# Flooding from Neighbour's Land



## OneSeat (Apr 15, 2020)

During the heavy rain last weekend lots of water flowed downhill from my neighbour's on to my property. It is downhill only because his house is built higher than mine. Naturally this overloaded my house drainage. I think my sump pumps would have handled it but the township's storm sewers were overloaded and would not accept my discharge. So my basement flooded - not deeply but still a LOT of water to get rid of.

Questions -

is my neighbour allowed to have his overland water run on to my property?
should he not have a drain or at least a ditch to handle 'his' excess water?
do Ontario building regulations or by-laws cover this sort of thing?


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## Ponderling (Mar 1, 2013)

If you are in a town with planning bylaws, and the land was sub divided, there should be an approved lot grading plan.
See if what was built matches the approved plan then. 

But sounds like you may need to think about some kind of interceptor swale to try to channel the surface run off from higher clear of your dwelling a the toe of any slope. And two sump pumps and a generator to run them. 

If his house was not there sound like heavy rain would still end up where you are.

I am 8-10 feet from next door house and it is 2-3' higher than land next to my foundation. As I dug fence post holes and other earth moving I transferred clay like sand that is most of my land to build up land beside my low side foundation so there is now about a 5 inch riser above the low spot that is now 3' away from my foundation. 

So far in 15 years since that no water in basement problems. Have window wells that drain to weeper, and weeper drain to street storm drain. I always spring and fall clear leaves, and keep the gravel clear so that they do not clog up.


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## jessc (Nov 11, 2017)

If this was an unusual amount of rain it might be a freak act of nature. When the storm sewers are overwhelmed there is a high probability of flooding even with sump pumps as sanitary systems start backing up also. Maybe you and your neighbour could look at sharing the cost of building a drainage ditch, kinda like sharing the cost of a fence. Hope you got everything dried out quickly!


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

When a new house was built next to our old home, the township approved the plans. Those plans had no elevations. When house started to go up, we realized the grade would end up about 8ft higher than ours! We contacted the township and the grade was changed. However it still drained onto our property where our septic tile bed is located. The township had them create a shallow ditch filled with large stones to slow down flow. We added a raised "bump" on our side. Water no longer floods onto our property. Bad start for us and new neighbors! (Who have since left)


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## Covariance (Oct 20, 2020)

Check your town/city bylaws, and assess the source of the water. There are possibly two different by law considerations - grade changes, landscaping would be one and the second is downspouts and other discharges from structures. Natural flow of water down hill is harder to police, whereas a downspout pouring over the property line is more clear cut.


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

Is this a side neighbor or a behind neighbor?

Regardless, unless there's something that was constructed out of whack, against the city's or builder's home elevation or drainage scheme (is this a new neighborhood?) your house is the lower one, so all remediations will end up being done on your property or encroaching significantly onto your property. Beware.

No the neighbor doesn't have to intercept his overland water to be drained away elsewhere. unless there is a specific swale design that has been interfered with in the past (by grading onto your property) which goes between your two houses and out to the street (side neighbor). In which case, even, it's your problem since you are the lower house.


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## OneSeat (Apr 15, 2020)

Many thanks to all of you for your info and suggestions. 

The land next to us was lower than ours until that house was built so it is a man-made problem not a natural one. I guess since we are now the lower ones it will be up to us to fix it. 

The local by-laws do prohibit what has been done but they were enacted after the next door house was built - and they specifically exclude back dating. You win some - lose others.

Again thanks.


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## nobleea (Oct 11, 2013)

In older areas where infill or new homes are being built there will always be problems with drainage. The grading around the old houses have sunk a bit, they didn't have great drainage to the street/alleys when built, etc. When we built, we followed the drainage plan approved by our city. Our neighbour still gets flooded during spring melt.


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

OneSeat said:


> Many thanks to all of you for your info and suggestions.
> 
> The land next to us was lower than ours until that house was built so it is a man-made problem not a natural one. I guess since we are now the lower ones it will be up to us to fix it.
> 
> ...


A BC case you might find of interest:

Nyffenegger v. Chand S.C., Crawford J., 2011 BCSC 1857, New Westminster S114240, August 4, 2012 (oral), 20pp.


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## OneSeat (Apr 15, 2020)

Interesting. Some aspects are quite similar to mine.
But fundamentally - don't go to law unless things get really bad.


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## Covariance (Oct 20, 2020)

OneSeat said:


> Interesting. Some aspects are quite similar to mine.
> But fundamentally - don't go to law unless things get really bad.


I would also add - bring evidence of damage (and cost incurred), and expert witnesses.


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