Neighbour's Waste Pipe

[JoeyLDN]

Hi

Looking to 'crowd-source' some public opinion on this one.

I bought a studio apartment on 30th September 2022 and I'm currently working with contractors to refurbish it. I'm 39 and it is my only property (I'm no property tycoon).

Next door's bathroom is on the other side of the wall to my bathroom.

The waste pipe from their toilet comes through the wall into my bathroom and then runs laterally along the bathroom floor to the rear wall. The pipework is boxed in along the floor but - make no mistake - it is not hidden below the floorboards, it is in my bathroom, and on my bathroom floor. Their wastepipe then joins the waste pipework of my own toilet which connects to the exterior building fall pipe.

Not only does this look messy, but I have been informed that the previous owner notified the Managing Agent that, on occasion, when next door flush their toilet, their waste can backup and appear in my toilet. I have had the property for 24 days now and that hasn't happened once but the mere suggestion is obviously unpleasant. I plan to rent the property out and that situation will, quite rightly, be completely unacceptable to a tenant. In fact, the contractors have suggested that if it does happen then any future tenant may ask me to put them up in a hotel until I remedy the problem during an active tenancy.

I have checked the paperwork for the property and can find no evidence of any legal right for next door to have their waste pipework inside my bathroom.

I am thinking of writing to the neighbours to explain that I have purchased the property and am having it refurbished and as part of that work I will be removing their waste pipework from my bathroom and I will be sealing up the bathroom wall on my side. I thought I could give them one month's notice to reconfigure their own plumbing in their own bathroom.

Is this reasonable do you think? Should I be offering to put them in touch with a plumber, or giving them more time to remedy etc? Or rather than tell them what I'm going to do and give them notice, should I offer them the chance to come over, take a look, and suggest a solution?

The Building Managing Agent told me that they are assholes who complain about everything (his words) so I'm conscious that it might be better to go in strong and decisive rather than giving them an inch in case they try to take a mile. On the other hand, I don't know anything about them and never met them so they could be perfectly reasonable people that just don't get along with the Agent.

What do you think people?

Thanks
Joe

 

[Timmy D]

I received the Surveyor's report this morning. It states: "Unless there is a definite easement of some sort that permits the pipes to travel from one flat through another, the pipework serving each flat should be contained within each flat and link to common pipes outside the flat."

There is no such easement as confirmed by my lawyer.

The report (which was not commissioned by me) goes on to make two different recommendations, both of which involve removing next door's waste pipe from my bathroom with next door running their own waste pipe through their own bathroom and their own kitchen.

So in summary the Surveyor has confirmed that next door's waste pipe should not be in my bathroom, the Lawyer has confirmed that I have no legal obligation to keep it there, and the Agent in conjunction with the Freeholder have confirmed that I am free to handle the matter.

To the point above ('Any normal person in your position would allow it has a right to be there...'), more than a dozen 'normal people' have now been involved in looking at this matter objectively and not one of them has concluded that next door's waste pipe has any right to be in my bathroom; that view is reserved solely to a few people on this thread.

I am speaking to my contractors about the Surveyor's recommendations and will most likely share the Surveyor's report, Agent's correspondence, and Legal opinion with the neighbour to see if we can come to some mutual agreement about a way forward.

I’ve only just seen this post but agree with this.

On daily basis I work up London in converted to flats, townhouses. Never have I come across what you describe. A vertical stack yes, horizontal, nope.

After reading the first post, my first though was that’s not right, the pipe needs to go.

I suspect that sometime in the past, your neighbour did a bathroom renovation and wanted to remove their own pipe. Found yours in the wall and connected.

I’d be interested if the above could be proven. Can you look at the external stack and see if there is an unused/capped off connection that may have previously been in use?

 

[Ric2013]

There is no such easement as confirmed by my lawyer.

Has s/he confirmed that there can be no easement by prescription? If so, then it sounds pretty clear-cut in your favour.

To the point above ('Any normal person in your position would allow it has a right to be there...'), more than a dozen 'normal people' have now been involved in looking at this matter objectively and not one of them has concluded that next door's waste pipe has any right to be in my bathroom; that view is reserved solely to a few people on this thread.

By 'normal' people, I meant householders, not industry professionals. Most people will do anything for a quiet life. I'm actually more like you in that I want things to be right. To give you an example, my neighbours recently took it into their heads to repaint my fence using acrylic paint. This was an annoyance as the fence already had a very special paint treatment that I had chosen for its long-term maintenance properties and the (sloppy) application of acrylic muddies the waters. Legally, my neighbours have no right to paint the fence which is my sole property (as has been accepted and agreed by my neighbour's landlord who has always left me to maintain it at my expense) and I'm sure I could pursue a civil case should I wish (but I CBA). In practice, I have found that most 'normal' householders would not care if their neighbours painted the side of the fence facing away from their garden.

Hope you see where I am coming from - obviously if your proposed new bathroom layout justifies the hassle, then you obviously have to go through with it.