Wet land

[wet land]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

I live outside of Pittsburgh PA and my neighbor who live above me on a hill has always had his french drain pipe dumping in to the lower section of my property. I purchase the land 12 years ago and it has been there since I know of. There is very little drainage in this section of property and it tends for flood up with a good heavy rain because of the extra water coming from his french drain.

This past winter he had a interior french drain put in his basement with a sump pump and his contractor tied it to the exterior french drain. Now I'm getting a ton more water on my property and it's making me worry that it might flood out my basement.

what can I do? what rights do I have?

Thanks

 

[154NH773]

Does the pipe from his drain actually come onto your property?
Does any type of easement exist that allows water to be diverted to your property?
In some states, water may be diverted when necessary, as long as it doesn't damage another's property. In a civil suit, it may depend on where water might have originally flowed. This looks like a case that only a court may be able to ultimately decide. How much do you want to spend, with no sure guarantee of relief.

 

[wet land]

Does the pipe from his drain actually come onto your property?
Does any type of easement exist that allows water to be diverted to your property?
In some states, water may be diverted when necessary, as long as it doesn't damage another's property. In a civil suit, it may depend on where water might have originally flowed. This looks like a case that only a court may be able to ultimately decide. How much do you want to spend, with no sure guarantee of relief.

Yes the pipe does come on to my property on the high side of the hill and drains down into the point of my property.

 

[csi7]

I would check with the code enforcement office, local, state, and federal. Department of Environmental Protection was very helpful in resolving the issue of the neighbor's water being directed onto our property.

A drain is supposed to go behind the properties, not onto someone else's property. The neighbor is probably supposed to have a area at the back of their property for the drain to flow to, not on your property.

 

[FarmerJ]

At a Local level , If by chance your city / county has written ords about this , hopefully the magic words you find are the = to this > that one property owner cannot make changes to their property that force drainage onto a neighbors property< if by some chance your city - county has a ord on the books something like that then the french ditch and the additional sump drainage would be in violation , so do some more digging to see if there is a local ord.