Water damage caused by neighbor....

Meet him at Sonic?

Call public works and find out what the parish drainage plan allows on your street. Aiming a drain pipe toward your property is probably incorrect. Assuming this is the case, have them handle it.

If that doesn't work/in the meantime, it would be a shame if the pipe got clogged somehow.

Fill the erosion with dry quickcrete (including the end of the pipe). Top dress with dirt.

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Anyway, I wrote him a polite letter and put it in his mailbox (I don't have any contact info for him, and he has big dogs in his yard on guard

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I'm almost positive it's actually illegal to put notes, etc. in a mailbox. So stop doing that. Mainly because this guy seems like a total dick.

You have his address. Look that up in your local tax website to get his name and send him a certified letter. Get a professional opinion on the matter first.

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He has a maybe 2-3" drainage pipe that goes under his fence and stops right around the property line.

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It's also illegal to drain on a neighbors yard. He probably knows that and is why he's avoiding you. It sounds like him or his contractor took a shortcut and stopped the drainage and/or just thought since it was an empty lot at the time "no big deal". He should fix it though.

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I'm almost positive it's actually illegal to put notes, etc. in a mailbox. So stop doing that. Mainly because this guy seems like a total dick.

You have his address. Look that up in your local tax website to get his name and send him a certified letter. Get a professional opinion on the matter first.

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I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.

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It's also illegal to drain on a neighbors yard. He probably knows that and is why he's avoiding you. It sounds like him or his contractor took a shortcut and stopped the drainage and/or just thought since it was an empty lot at the time "no big deal". He should fix it though.

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I believe that is what happened. If I had to guess, the pipe has something to do with his new pool. When he saw I bought the property and was about to build he threw in a pool and a fence (and had the heavy equipment for the install brought in over my property so he could rut up my yard and not his). I'm just going to try to contact the parish and see what they say. I am done trying to work with the guy because he obviously doesn't care about his neighbors. I had even initially offered to cover some of the cost and it's not my screw up.

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First I'd call the parish and see what they recommend, probably not give them specific information so they don't come out before you have a chance to talk to your neighbor. Then after talking to them, I'd send your neighbor a certified letter so you have proof he received it and you sent it. Depending on what his response is, I'd go from there. Chances are the parish will help you.

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Hopefully the parish can help, I will try contacting them today. I'm not going to try talking to the guy again. He wants no part of that.

If I were you I'd force a conversation. Some people aren't assholes they just see the world through a totally different lense which makes them seem like assholes. This dude might just have shitty interpersonal skills.

I had a similar situation where my old neighbors yard drained in to mine due to a tree. It was causing some issues with flooding my backyard. I explained it and he was just just sort of blank staring. So I told him look I'm going to build something to divert the water. He said OK and I did. I basically setup a mini levee that forced that shite over his tree area. Guess what, ole boy cut down that tree and cleared his drainage area. He wasn't an a-hole just kind of a dumb old redneck in general.

Just as another thought. There are drainage companies out there. I would think maybe a few of those companies would know the rules. I don't know about where you live but I have seen a few advertised in Baton Rouge.

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I'm in Lafourche parish if that matters.

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Oh, Lord, good luck. I swear, Lafourche has more unaddressed drainage issues than any other place on earth. And I doubt that your parish code enforcement is going to do anything to help you out.

Take photos right now; then go back and take photos when the pipe is draining to show how the water affects your property. Is this something you can fix by adding a few sacks of pea gravel to create a bit of a sump area/french drain? I wouldn't lawyer up or send a certified letter until all other avenues were exhausted. If you think he's a jerk now, he will not improve once you insert an attorney into the matter.

YES!

This Is why I am anti-neighborhood.