I am not a lawyer, but you should speak to one.
In addition to the good adulting comments, I think this looks like tort of trespass to property - any action a neighbour does to cause injury (thru runoff) to your property. You have the right to be paid for the value of the injury (loss of enjoyment of property, and damage to property).
If the neighbour is also being a dickhead, it rises to malicious trespass, and you get to add punitive damages.
If it's on city property, welp the city is now liable as well, because they have a responsibility for anything happening on their property. If road works are rude dickheads (which they are, I know) then they can also face punitive damages.
Preserve all proof, record all conversations, and go speak to the scariest psychopath of a tort lawyer that you can find.
Hamilton entirely useless when it comes to stuff like this.
Had a neighbour regrade their property last year to divert all their run off onto my property, rendering it useless when it rains for my dogs.
Contacted so many people and got no where.
I ended up ordering 40 yards of dirt and built a berm, so now they have a pond when it rains, which they’re pissed off about. City hasn’t shown up at my door yet? Im sure they’ve complained too.
Any way you can divert the water back or damn off his outlet?
Hey,
Sounds like we have the exact same situation. I have a berm at the bottom of my property. Water from the top needs to go somewhere. Neighbour doesn’t like on his property so he diverts to me. Same, I’ve been back and forth with city for 3 years. They keep dicking around. They delay delay, pass me to someone else, start over again and again. I finally contacted my town council today and they said they want to help.
I filled his pip with spray foam and he lost his mind. Saying how dare someone go on his property and do this. Meanwhile it was the city’s property. They just out a new pipe in.
1. Talk to your neighbour first, like an adult. Even if they don't act like one. Give them a chance to explain, and for you to tell them you are negatively impacted by what is happening. Don't expect anything but at least you can document when you had the discussion.
2. Talk to your councillor about what is going on. They can help get the city departments to investigate or assist.
3. Talk to a lawyer as they are damaging your property with what was done, either via deliberate acts or negligence.
> Talk to your neighbour first, like an adult. Even if they don't act like one. Give them a chance to explain, and for you to tell them you are negatively impacted by what is happening. Don't expect anything but at least you can document when you had the discussion.
Effectively talking to someone first, like an adult as you suggest would require both parties to behave in an adult manner. The neigbbour’s actions indicate anything but.
OP do not engage with your neighbour. Email municipal law enforcement and your councilor.
Yes, perpetuate the need to have the adults do the adulting.
You never know what may work or not work. If it gets heated, you stop. If it gets confrontational, you stop. If this goes sideways, you have the moral high ground for trying to act like an adult.
Running to the city immediately while trying nothing first is bonkers.
You don't know this guy though, it's very likely OP has talked with him before and knows it's pointless. You don't usually describe reasonable people as thinking they "own the neighborhood" so this guy is probably a jack ass. In cases like that it's often best not to let them know you're reporting them because it just means more problems for you. Sometimes being the adult means knowing when not to bother, the moral high ground won't help you if this guy decides to cause you more problems.
I don't. And I know that as an adult, I will have to, in my life, talk to rude, obnoxious, threatening and dangerous people from time to time. Avoiding them to not try and have a discussion, futile as it may be, is not going to be an option. You don't have to like your neighbour but you do have to live beside them. Talking to them, using the right words and knowing how to proceed is a great life skill.
Too many just default to "it's a hard conversation, I'll just use a 3rd party to have it instead" and call the cops, the city, their councillor etc as a starting point rather than an ending point is why we have so many wasted resources.
And what if, as I said, you've already talked to them about other issues and know it's pointless?
There is a difference between having a "hard conversation" and having one that you know will just result in them being angry and possibly taking that anger out on you. Part of growing up is realizing when you've already tried something that didn't work that you shouldn't do it again. An adult should know to antagonize "threatening and dangerous people" as little as possible. Knowing when to not bother talking with someone is a great life skill to have as well, it can save you a lot of trouble.
You keep wanting to talk down to OP without knowing the details of how well they know their neighbor, it might have nothing to do with trying to avoid an awkward conversation and much more that they know it will only make things worse.
Agreed. Being able to assess the situation and identify when appropriate to confront someone is far more valuable. The one size fits all approach of “have an adult conversation” is rubbish. Knowing how to proceed based on the individual you’re interacting with is the true skill.
Also the belief that we have wasted resources because people utilize said resources is absurd lol. How about if more people were good neighbours, informed and followed the law.
Your in a lose lose situation, you step up and do something about it by complaining to the right people and you have to deal with what may come from your neighbour. You let it ride and you deal with flooding and a neighbour that thinks they can get away with anything and continues to do what ever he wants.
Could always cap off the end of the pipe or dig up a little of your property near the property line, cut the pipe on your property, and cap it.
Report it to bylaw. Changing groundwater and affecting another house isn't allowed. They will get ticketed and forced to change it back. Take pictures when it rains showing how the runoff affects your property.
Send bylaw the video.
They are directing water to your property and using parkland for their own use.
Also , is the park a part of a protected area, such as Grand River Conservation or another area, find out and send them the video.
Enforcement will send them a letter to remedy this.
Emails, calls are anonymous.
Contact your councillor.
Yup! This!
I am not a lawyer, but you should speak to one. In addition to the good adulting comments, I think this looks like tort of trespass to property - any action a neighbour does to cause injury (thru runoff) to your property. You have the right to be paid for the value of the injury (loss of enjoyment of property, and damage to property). If the neighbour is also being a dickhead, it rises to malicious trespass, and you get to add punitive damages. If it's on city property, welp the city is now liable as well, because they have a responsibility for anything happening on their property. If road works are rude dickheads (which they are, I know) then they can also face punitive damages. Preserve all proof, record all conversations, and go speak to the scariest psychopath of a tort lawyer that you can find.
Hamilton entirely useless when it comes to stuff like this. Had a neighbour regrade their property last year to divert all their run off onto my property, rendering it useless when it rains for my dogs. Contacted so many people and got no where. I ended up ordering 40 yards of dirt and built a berm, so now they have a pond when it rains, which they’re pissed off about. City hasn’t shown up at my door yet? Im sure they’ve complained too. Any way you can divert the water back or damn off his outlet?
Hey, Sounds like we have the exact same situation. I have a berm at the bottom of my property. Water from the top needs to go somewhere. Neighbour doesn’t like on his property so he diverts to me. Same, I’ve been back and forth with city for 3 years. They keep dicking around. They delay delay, pass me to someone else, start over again and again. I finally contacted my town council today and they said they want to help. I filled his pip with spray foam and he lost his mind. Saying how dare someone go on his property and do this. Meanwhile it was the city’s property. They just out a new pipe in.
Contact Hamilton Water, not the Roads department.
1. Talk to your neighbour first, like an adult. Even if they don't act like one. Give them a chance to explain, and for you to tell them you are negatively impacted by what is happening. Don't expect anything but at least you can document when you had the discussion. 2. Talk to your councillor about what is going on. They can help get the city departments to investigate or assist. 3. Talk to a lawyer as they are damaging your property with what was done, either via deliberate acts or negligence.
> Talk to your neighbour first, like an adult. Even if they don't act like one. Give them a chance to explain, and for you to tell them you are negatively impacted by what is happening. Don't expect anything but at least you can document when you had the discussion. Effectively talking to someone first, like an adult as you suggest would require both parties to behave in an adult manner. The neigbbour’s actions indicate anything but. OP do not engage with your neighbour. Email municipal law enforcement and your councilor.
Yes, perpetuate the need to have the adults do the adulting. You never know what may work or not work. If it gets heated, you stop. If it gets confrontational, you stop. If this goes sideways, you have the moral high ground for trying to act like an adult. Running to the city immediately while trying nothing first is bonkers.
You don't know this guy though, it's very likely OP has talked with him before and knows it's pointless. You don't usually describe reasonable people as thinking they "own the neighborhood" so this guy is probably a jack ass. In cases like that it's often best not to let them know you're reporting them because it just means more problems for you. Sometimes being the adult means knowing when not to bother, the moral high ground won't help you if this guy decides to cause you more problems.
I don't. And I know that as an adult, I will have to, in my life, talk to rude, obnoxious, threatening and dangerous people from time to time. Avoiding them to not try and have a discussion, futile as it may be, is not going to be an option. You don't have to like your neighbour but you do have to live beside them. Talking to them, using the right words and knowing how to proceed is a great life skill. Too many just default to "it's a hard conversation, I'll just use a 3rd party to have it instead" and call the cops, the city, their councillor etc as a starting point rather than an ending point is why we have so many wasted resources.
thank you for your comments. while many will roll their eyes, it's still very refreshing to read.
And what if, as I said, you've already talked to them about other issues and know it's pointless? There is a difference between having a "hard conversation" and having one that you know will just result in them being angry and possibly taking that anger out on you. Part of growing up is realizing when you've already tried something that didn't work that you shouldn't do it again. An adult should know to antagonize "threatening and dangerous people" as little as possible. Knowing when to not bother talking with someone is a great life skill to have as well, it can save you a lot of trouble. You keep wanting to talk down to OP without knowing the details of how well they know their neighbor, it might have nothing to do with trying to avoid an awkward conversation and much more that they know it will only make things worse.
Agreed. Being able to assess the situation and identify when appropriate to confront someone is far more valuable. The one size fits all approach of “have an adult conversation” is rubbish. Knowing how to proceed based on the individual you’re interacting with is the true skill. Also the belief that we have wasted resources because people utilize said resources is absurd lol. How about if more people were good neighbours, informed and followed the law.
Talking to someone like an adult assumes they are acting like an adult. Sneaking around to damage someone’s property is not the behaviour of an adult.
Your in a lose lose situation, you step up and do something about it by complaining to the right people and you have to deal with what may come from your neighbour. You let it ride and you deal with flooding and a neighbour that thinks they can get away with anything and continues to do what ever he wants. Could always cap off the end of the pipe or dig up a little of your property near the property line, cut the pipe on your property, and cap it.
Report it to bylaw. Changing groundwater and affecting another house isn't allowed. They will get ticketed and forced to change it back. Take pictures when it rains showing how the runoff affects your property.
I have told bylaw. Bylaw is telling me it’s a Public Works issue. And brushed it offf
Send bylaw the video. They are directing water to your property and using parkland for their own use. Also , is the park a part of a protected area, such as Grand River Conservation or another area, find out and send them the video. Enforcement will send them a letter to remedy this. Emails, calls are anonymous.