Is my neighbours soil/waste pipe allowed to be over my driveway

[03CM83]

Normally the foundations of a house will extend 150mm or 6" away from the wall built on them and the edge of the the foundation would also normally indicate the boundary.
So the neighbours pipe could be within their boundary.

It wasn't the case in older properties as the foundation was only the width of the wall above it.

You will almost certainly need a Party Wall agreement, which the neighbour would need to agree to, as you will be excavating within 3 mtrs of their foundations and most likely below

Normally the foundations of a house will extend 150mm or 6" away from the wall built on them and the edge of the the foundation would also normally indicate the boundary.
So the neighbours pipe could be within their boundary.

It wasn't the case in older properties as the foundation was only the width of the wall above it.

You will almost certainly need a Party Wall agreement, which the neighbour would need to agree to, as you will be excavating within 3 mtrs of their foundations and most likely below

Hi thank you for reply. The pipe is over the boundary line as the boundary line in this case is the join of our drive and the wall of their house. Its a very strange layout on all the houses on this street unfortunately.
The side structure may possibly only be conservatory panels so we've been told there shouldn't be a need for any party wall agreement.
As mentioned in previous comment, i'm not too worried about it in regards to the possible new structure, its more a general concern about possible leakage and just whether anyone agrees if it should be there or not. Cars are parked underneath daily and my son plays on the driveway too. Really just trying to find out if we are right in seeing it as being incorrectly placed.
I'm so grateful for all advice and comments so far

 

[king of pipes]

I can't see you getting any where with this to be honest I agree it's unsightly but it's attached to their property and really theres no alternative for them as you own the driveway, when the conversion was done it should have been registered with building control and signed off on completion ? Especially as it's a bathroom and the space has changed its use, in wet weather and or cold freezing conditions it's not unusual to see drips coming off external pipework it doesn't necessarily mean there's any leakage from it , what are you hoping to achieve you could quite easily fall out with your neighbors if you start making demands ?? . Regards kop

 

[WC1]

Sounds like you're both being a bit unreasonable. Try not to let the dispute blow up.

 

[snowhead]

If I was in this position I'd offer to replace all the pipework shown at my own cost, by dropping vertically to the ground, going underground and back into the neighbours property, with suitable access points where required.

They then have very little to maintain (and complain about) and what is there will be new and watertight so shouldn't leak.
There could be a flaw in my plan if the neighbours existing undergound drain on their side doesn't have enough fall to allow the newly located pipe to join onto it.

As above somewhere in a post, just because they've complained doesn't mean they'll succeed.

 

[03CM83]

I can't see you getting any where with this to be honest I agree it's unsightly but it's attached to their property and really there no alternative for them as you own the driveway, when the conversion was done it should have been registered with building control and signed off on completion ? Especially as it's a bathroom and the space has changed its use, in wet weather and or cold freezing conditions it's not unusual to see drips coming off external pipework it doesn't necessarily mean there's any leakage from it , what are you hoping to achieve ?? . Regards kop

Hi, thank you for reply. Its not necessarily about trying to achieve anything, i'm not saying we are definitely planning to do anything about it. The reason i have asked this question is purely to find out if it should ever have been placed there, there are ways it could have been placed over their own land, they've done it this way to keep the rest of their property looking nice, as its more out of sight to them on our side. Even if the pipe isn't leaking now, there are plenty of things that can happen to a pipe and i'm sure anyone would feel concerned about a pipe carrying toilet waste sitting above their cars.
Also, although i'm not immediately concerned about their pipe preventing planning, as adequate space for maintenance has been left, i'm sure you could understand that if our planning was turned down because of that pipe, and it turned out the pipe shouldn't even be there, then that would be a bit unfair. Having spoke to someone i know who works in planning today i know that they wouldn't take in to account if the pipe should be there or not when they make their decision as its nothing to do with planning.
As i say i have only made this thread out of general curiosity to see if my thoughts that it shouldn't be there are correct as its something that always puzzled me. Its not to be vindictive or awkward or anything, i'm too shy and quiet for that haha

 

[03CM83]

Sounds like you're both being a bit unreasonable. Try not to let the dispute blow up.

We havent talked to them about the pipe? Its not been mentioned to anyone so no dispute and we havent been unreasonable as we havent mentioned anything to them. I think you may have misunderstood that. Its a general question as been concerns to leak recently and me just being sure or the pipe being allowed to be there. The only issue thats come up is them using it as an objection to prevent us building. Although this has annoyed me and my husband, we have not spoken to them regarding it yet and we are just taking the general steps with planning as im not out to cause arguments. We are doing everything through proper channels. We have had good relationship with the neighbours so its not a dispute at the moment.

 

[king of pipes]

Hi, thank you for reply. Its not necessarily about trying to achieve anything, i'm not saying we are definitely planning to do anything about it. The reason i have asked this question is purely to find out if it should ever have been placed there, there are ways it could have been placed over their own land, they've done it this way to keep the rest of their property looking nice, as its more out of sight to them on our side. Even if the pipe isn't leaking now, there are plenty of things that can happen to a pipe and i'm sure anyone would feel concerned about a pipe carrying toilet waste sitting above their cars.
Also, although i'm not immediately concerned about their pipe preventing planning, as adequate space for maintenance has been left, i'm sure you could understand that if our planning was turned down because of that pipe, and it turned out the pipe shouldn't even be there, then that would be a bit unfair. Having spoke to someone i know who works in planning today i know that they wouldn't take in to account if the pipe should be there or not when they make their decision as its nothing to do with planning.
As i say i have only made this thread out of general curiosity to see if my thoughts that it shouldn't be there are correct as its something that always puzzled me. Its not to be vindictive or awkward or anything, i'm too shy and quiet for that haha

Hhmmm I would continue with your planning application and see if its past? before making enquiries to the best way to proceed are you planning any drainage work down the driveway ?

 

[03CM83]

Hhmmm I would continue with your planning application and see if its past? before making enquiries to the best way to proceed are you planning any drainage work down the driveway ?

Yes that's the plan really, to just carry on with planning. I'm just trying to get all my facts together just incase so I can be prepared as I'm not going to pretend I know much about this stuff, but I want to know my facts should any issues arise.
I don't believe there will be any drainage added, the side section we are looking to add is more of a narrow storage room, to store for example my sons bike and similar items

 

[king of pipes]

Yes that's the plan really, to just carry on with planning. I'm just trying to get all my facts together just incase so I can be prepared as I'm not going to pretend I know much about this stuff, but I want to know my facts should any issues arise.
I don't believe there will be any drainage added, the side section we are looking to add is more of a narrow storage room, to store for example my sons bike and similar items

You may not even need full planning the rules were relaxed by the government in 2020 for people to extend their property strict rules still apply and you still need building regulations have a look at this site online . Kop

 

[Ric2013]

Unfortunately this sort of thing isn't that uncommon. Nice as it would be to have a boundary line and it be very clear, there is no reason a party wall cannot have a footing that extends beyond the actual boundary, and, if you consider a house the front wall of which forms the boundary with the local council (pavement), you'll see it's almost inevitable that the gutter will overhang. Which then leads to all this confusion as to where the legal boundary lies.

Had the neighbour been carrying out the work now, I think you'd probably have a very good case for preventing them as the pipe would be in your land; as the work predated your purchase, I'm convinced the legal presumption would be that the person you purchased from probably agreed to the encroachment, that you bought your property subject to this agreement being in place and that your neighbours have an implied easement allowing them to maintain this pipe. Hence, if you now want to revoke that easement, you'll need to find an approach that the neighbour is happy with, for example re-route it at your cost.

As far as the health and safety issue of a waste branch over a driveway is concerned, I don't agree there is one. Internal horizontal soil pipes are extremely common in hospitals, and internal soil stacks are found in the majority of modern houses, so I can't see how what is deemed acceptable (and in a hospital at that) internally would be deemed unacceptable externally, provided it is maintained. I'd suggest the existing pipe is well supported and has been installed with a certain attention to detail.

Perhaps a good wash down with hot water and washing-up liquid would make it much easier to identify any possible leak, and, as others have suggested, it could be pressure tested easily enough - perhaps you could agree to pay the cost of the plumber to test if the test finds no leak?