Neighbor's Property Flooding My Garage. Need Advice.

[pkrrvr619]

Need advice guys.

My house is up against an apartment complex's property and they have a culvert and box drain that sits on my fence line.

When it rains really hard, the box drain can't take all the water coming into it and it spills into my property and then goes into my garage via the front and side garage doors.

I have sand bagged my garage the past few times but yesterday the water made its way back in.

Do I have any recourse on this type of situation? Something needs to get resolved but I am not sure of any legal remedies I can take etc.

I was going to start calling the county on Monday, but thought I would ask y'all for some advice.

Thanks,

 

[Ziggy]

Need advice guys.

My house is up against an apartment complex's property and they have a culvert and box drain that sits on my fence line.

When it rains really hard, the box drain can't take all the water coming into it and it spills into my property and then goes into my garage via the front and side garage doors.

I have sand bagged my garage the past few times but yesterday the water made its way back in.

Do I have any recourse on this type of situation? Something needs to get resolved but I am not sure of any legal remedies I can take etc.

I was going to start calling the county on Monday, but thought I would ask y'all for some advice.

Thanks,

Send the Apt owners a bill for water damage
I'm sure the county will help you figure it out....whether the apt owners will do anything is another?

 

[NicPaus]

Send them the bill, if they don't pay small claims court. They are liable for the water you can not have it flow into a neighbors yard.

 

[Groper]

I'm no expert by any means but i'll try.

I had a friend go through this many years ago and I'm pretty sure any run off from an adjacent property is responsible for their run off until it enters a city/county flood control system ie: cutter, swale or.....it sounds like they might need to add a sump pump unless it's a much larger problem.
This may sound funny but I think it's called "Trespassing" even though it's just water but then comes the damages and that's where their liable.

Take plenty of pictures and present it to the property management or owner if you can and ask them to fix the problem, if they blow you off ask them for a copy of their insurance co and tell them your filing a claim. That might get the ball rolling.

If they ignore you then go to the city and file a complaint.

Good luck.

 

[JDKRXW]

I was going to start calling the county on Monday,

Ask for the original survey of your property and the neighbors property when you're at the county office.
The slopes and elevations should be shown.
Confirm that the original plan drained the water the way you think it should have.
Physically check to see if the slope (drainage) has actually been changed.... if it has.... immediately file a formal complaint. You might need a surveyor.
Take the plan to apartment's owners and leave them a bill for your damages.

It varies from place to place, but if you're lucky, after your complaint has been made the city or county will take the problem over for you and demand that the offending property is fixed (re-sloped). In most other places the city/county will back you if you end up in court.

 

[propcheck]

Ask for the original survey of you property and the neighbors propert when you're at the county office.
The slopes and elevations should be shown.
Confirm that the original plan drained the water the way you think it should have.
Take the plan to apartment's owners and leave them a bill for your damages.

This is the right direction. In addition your best proof is a video from the area of diversion to the area of your property flooding a friend took his city to town in court this way because both he and the city modified the original erosion control plans but because the route of diversion from the city's property to his was shown in the video it was a slam dunk for him I hope this helps

 

[Luvnlife]

Send them the bill, if they don't pay small claims court. They are liable for the water you can not have it flow into a neighbors yard.

This you are responsible for water runoff from your property.

 

[pkrrvr619]

Thanks guys.

I looked at it today and the opening to the box drain looks way too small to take a lot of water. The outlet pipes from the vault are like 10-12" and the opening is like 7". opening that up might solve the problem but I would need to work with the property mangers.

The other issue, is that i am not incurring any damages, yet. The water has not gotten high enough to hit drywall as there is a 3" lip of concrete all the way around. So far it is just a huge mess to clean up....

This sucks.:thumbsdown

 

[Groper]

Thanks guys.

I looked at it today and the opening to the box drain looks way too small to take a lot of water. The outlet pipes from the vault are like 10-12" and the opening is like 7". opening that up might solve the problem but I would need to work with the property mangers.

The other issue, is that i am not incurring any damages, yet. The water has not gotten high enough to hit drywall as there is a 3" lip of concrete all the way around. So far it is just a huge mess to clean up....

This sucks.:thumbsdown

This, you should not have anything coming from their property, just water on your property from theirs is enough.

 

[530RL]

Water is a common enemy in the eyes of the law in Arizona.

Natural sheet flow is not anyone's specific responsibility. In simpler words, you are not responsible if water runs across your property from property above you and then floods land below you with one exception.

To the extent that the neighbor changed the natural sheet flow, then they are responsible, to the extent they did not, it is a tough case.

Given they developed the property and put that culvert and drainage there, you probably have a claim. To the extent you can show it did not flood prior to the apartment development you have a great case.

In any event, when chatting with them, keep that premise in mind as that will be their first defense. If they give you a bunch of grief and it is a newer development, the city/county can be your friend when dealing with them as they would have had to have filed a G&D plan when developing the complex and now you have deeper pockets to chase as the complex owner, civil engineer and contractor may have liability.

Lastly, if you recently purchased the home and the prior owner experienced the same conditions and did not disclose it, you have a claim against them.

 

[aka619er]

I know Turko on KUSI was doing shows on this issue over and over. Might be an option.