Neighbour has dug up the alleyway between our houses

That's a legal question rather than a d.i.y question. Unless you deal with it yourself, which is not recommended. I recommend either a legal newsgroup or the forum at

Or more of a question of "Why can't you just get on with your neighbour?" and "Why make a fuss about something that really isn't that important?"

Once upon a time, the gutter behind my garage was leaking. My neighbour's garden got rather wet. Before he even mentioned it to me, he attempted to build a soakaway himself. When that failed, he simply came round and asked me politely to fix it, which I did (I wasn't previously aware of the leak).

Is it your neighbour who has dug up the land or the water company? If there are already water pipes running along it, the water company would have a right of access to their pipes.

Not necessarily. However, if the excavation goes below the level of your foundations, it would be covered by the Party Wall Act and you should have received a notification under that Act.

For a start, check the deeds, to see whether or not you are right. Then check the conditions applied to any easement, as they may extend beyond a simple right of passage.

I'd have thought at the very least he should provide a method of access. I notice when they dug a hole outside my house to fix a gas leak they had a very sturdy piece of metal across the middle of the hole so I could get out my gate! Brian