What is the name of your state?
Tennessee
My next door neighbor had a driveway and retaining wall installed at the end of last year. The builder added dirt to my property to bring the elevation up to the wall. Afterwards, my land slopes down from my home 15 feet and the slightly up to his wall. The property line is 18 from the new wall. I asked that the fill dirt be graded so that natural water flow into the gravel installed between the property line and wall. My neighbor stated he would ask the gentleman who did the work. I also stated that I feared the lowpoint now created would backup to my home, to which my neighbor replied it would be a shame. Now 2 months later my property holds water each time it rains in the low spot. I contacted the city engineer in regards to this. She called back later informing me that the land held water for half the day, but then the surface water drained into my property. Because it did not stay for a long period she had no grounds to require him to fix it. I advised her that the land cannot be walked upon for the next few days afterwards because of the soggy conditions. Lastly, my neighbor has put down a few handfulls of seed (literally) and straw thrown here and there. I have pictures of before and after, with dry and wet conditions.
My question is: Is litigation a reasonable next step in my state or will I be wasting my time and money? My neighbor has shown no willingness to fix the situation, so I'm am at my wits end.
Thank you for your time.
Tennessee
My next door neighbor had a driveway and retaining wall installed at the end of last year. The builder added dirt to my property to bring the elevation up to the wall. Afterwards, my land slopes down from my home 15 feet and the slightly up to his wall. The property line is 18 from the new wall. I asked that the fill dirt be graded so that natural water flow into the gravel installed between the property line and wall. My neighbor stated he would ask the gentleman who did the work. I also stated that I feared the lowpoint now created would backup to my home, to which my neighbor replied it would be a shame. Now 2 months later my property holds water each time it rains in the low spot. I contacted the city engineer in regards to this. She called back later informing me that the land held water for half the day, but then the surface water drained into my property. Because it did not stay for a long period she had no grounds to require him to fix it. I advised her that the land cannot be walked upon for the next few days afterwards because of the soggy conditions. Lastly, my neighbor has put down a few handfulls of seed (literally) and straw thrown here and there. I have pictures of before and after, with dry and wet conditions.
My question is: Is litigation a reasonable next step in my state or will I be wasting my time and money? My neighbor has shown no willingness to fix the situation, so I'm am at my wits end.
Thank you for your time.