“I live in a rowhome, and on the basement wall that my neighbor and I share, water leaks through the bricks during very heavy rains.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user Claire Uziel

“Dear PoPville,

I’d love to pick the community’s brain about the best way to go about resolving a water issue in my home. I live in a rowhome, and on the basement wall that my neighbor and I share, water leaks through the bricks during very heavy rains.

A waterproofing company visited this morning, and said that it’s coming from the neighbor’s downspout (the downspout goes into a buried tube that runs along our property lines), and that the resolution would be to dig out the buried tube, re-backfill, and re-grade the area, as well as get a new downspout. His guess, based on the current grading (not away from the house) is that the water is pooling, and that the buried tube is clogged.

Do you think this is my neighbor’s entire responsibility?

My husband thinks that the neighbor should be 100% responsible. I’m less confrontational (and it will be an awkward conversation with a neighbor that we cooperatively co-exist with). But I do see my husband’s point; I just don’t want to have the conversation, and it can be hard to get someone else to take action.

Have others dealt with these kinds of situations (either as the one stating that the neighbor is responsible, or as the neighbor who was told he/she was responsible)? How did you handle it? I was thinking of mentioning the leaking to him, and showing him a quote (if I can get a quote from someone who does regrading). It just seems so aggressive, and while I don’t know their financial situation, my guess is that they do not have the kind of cash/funding available to cover the costs.”