Nice house at higher elevation, can you be responsible for water flow into neighbor's yard? (property, legal)

[fibonacci]

We viewed a very nice home that was at a higher elevation than a house that's across from the backyard. The house we're interested in also has a terraced backyard. The wall in the terrace has pipes from it for what I assume is water of course, which will flow to the lower terrace. There aren't any water issues with the house. I was just curious if during a large rainfall that water would flow into the lower terrace and then into the neighbor's yard behind the house. Could you be liable for water flow into their yard that might cause damage? Or is that just tough luck on their part for simply living at a lower elevation?

[DubbleT]

Probably state specific, I'd certainly do my homework on the issue before making an offer.
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclope...age-29724.html

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Maybe. It would depend upon whether the water was just flowing downhill, or if you deliberately changed the grade and directed the water into their yard when it would not have done so otherwise.


You haven't purchased yet. Go next door, knock on the door, and ask them what happens to the water flow with a heavy rain. Possibly, they already have a drain system to deal with it.


If they are ticked off because the homeowner above them deliberately channeled water onto their property and caused floods, then either pass on the house or get an engineer out there to see if the problem can be fixed.

[rational1]

Originally Posted by DubbleT

Probably state specific, I'd certainly do my homework on the issue before making an offer.
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclope...age-29724.html

There ARE laws concerning homeowner responsibility and they definitely depend on location.

https://www.findlaw.com/realestate/n...-disputes.html

So the answer is...OP might be liable, or not, depending.