My neighbor installed a sump pump a few years ago which discharges between our houses. Needless to say I get a lot of the water from his basement on my lot. I have asked him to put an extension on the discharge but he only puts it on during the summer, assuming he won't need it during the winter. The heavy rain and snow melt on Saturday, December 27th and the heavy rain this evening, February 26 is a good indicator that the extension should be permanent. Is there anything the Village can do about this?

I don't see anything on code per say, but you do have a good point. The extension he/she puts on in Spring/summer (good weather), does that eventually point towards THEIR back yard? or just a longer extension into your backyard?

Don't know about the code, and am certainly not giving you legal advice, but generally you are not able to discharge water from your property in a manner that adversely affects your neighbors. Same way you would not be able to change your property - say by building a berm or something - in a manner that changes the natural flow of water from your neighbor's property.

I would certainly give the village a call. See what they have to say about it. And the cops will gladly attempt to resolve any neighborly dispute.

In short, I think you might well have a basis for a civil suit against yor neighbor. But of course, you would prefer to avoid that.

Just curious - have you talked to your neighbor about this? Why or why not? Seems like a decent first step. And does the water just end up "on your lot" or in your basement?

In your neighbor's partial defense, I can imagine the extension giving him problems icing up in the winter. Of course that is no excuse. He should take whatever steps are necessary to take the water wlsewhere on his property where it will not adversely affect you - even if it means trenching and burying drainage pipe to a french drain/surface outlet somewhere on his lot. Really the optimal solution IMO.

We have a tolerable relationship with the neighbor so the last thing I want is legal or police action.

We are located at the bottom of a hill and we get a lot of run-off from the properties to the north and west. The extension is really a minor issue because when his sump is running we typically have so much water flowing between the houses that anything from his basement is inconsequential, as was the case last night. It's just that I would like to reduce as much extra water as possible.

His extension actually directs the water to his front yard toward the street.

Illinois Drainage Law

We have flooding issues because we are the second to last house on 3 hills. I was worried about my neighbor (the absolute bottom) taking legal action against us, so we consulted an attorney who works with municipal flooding issues to make sure we were okay. Long story short, the downhill property must accept the uphill properties water.

quote:

Originally posted by Anthony West:
We have a tolerable relationship with the neighbor so the last thing I want is legal or police action.
...
His extension actually directs the water to his front yard toward the street.

Yeah, well if you have a tolerable relationship with him, by all means talk to him about the matter.

We've had water "issues" in both of our last 2 homes, so I an VERY aware of what you are feeling. When I now look at a house one of the FIRST things I notice is whether it sits slightly above or below its neighbors, or whether it slopes to one side or another.

As you say, the best thing is probably to direct as much water as possible to the front of your properties. If you have the space, it might be worth considering digging a trench, laying down drainage tile and gravel, and covering it with sod. Can be a VERY effective, low tech, low cost, DIY solution to both of your problems. Will help drain not only your neighbor's sump discharge, but also any other water from your back yard or other parts "upstream." You could either do it by yourself and entirely on your own property, or approach it as a joint effort with your neighbor.

Of course, fences, concrete and the like may preclude such a solution.

Good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by perplexed:
Long story short, the downhill property must accept the uphill properties water.

That's a really handy pamphlet. But be careful you don't shorten the story so much as to distort it!

On pages 2 and 3 is says the higher property cannot collect and discharge water to a place that it would not have naturally flowed, and in a manner that "unreasonably" harms the lower property.

IMO, that could well preclude a system that collected the majority of water from the higher property and discharged it in a single location other than where it would have naturally flowed - especially if in doing so the neigbor suffers.

In AW's situation, it sounds as tho if neither house had been built or if neither house had a sump system, at least a portion of the neighbor's water would have drained off the front of the neighbor's property towards the street, instead of collecting on AW's property. Seems to me that AW would have a pretty strong argument that the neighbor ought not be able to "unnaturally" redirect all of THAT water to the area between their houses.

quote:

But be careful you don't shorten the story so much as to distort it!

This is why I’m a salesman and you’re an attorney. I make bad things sound good, you make good things sound bad

quote:

Originally posted by perplexed:
This is why I’m a salesman and you’re an attorney. I make bad things sound good, you make good things sound bad

LOL!

I'm glad you said that. I almost deleted the message.

Look! Problem Solved!!!!!!

On a different topic, this same neighbor, who has the distinction of owning THE LOUDEST riding mower in Glen Ellyn, was mowing his grass at 6:15 this morning.

This neighbor has always been...how shall I say this...a posterior sphincter but it seems to be getting worse as we both get older.

That should clearly violate the village noise ordinance.
You could look it up as well as I.

Of course, how to best address this with your neighbor would require advice from someone with at least a modicum of tact - which rules me out!

I'd probably print out a copy of the ordinance, hand it to him, and simply say, "I'd really appreciate it if you would not mow your lawn before 7:00 (or whatever the ordinance says)."

If he responds rudely, I'd just say the ordinance is pretty clear, and if he is unwilling to comply, you will have to call the cops the next time.

You want to be neighborly, but it is a 2-way street, and you don't need to be a doormat.