using now is actually taken by aerial photography and possibly mapped by GPS, but the site I've taken it from which is operated by the town says the map is not to be trusted.

It just begs the question if a person can build a house based on a site plan, what's to stop me from drawing my own site plan and putting a fence or house anywhere I want, short of someone else paying for a survey?

I've taken lots of digital pictures and movies of the new brook flowing in my basement as well. I've actually spoken several times with the city engineer. His opinion was that I should get a lawyer because local ordinances didn't cover my problem with drainage, but I'll be going to the town office tomorrow to speak with a zoning official to see if there are some ordinances which he may have overlooked. I can't see me just taking run off and directing it down a hill into my neighbors basement and believing that there's no rules which would contravene that, much less common decency. Maybe real estate law and ordinances can be separate things. You would think people would have better common sense and consideration. But I guess that's the gap that lawyers fill.

 

[Greg 2]

I don't know if it would be feasible or not, but if you were to raise the elevation of that side of your home [ie an earth berm] to be higher than you neighbor then the water would stagnate on his property, thus ending YOUR problem, and forcing him to fix what should have never been.
You could always remove the berm and resod after corrective action has been taken.

Don't laugh- it might be a cheaper route than the court system.......

 

[Shel77]

Very good idea greg, I think I am going to use that peice of advice as well for drainage issues we have been having.

 

[HomeGuru]

Much obliged, FarmerJ. I called a surveyor this afternoon. He's going to charge $1500 dollars to stake out a jagged acre, but at least I will know where I am. The map I'm using now is actually taken by aerial photography and possibly mapped by GPS, but the site I've taken it from which is operated by the town says the map is not to be trusted.

It just begs the question if a person can build a house based on a site plan, what's to stop me from drawing my own site plan and putting a fence or house anywhere I want, short of someone else paying for a survey?

I've taken lots of digital pictures and movies of the new brook flowing in my basement as well. I've actually spoken several times with the city engineer. His opinion was that I should get a lawyer because local ordinances didn't cover my problem with drainage, but I'll be going to the town office tomorrow to speak with a zoning official to see if there are some ordinances which he may have overlooked. I can't see me just taking run off and directing it down a hill into my neighbors basement and believing that there's no rules which would contravene that, much less common decency. Maybe real estate law and ordinances can be separate things. You would think people would have better common sense and consideration. But I guess that's the gap that lawyers fill.

**A: when you have the survey completed and know where your true property lines are, post back.