Drains....

If the pipe was allowed by you or the prior land owner, then yes a neighbor's pipe can cross your land.

Pipe maintenance is your neighbors responsibility (it is their pipe). And tiding up after repair is also your neighbors responsibility on your property (it is your property), unless you broke the pipe (during construction) then repairs and such are your responsibility. That is theory only. I have found neighbors often do not clean up the messes they create. Your neighbor must also inform you in advance, in writing, if they do maintenance of the pipe on your property.

Providing access to your land for repairs on your neighbors pipe is actually your responsibility. But only to a point of access to repair a pipe. I have seen this limited access rights taken out of context by some neighbors as they think they have more rights then they actually have. It is just a pipe in the ground, not a walk path, access route, area they can pave (actually had a friend who's neighbor came with a back hoe planning to pave my friend's land). So know your rights, and your neighbor's rather limited rights.

You should be able to build over the pipe, but must also still provide your neighbor all necessary access to fix the pipe if needed. And that is where the quandary appears: how to provide access to a pipe under a concrete slab.

Many such pipes are under construction slabs, and should not require direct access for the lifetime of the house so this "technically" should not be a problem. Providing an access cap to "router" out blockage is usually sufficient for routine maintenance. This may require some discussion and negotiation, but a reasonable neighbor when properly informed should usually give the green light to this solution.

In case of excessive demands by a neighbor about your construction over "their" pipe, things can be complicated very quickly. You could also negotiate with your neighbor to just lay a new pipe (if this option exists). Offering to pay for the new pipe on *their* property often does the trick and removes the headache. Some neighbors might be oddly and excessively territorial about their "perceived" "rights" ("rights", that in some cases, only exist in their imagination), so knowing your rights also will be important.

If you have the permits to build a garage, your neighbor can not block your construction. But that does not mean you should just build over the pipe "as is" either. For example, if you want to build a garage and cars will roll over the pipe, if the sewage pipe is of the gray plastic type, then it should be replaced with the red type as only the red type is rated to withstand long term pressure from having a car roll and parked on it. In which case, it may be easier to just relay the pipe so it is not under the garage.

And sometimes the "szolgalmi jog" entry in the land registry (easement? IANAL) is not granular or specific enough, and the neighbor does become entitled to a lot more than the owner realizes...

szocske wrote:

.... and the neighbor does become entitled to a lot more than the owner realizes...

Grasshopper, how do you mean, a "lot more"?

Situation as I understand it now is the pipe is buried 1.5-2.0m deep. Cash was exchanged in relation to the pipe crossing the land but no entries appear to have been made in the land register and there's not on the plans. Perhaps this is an informal arrangement. I'd prefer it to be formalised because I don't want to accept any liability whatsoever for the neighbours pipe crossing our land.

fluffy2560 wrote:

...no entries appear to have been made in the land register and there's not on the plans.

If there is no entry in the land registry, then the pipe does not "legally" exist on your property. You have no significant liability now.

Also consider, you are not required to continue past verbal agreements your neighbor had with the prior owner of your property. You might even legally remove the pipe if you wanted.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I'd prefer it to be formalised because I don't want to accept any liability whatsoever for the neighbours pipe crossing our land.

If you formalize the pipe, and put it in the land registry, then you put the pipe in real legal concrete; and then you hand your neighbor more legal rights, such as having the right to have the pipe there forever on your land and you have no say in the matter. It also can result in actually increasing your potential liability.

So, actually, formalizing it is the worst idea.

klsallee wrote:

So, actually, formalizing it is the worst idea.

Ummm....ok, worth thinking about, thanks.

I was of course, assuming that that the law would be on my side in that the neighbours pipe shouldn't even be there in the first place. I'll have to check the neighbours property to see if they have an alternate connection. The land used to be much bigger and it got divided into three pieces, with this neighbour building a house with access to another street. And that street does not appear to have main drainage. I really do not want their pipe through our land, simply because of the digging we could do (it's also on a hill to make it more complicated as the pipe could be at variable depth).

I believe that if something was built and is over 10 years old, and the local government did not object, then there is no way for them to ask for it to be removed because it did not have planning permission, e.g. perhaps it applies to drains too?

fluffy2560 wrote:

I believe that if something was built and is over 10 years old, and the local government did not object, then there is no way for them to ask for it to be removed because it did not have planning permission, e.g. perhaps it applies to drains too?

If you know about the pipe, and do nothing for 10 years, your neighbor could certainly try to make a case to de facto formalize the pipe. But that 10 year clock starts ticking once you were formally informed about the pipe, not when it was installed, since it is not registered in the land office as a prior existing feature on your property. Your case gets stronger or weaker depending of if you were informed about the pipe before or after you purchased. What also is a question is if the sewage hookup is even legal. That is, is your neighbor paying their monthly sewage fee, or not? If the "hookup" was done illegally and is not registered, then you have leverage to get the pipe removed. If it was done legally, then that may, or may not, reset that 10 year clock to the time of hookup (to that I simply do not know).

Many of these off the book deals occur between neighbors. Does not make it illegal to have the pipe there, but it also does not necessarily mean you have to keep it as the new owner.

But.... if you want to formally remove the pipe (as in: announce your intention to your neighbor you will remove it), even if it is your right, your neighbor can still counter suit you to prevent it. 22 years later of court action, you may get a ruling in your favor... or not (it is Hungary after all where the idea of "precedence" is not really part of the legal framework).