neighbour gutter on my property

Dear all

our SS has just gone back to me to tell us and told us, we unable to install the gutter on this side, so we have to put the gutter slightly towards your side. this happens because your neighbour crossed your property line.

problem is, SS have just told me on final stage.
he had never brought the issue before. (and we never knew about this before)

what would you do in this situation?
* ask neighbour to remove their gutter? But it sounds like we will have a fight then
* ask compensation?
* ask the estate to organise and communicate with neighbour?
* ask the builder to fix this... obviously my gutter looks .... ehm... wrong?
* what if my property crossed their line ? (i think that's also possible)





does anyone have this experience before....?
any thoughts what i need to do here ?

thank you and much appreciated for your reply

They have to change the guttering to box type. You will need a professional survey and the council involved. Hopefully they have not built onto your property as well.

thank you eve for the reply

i see, if that's the case, then who should wear the cost to have this professional survey and have council involved?

i wouldn't be happy if i need to pay for the survey, and found out my neighbour cross my property ?

is there any regulation for this ?

Normally if you initiate the process you may well have to foot the bill for the survey. If after council mediation you are in the right im sure the costs can be recovered.
Unfortunately solving these issues can impact your pocket.

Hey d3p,

Bit of a pickle there by the looks of it... first thing is to determine whose property has crossed the boundary line, as the last thing you want to do is get off on the wrong foot with your neighbour if it turns out your home isn't where it should be. If it is determined that your neighbours dwelling has crossed the boundary then it will be their builders responsibility to rectify the issue - and this will involve changes to their roof and gutter as shown in the below image (which I borrowed from another member on this site, buildingwithhamra):

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr170/Ikon_Interiors/scan0001.jpg

As another option, you may decide to seek compensation from your neighbour (ultimately their builder should 'pay') and then get you're builder make changes to your roof like those above.

Hope this helps & good luck, hopefully not to big of a drama to sort out

hi ikoninteriors
maybe i start by measuring my house, is it really the same as what i should have?
then i will decide what to do, ie: hire someone.....
or perhaps i should ask the estate... because they allow this to go, so they might need to be involved.... which become more complicated....

oh well, wish me luck, guys

I am building as well directly at the boundary.
When I received the drawings our gutter was shown "outside" of our property. It may have been a "cop/paste" error but when I pointed out this issue to my builder (Simonds) they immediately tried to tell me another 1200$ would apply since they would have to re-establish the survey. Was (beside many other "small" things) a nice try to gain an extra money since it was covered by my site costs. They corrected the drawing to something like " IkonInteriors" showed in his picture.

Have a look in your contract and try to find something like:

"Provide second site assessment when subdivision is completed"
"Provide re-establishment survey due to zero lot line"

Ask for the report/outcome of these steps and use them to approach the builder of your neighbour's house or seek advice from the council. They have approved the building of your neighbour and may be able to tell you if his gutter installation is done correctly.

As it appears that your builder tries to shift this problem to you, you may consider to contact http://www.consumer.vic.gov.au for advice. I did it once when my builder tried to overcharge generator costs to me and found them extremely helpful. They could guide you into the right direction suggestion steps to do.
Certainly I wouldn't sign anything your builder may come up with as they most likely try to get rid of a problem and costs.

Good luck,

Chris

attached is the drawing from builder



although what i have doesn't reflect what the drawing is
because my neighbour gutter is on my property that my builder has pushed my gutter towards my house.
so basically, underneath neighbour gutter, is bricks, without gutter (SS told me there's sort of slides underneath it, in case if the water falling through my house, then it will slides towards the walls.

but again, this concerns me, how do you know if the water won't leak through the bricks?

cwoern, here's the thing, i reckon my builder just want to finish the building asap (well, me too), but the problem is, they didn't communicate this until now it's final stage. roof is already up with everything.
if i ask them to redo it, is it really worth it ?
i am sort of in the middle.
it's really a catch 22.
if i don't fix it, it looks a bit strange, if i fix it, then in the end, neighbour gutter needs to be boxed as what ikoninteriors said. then i will have problem with mine, as the builder needs to redo the gutter. (is this a hard job for them, by any chance?)

Have you been able yet to find out who built wrong? I would rush to clarify this and would force either your builder or your neighbour to get it right. I could imagine that sooner or later you end up with problems and possible costs.
What if you contact your neighbour (through the council, you have to figure out anyway the fence with him). See what he thinks, both together could force a correct and satisfying solution perhaps easier?! Maybe get an independent inspector together with your neighbour. He at least could verify if the "fix up" is done correctly?!?
I think I have seen your house, I'm in Kellerman Drv, are you around the corner?

Regards,

Chris

We had a similar issue ... we were doing a development application and in the process discovered that the boundary fence wasn't in the correct place. Our neighbours wanted to remove the fence and replace it but when we pointed out that the current was in the wrong place EVERYTHING went to custard. Suffice to say that we ended up selling and moving because people can get VERY territorial about things like this even if they are in the wrong.

If it were me and with hindsight on my side I would go to my builder and ask them to come up with a solution that works for both you and your neighbour without worrying about the boundaries.

Then I would go to my neighbour and point out that there is obviously a boundary issue but you have come up with a work around so that neither of you has to demolish part of their home.

This probably sounds like a cop out but honestly I got to the point where I didn't want to be outside near my neighbours because they were being so despicable.

And it was going to cost ME about $1000 to get the Lands Dept to come out and do an independent survey because my neighbour who has no surveying qualifications didn't feel that my surveyor had got it right ... and so the onus was on me to get the Lands Dept to come and do an independent survey ...

Even once you prove something there is no legal onus on your neighbour to provide a fix up unless you take them to Court and even then they can swear hardship and drag their feet in the process of getting it fixed ...

So - personally - I would try to come to a solution that doesn't put either of you out.

thanks for the feedback all.
it's very frustating. outside their, both builder don't want to help (the neighbour builder don't want to come because there's no pegs - obviously pegs have been removed since house is already built), council can't do anything due to legally, the inspection can be done without council, and last thing, the surveyor company doesn't want to be responsible either.
i had a chat with the real estate, they asked me to pay $800 for the pegs.
surely they thing money can grow at my backyards

there should be a third company that can protect consumer, really !


cheers Chris
i am in featherbrook inside, a bit further from kellerman

thanks DAQ, yeah, that's what i am afraid of.
we do nothing wrong, but why do we need to put out money? that doesn't make any sense.

there's actually legislation somewhere (i can't remember where - possibly in the Property Law Act 1958) that basically ignores encroaches onto neighbour's land by less than a certain amount. I think it's 30cm, but it may be 50cm.
If it's less than that, you'll find there's actually nothing you can really do.

Hi d3p

What was the resolution if you don't mind me asking? I'm in the final stage and have a similar issue. We have had the land resurveyed and the the neighbors gutter is indeed over on our side (zero boundary).



We can't complete our box guttering as per plan.

The builder is onto it. I'm just curious as to your outcome...

Thanks

Hi,

I am no builder however I am having two boundary walls in my new house build. I was told specifically by my builder that boundary walls are more expensive as the gutter has to be internalised at the boundary to contain water. Looks like a big box that ends dead in line with the brickwork that should butt up against the boundary.

If it is hanging over your side then your neighbour would have to retrofit the correct guttering. By the look of the pic there is not the option to take care of it on your side as the gutter seems to encroaching your brickwork.

I would recommend your building company provide you with a letter to take to the council and to your neighbour. It would probably require a new site survey to confirm that your building is where it should be and the boundary line has been correctly marked.

Councils will ask for the site surveys and there will be the one you are building off and the one your neighbour built off, both will claim to be correct, hence a third, independent survey to confirm will be needed. Then take it from there.

Very surprised that it was not mentioned that the guttering was not the correct guttering for a boundary wall.

Good luck.
Mark

That just looks ridiculous!

Best thing for you is to pay for a site survey and see exactly who has built out of there building envelope!