neighbour's shed

One of our neighbours has spent the afternoon erecting a new shed. the rear wall of the shed is approximately 30cm off the boundary and sticks atleast that above the colourbond fence. the angle of the roof is such that when it next rains, any run off will either shoot straight over the fence into our yard or at the least, hit the fence, run down and then pool around the base of the fence which is a low point for ours, theirs, and a third neighbours' yard.

i should say at this point, that despite numerous attempts by us to meet and greet, these neighbours have been cold and unfriendly since they moved in. so when i asked them today what they planned to do with the run off from the new shed, i got a response of "nothing - the shed is under 10m2 so no need to do anything". we live in an area that stays damp after rain for days so we do not want extra water to contend with and have in fact spent many hours trying to figure out how to rid ourselves of the stuff we do have. we have even constructed a brick course, 2 bricks high, down the boundary between us and the third neighbour mentioned above to channel their run off (they have a raised concrete slab for a back yard) out to the street. the low point mentioned above also, is exacerbated by the runoff from this third property.

during the course of our searches we have come across the difference between storm water and overland flow. as i understand it, storm water is the water which runs off man made structures (to over simplify) and overland flow is the water which falls to ground and moves overland to lower points. with that in mind, i mentioned this to my neighbour, qualified with "as I understand it, i could be wrong..."

i got three responses. (i forgot to mention he had two helpers who looked like they might have been his dad and brother). neighbours response was as mentioned before "nothing". the dad response was to suggest guttering and redirecting the water to our down pipes to be carried out to the street. and the third, from the plumber (brother) whose company vehicle was parked in the driveway, was that it would be fully guttered and collected in a rainwater tank with any overflow sent to street.

the shed has not been finished today but the roofing is almost done. how long should i give them to install gutters, downpipes, tank, etc assuming they are going to do this?

has anybody else been in the same or a similar boat? should council be queried/notified? where do we stand and what can we expect? thoughts and musings please.

ajm


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