Ms Yeldon wants the city council, in particular, to take responsibility for the stormwater drain that runs across her front lawn.
It takes water that was a tributary to the Kaikorai Stream, in Dunedin, and is causing slumping at the front of her house, and her driveway to begin dropping from the garage.
The bill looks set to come to tens of thousands of dollars, but the council says it does not, and never has, owned the drain.
The case is a warning for other homeowners, as the city has hundreds of kilometres of similar drains that are privately owned and could cause the same problems.
Ms Yeldon said the stormwater drain began three or four properties up the hill from her Kinsman St home, and ran through her property and a lower neighbour's before hitting the street.
It was almost 3m underground.
Ms Yeldon had contacted her insurance company and the New Zealand Earthquake Commission.
The insurance company would not pay, as it said the damage was gradual, while the commission told Ms Yeldon she would have to prove the problem was caused by damage from the waterway in a one-off flood before it would consider paying.
After checking the records for the property, Ms Yeldon found the pipe was built in the 1930s when the section was subdivided, but maps she got from the city council showed water from council pipes further up the hill flowed into it.
Even if she fixed the section on her property, that would not deal with any problems on either side.
"The council's doing everything they can not to pay for stuff, which isn't fair.
"Stormwater [drains] are for the public benefit, not for me."
Council water and waste services manager John Mackie said the pipe had been built by a private landowner, and was not owned or maintained by the council.
"While we're sympathetic, there are hundreds of kilometres of private water courses in private ownership."
The bigger issue for the council was if it took responsibility for all of those, it would add "a string of zeros" to its budgets.
Council staff had looked at the problem, and he understood it was not one of capacity, but that the construction of the pipe was not as good as it could have been.
One problem Dunedin had was multiple agencies were responsible for stormwater, including the council, the Otago Regional Council, and roading and railway organisations.
The council was going to consider issues of ownership in its three waters strategy, which was soon to go out for public consultation.
A draft strategy was expected in October.
Ms Yeldon said she had taken her case to the Ombudsman, asking that the council either take responsibility for the drain, or build a new drain in Kinsman St.
She would also present a submission to the council's annual plan next month.
