water running off neighbours garden

[danchip]

my sister in alw has recently moved into a new house, she has a problem when it rains heavily water runs off the garden at the back of hers into her garden and floods her lawn

the neighbours garden is higher up than my sister in laws and slopes down to the fenceline which is causing the water to run into her garden

is there anything she can get her neighbour to do to stop this or does she just have to try and deal with it once its in her garden

[bookbinder]

I'm not an expert on this sort of thing, but, it seems to me that it's the neighbour who should sort this out. I believe that if my neighbour has a carport or whatever next to my garden, and the rain runs off the carport, shed, roof on to my garden, I'd be in order in asking, and expecting, him to put some guttering in place to stop it happening. A quiet word with friend neighbour would be the first step, followed by, if that doesn't work, a visit to a solicitor. The first half hour's consultation is/used to be free.

[tamborine]

Dig a deep trench, fill with hardcore for soakaway to direct off property.

[cassa333]

I think that there is a difference between natural drainage such as run off from surface rain water and run off from man made things such as a patio etc.

Try posting on gardenlaw.co.uk They have experts and lay people that have gone through the same thing.

[buildersmate]

If this is natural drainage, there is nothing your sister-in-law can do to seek redress from the neighbour.
If this is evidently caused either by an impervious surface (for example, concrete patio), or by the use of land drainage methods to artificially change the natural drainage, then she may have a claim.

Here's a better idea - you say 'recently moved'. It is a standard conveyancing question to ask the vendor about flooding - "Has the property suffered from flooding during the ownership of the vendor and is the vendor aware of any flooding prior to the period of ownership". Get onto the solicitor / conveyancer who acted for them, and find out what asnwer they gave to this question. It is inconceivable that this hasn't happened before, and she may be able to deflect any rectification costs in another direction.
It sounds to me like legal advice is going to be have to employed somewhere along the line.
She can start by quizzing the neighbour about it - find out if it has happened before, when etc. Take notes of what the neighbour says- might come in handy later if/when the lawyers get involved.