It Might Not Be Your Gutters: Downpipes, Drains and the Neighbour's Tree

We get a fair few calls that start the same way: "There's water pouring over the corner of the house every time it rains — can you come and clear the gutters?" Sometimes we arrive, clear a bit of moss, job done. But just as often, the gutters are perfectly clean, and the real problem is somewhere else entirely.

Before you spend money on a service you might not need, it's worth understanding how the whole water system on your house fits together — because a fault in one part can look exactly like a fault in another.

How the Water Gets From Roof to Drain

Your guttering is only the first leg of the journey. Rainwater runs into the gutter channel, travels along it, and drops into the downpipe at the corner of the house. From there, it usually feeds into a gully — that small grate at ground level — or sometimes straight into the underground drain.

A blockage at any point in that chain causes water to back up. And here's the rub: a blocked downpipe or a flooded gully often shows itself as an overflowing gutter, which is why so many people blame the guttering first.

Three Ways to Trace the Real Culprit

1. Watch it during heavy rain

Grab a brew and look outside in a proper downpour (not a drizzle). If water spills over the gutter edge mid-run, the gutter or outlet is likely blocked. But if the gutter fills up and barely drains away at the downpipe end, the blockage is probably in the downpipe itself — often where leaves compact at the top or where the pipe bends.

2. Check the gully

Lift the grate on the drain at ground level (wear gloves — they're rarely pleasant inside). If it's packed with leaves, silt or the odd tennis ball, rainwater has nowhere to go, and it backs all the way up the downpipe and out over the gutter. A quick flush with a hose can tell you a lot: if the water sits and gurgles, the problem is underground or in the gully, not up top.

3. Look up — and over

Overhanging branches are the single biggest cause of repeat gutter blockages. If your neighbour's tree dumps leaves, seeds or helicopter spinners onto your roof every autumn, no amount of cleaning will be a permanent fix. The gutters will just fill up again.

Who You Actually Need to Call

Here's where a bit of honesty saves you money. A gutter cleaning company like us handles everything from the roofline down to the bottom of the downpipe: clearing channels, unblocking outlets, flushing downpipes, fixing joints and brackets.

But if the problem is a gully at ground level or anything in the underground drain, that's drainage territory. A drainage specialist with rods and a CCTV camera is the right call — most gutter firms won't (and shouldn't) start poking around in shared underground drains, especially on older terraces where the pipework may be shared with next door.

A decent gutter company will tell you this straight. If we turn up, find the downpipe clear and the gutters spotless, and the water's backing up from the gully, we'll say so rather than charge you for a clean that won't fix anything.

The Neighbour's Tree: The Polite British Way

If overhanging branches are the root cause, you've got a slightly delicate situation. In England and Wales, you're generally entitled to cut back branches that cross your boundary — but only up to the line, and the tree still belongs to your neighbour, so it's worth doing this properly.

Our advice:

• Have a chat first. Most people are perfectly reasonable when you mention their tree is filling your gutters. A friendly word over the fence beats a formal letter every time.
• Suggest a professional. If the tree needs a proper prune, a qualified tree surgeon is the answer — not a ladder and a saw. Neighbours are often happy to split the cost if their tree benefits too.
• Don't touch TPOs. If the tree has a Tree Preservation Order or sits in a conservation area, you'll need permission from the council before cutting anything. Check with your local authority first.
• Keep the peace. You live next to these people. A leaf issue isn't worth a feud, and a cooperative neighbour is worth more than a perfectly clear boundary line.

The Bottom Line

A bit of ten minutes' detective work in the rain — watching where the water backs up, checking the gully, clocking the trees — can save you a call-out fee and point you to the right trade first time.

And if you're still not sure? Give us a ring. We'd rather tell you "it's your drain, call a drainage firm" than take your money for a job that won't stop the drip. That's not how we do things.