Read your deed to see if it references a drainage easement. Research your neighbor's deed and the subdivison plans.

Keep a photo record of what is going on regarding any regrading and drainagage on your neighbor's properties as well as your own.

There isn't a drainage easement which is the real problem because everyone has to deal with the water running on their own property. The bio-retention pond is one house away from me. Unless my water goes underground to it, it has to go on the surface through her yard. I have before and after photos of my yard. I should probably go take pics of the pipes as well. Thx for the reply.

f here is no easementfor those pipes, the other homeowner has no obligation to allow those pipes.

You need to talk to your local govenment, get the plans of the subdivision that tey approve, get the plans that they approved for each property. Also take not of which engineers and surveyors were involved in case you need to hire one that was not involved at some point.

Hopefully the town officials will see that something is not jiving with those plans and enforce some corrections. However, some places have very lax requirements for submittal and approval,so it may not work so easily.

mocharoman,

You dont say where you live. Most states observe the Civil Law of Drainage. Since there is no easement for the water as it travels across the lots in your neighborhood, it is this law that should govern the actions of the owners.

The philosophy of this body of law is to keep the status qou at the point that water flows across property boundaries. A landowner may change how water flows across his own property in any way he desires. But he may not change the location at which it exits his property nor the character of that flow.

A lower landowner is obligated to receive the natural flow of water from the higher property and may not act to block it.

There is nothing in the law that precludes multiple property owners from banding together for an agreement to change the drainage across their combined properties. Once in place, the new arrangement becomes what each owner, and all who purchase from them, must honor.

A violation of the Civil law of Drainage is a civil tort. An aggrieved party may sue for damages and/or an injunction to have the drainage change reversed to the condition before the change. The right to sue extends to all affected downstream or upstream owners, not just the adjacent owner. One who changes drainage without regard to their neighbors can learn a very expense lesson. But all states have a statute of limitation and once the time has run without legal action, any drainage change made becomes the natural and normal flow that owners must honor.

Developers of land often start with a large tract. They often change the drainage across the land to suit their purpose. They may make as many changes as they want because they own all the land. That is, until there is a sale of part of the property. At that instant in time a new boundary is created and the drainage condition as it crosses that boundary is fixed as the status quo that both the new owner and the developer must honor.

Now letÂs look at that 4 inch pipe that runs from your lot across the neighbor to the retention pond. Was it installed when both lots had a single owner or under an agreement between owners of the two lots? If this is the case then the flow of water through the pipe at the property line is the status quo that you may insist be maintained. Note that your neighbor may dig up the pipe or reroute the water in an open ditch or change the drainage across their property at will. What that neighbor may not do is block that pipe from carrying the flow at the property line.

Another question that a court might consider is whether the pipe represents a drainage facility. Suppose there is a continuous line of pipe from house gutter across an adjoining property without any other entry of surface water to the system. The court might well interpret the pipe to be a fixture of the house rather than a drainage facility. In which case the pipe is merely an illegal encroachment on the adjoining property and is subject to removal.

You say you just finished a regrading of your own lot. You might want to make an assessment of whether you violated the Civil Law of Drainage in doing that. If so, you could be better off to keep you mouth shut.

What PLS just wrote is exactly what my understanding is as well. I believe he is required to have studied and to know that information in his profession (I just get the information from others whom I work with - osmosis).

Actually, I have no formal education in anything. And here in Arkansas, the technical professions don't have a curricula that includes any law, except perhaps a bit on professional ethics and conflict of interest. As a young man I started spending some weekends at a law library simply because I thought it would increase my value to my clients. It did raise some eyebrows where my fees approached what the lawyers get.

Most in the technical professions avoid litigation. They often don't understand how the court arrived at the decision. Court can be a daunting place when you don't know what's happening or why.

Truth is, the lawyers don't know anything about those obscure issues like the Civil Law Of Drainage. They might get a case like that about once every 10 years. If you had a thriving landscape business working with thousands of plants each year and then were faced with an odd ball plant that you are unlikely to ever use again, do you spend any time studying that plant?

Participation in litigation was a very tiny part of my career. But I have to say it was one of the more interesting parts. Success in court helped my reputation too.

Those of you who do landscaping would be wise to note and document the drainage at property boundaries. It is difficult to prove you have not made an illegal change to drainage unless you can prove what the condition was before the work started.

Up here in Massachusetts legal issues occupy a great deal of the work of PLS (professional land surveyors) and PE (professional engineers) on a day to day basis. Those that I work for are very aware and concerned with this issue and make sure everyone in the office (me being one of them) know this and do not have more runoff leave the site or have it leave in a greater volume or speed than it did prior to our work. Typically, we make every reasonable effort to reduce it.

We also have more intense site plan reviews than some other areas and certainly more than some other states. The result is a better paper trail for situations like yours, a more thorough drainage plan, and greater cost as well.

PLS, great explanation, much clearer than what I read in the Ohio Revised Code. I deal with floodplain issues and am always getting sucked into drainiage issues which is a totally different thing, People get so frustrated when I say it is a civil matter, there is no government agency legally responsible for drainage (unless they have passed storm water regulations and very few have in my area) you will have to get an attorney.

of course in some areas the UPSTREAM owner is required to never reduce or stop teh flow of water to teh downstream person. goes back to the day sof the wild west where folks would cut off water to another landowner so he would sell out.

you got great advice above. i highly suggest you get soem professionals to help you in case she does something. if nothign else having someone on standby gives them time to really research your options.