What is the law re. water runoff in residential properties,i…

Good Afternoon

If the water is running along the normal contours and is not caused to go to your property because the neighbour has caused it to go to you then there is very little that can be done.

But if neighbouring properties have changed the course of the water and leading it into your property where before it did not then it is nuisance.

Here is some information from cases that you can look at

https://www.minterellison.com/articles/what-a-nuisance-when-reasonable-use-of-land-becomes-unreasonable-over-time

In 1995, the plaintiff, Michael Vincent Baker Superannuation Pty Ltd (adjacent landowner), bought the adjacent land and used it to graze cattle and grow crops. Over time, the flow of water through the culverts led to significant erosion and subsidence of the natural gully in the adjacent land, with the result being that the adjacent landowner's director, Mr Baker, was unable to access the northern section of a paddock which bordered the railway land and adjacent land. As Mr Baker no longer had vehicular access to this paddock, he ceased using it for grazing cattle..

After being first notified of the erosion in 2000, Aurizon's precursor entity denied that it owed any liability to undertake works on the adjacent land to rectify the erosion. In 2002 the railway land was declared to be non-rail corridor land. In April 2003 it was transferred to the second defendant. In 2004 the adjacent landowner commenced proceedings in relation to the damage caused by the erosion.

Aurizon relied on the defence of statutory duty, i.e. the act alleged to have caused the nuisance was authorised by statute and was an inevitable consequence of the authorised undertaking, and not due to negligent exercise of, or failure to exercise, the statutory powers.

Decision

The court held that the adjacent landowner had proved an actionable nuisance, and awarded the adjacent landowner part of the costs of remediating the adjacent land.

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