Scotland: water drainage from neighbouring property to my field

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Scot123

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Second time I've posted for advice on different things in a couple of days, sorry, it never rains but it pours (parden the pun...). Does anybody in Scotland, or who knows about Scottish law things, have an idea about my problem:

My field has several new houses along the border. It is in a very wet area. One of the houses has a pond at the foot of their garden near the boundary fence, it's in a particularly boggy area so they've just given into nature and turned it into a pond. Which is fine.

However, they've put an overflow drainage pipe through their fence into my field, they've also I see dug a mini drainage channel out past the pipe about 2 metres into my field to let the water drain well away. Which it does! It forms a pond in my field!

I know in Scotland you have to more or less accept surface water from a higher property/land onto your own and not block it (I think) - but can they legally actually channel the water in my field? Hoping somebody has an idea about this because I've been Googling for hours and can't find anything to help! Thanks.
 
You can remove it back to the fence but they can have it up to your fence and there is not a lot you can do about it - that’s English law but I doubt it’s very different in scotland
 
I would speak to them first and explain the issue, they may be willing to change it. If not, I'd tell them if they dont remove the pipe which is on your land then you'll do it. They can't just stick pipes where they feel like it without getting permission. I'd then reroute it - nothing to stop you putting a u-bend pipe so it turned and went straight back onto their land! Might get a bit petty though... speaking to them first is really the best option as they may not have even thought it was a problem.
 
Brownmare said:
I'm pretty sure you can't deliberatley channel water onto a neighbouring property (other than natural gravity obviously).
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I don’t know about Scottish law but I’m pretty sure this isn’t permissible. You can’t prevent the ‘natural’ flow of water, but it wouldn’t seem right to me that your neighbour can divert their mucky pond water onto your land.
I’m sure someone in the know will come on here and advise you for sure.
I’d be a bit narked too. I hope you can sort it out.
 
When civil engineers were dealing with it recurring rain flooding, they dug three soakaways. When doing the one nearest the house, they found a mysterious pipe from next door. The downpipe from next door's guttering didn't go in to the surface water drain, but in to this pipe and flooded our garden.

Next door knew nothing about it, but we still blocked it up.
 
Thanks so far to you all. Yes, I am indeed feeling a bit narked! But I really want to try and get my rights straight before I say anything to them. Brownmare/MagicMelon - that's almost exactly what my husband has advised! But I think I would rather take a more subtle approach! I can accept a drain coming out just to the level of their fence (well, more or less accept it), but to have it then chanelled further into my field, grrr. But I'm also nervous of filling in the channel in case the water goes back in and floods their garden (shame;))
 
Scot123 said:
But I'm also nervous of filling in the channel in case the water goes back in and floods their garden (shame;))
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I should imagine that is exactly why they have dug a channel. Regardless of the legalities of them channeling water off their property they absolutely do not have any right to enter your property and carry out earthworks there without your permission.... hence my reaction to the cheeky b****s!
 
I know there is the right to roam in Scotland but I didn't think it would allow people to 'roam' onto a neighbours land with a spade in order to dig a channel to divert water or for any other purpose, what are they planning to do next take over part of the field as a veggie plot??
I would speak to them in case they are genuinely stupid and unaware of what they have done but with plans to block it if they do not apologise and offer to repair the damage themselves, they may well do if they have not thought before acting.
 
It might be worthwhile speaking to SEPA. We've had to over concerns with a burn that travels through a neighbouring property into our fields. The neighbours have a number of (s)crap vehicles and I was concerned over engine oils and the likes getting into the watercourse.
There's every chance with new builds that something less than pleasant could be channelled into your field. They'll come out do testing and can advise on next steps etc.
 
I had this problem in 2013 with the adjacent mill opening an old sluice and diverting the whole river into my field (which can't get out, because there's now a dual carriageway where the outflow used to be). Apparently I could do nothing. This was under English law, but I think it's the same. Clean water isn't covered by any of the nuisance laws.
 
I remember from law class (in England) the lecturer using a similar example to your problem.

The subject was "a landowner is prima facie responsible for anything nor normally found on his land and that he has brought onto it if that thing escapes and gets onto another person's land".

The example he used was when one man made an artificial lake on his land, the water overflowed or escaped and flooded a neighbour's land.

Run-off water is normal; water escaping from a created pond is not.

ETA: After searching around a bit, I think that the case the lecturer was referring must be Rylands v Fletcher. There was more to it than I remembered (it was a reservoir, not a pond, and it flooded a neighbour's mine). And according to the Wikipedia article, "The tort of Rylands v Fletcher has been disclaimed in various jurisdictions, including Scotland, where it was described as "a heresy that ought to be extirpated""
 
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