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Water run-off problem with neighbors ...

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Crumbles

Junior Member
I apologize for the long post, please try to bare with it as I really need some advice.

I live in the U.S. state of Georgia.

Lawrenceville, GA to be exact.

Here is the problem I have been dealing with for over a year now.

When we purchased our house, the back left corner of our yard was not graded properly. We fought with the builders to have them fix it (install some sort of retaining wall) but they kept pushing back. I even had on our closing check list that they needed to fix this problem area in the backyard. Anyway, we started to experience slope failure and I decided to sue them for the money it cost me to fix this with a retaining wall I had built. It cost me $15,000 to build it.

In the middle of this, my neighbors moved in next door. They had started to complain that the area of that yard looked bad, and I told them it was in the middle of being fixed and explained I was trying to get the builders to pay for it. The builders filed bankruptcy, so I got screwed into paying for it on my own.

Anyway, now that it's fixed, my neighbors are at it again with me, complaining that water is running into their fence that they have now built, and the water is collecting against their fence. (mind you that this is the natural flow of the water. this is where the water was going before my retaining wall was built. They actually complained about water running onto their property before the wall was built. If anything, the wall has slowed down the water from going onto their property.) My house sits on a hill, and theirs is on the bottom of the hill, so the natural flow of the water is basically into their yard. When it rains, the water falls into the top of my hill, eventually makes it's way down through the dirt, and then flows onto their yard. They are demanding that I build a drain on the property line (half on theirs and half on mine) to fix it. I'm not sure if the natural flow of water is really my problem. And the fact that they changed the landscape of where water flows by them adding a fence, how can this be my fault? I found something via google that explains the exact situation, and says I don't have to stop the water, but it's common law in Canada. I would imagine that the law would be similar in the states. The law I found says this:

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Top 10 Common Law Drainage Problems Between Rural Neighbours
The following questions are commonly asked by rural landowners.

My neighbour’s land is higher than mine, but can he simply dump his water on my land?
If "his water" is surface water, then it has no right of drainage. Neighbours can either choose to keep their water on their property, or allow it to pass along onto property at a lower elevation. Similarly, property owners at a lower elevation can either accept the water from neighbours above them or reject it. However, once the water reaches a natural watercourse it must be allowed to continue to flow through all properties.

Suppose there are two owners of adjacent parcels of land, A and B, where A is at a higher elevation than B. Obviously, precipitation that falls on the lands of A will flow towards the lands of B. If B objects to the flow of the surface water onto his lands, and A has done nothing to collect or concentrate the flow of water from his land, the courts are unlikely to rule against A, since they recognize that water flows downhill naturally. However, if B does not want the water from A, he can reject the water by building an impervious wall, berm or dyke along the boundary of his land, and in effect dam the water back upon the higher lands of A. Even though this may cause damage to A’s property, B would not likely be liable, since surface water has no right of drainage, and A must accept the flooding. B may even fill his land until it exceeds the height of the higher ground of A. This apparent paradoxical circumstance would not make good neighbourly sense, does not solve anything, and simply would cause hard feelings between the neighbours.
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So anyway, do I have to somehow stop the water from running into their fence since their at the bottom of this hill? Any advice would be more than welcome.
 
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