Neighbour and retaining garden wall

[Notreallymeeither]

This could be the thin end of the wedge. If she pays for this part of the wall, she’ll be paying for every other neighbour’s retaining wall too (where her property borders the lower properties)

The quotes price seems v high - but I’m tight.

[Slackline]

Find out who's wall it is. If it doesn't belong to her, tell them to sling their hook.

If it does belong to her, tell them it looks fine structurally and she's going to paint it bright pink if they keep on...

[Jeremy-75qq8]

Look on the planning website. The drawings may mention the retaining wall. If the Plans add not there just ask the la and they will put them up. I did this a few days ago.

[Pit Pony]

You don't need a solicitor, you need 2 surveyors. A structural surveyor, to say if the wall is indeed dangerous, and a boundary specialist, to tell them.that it's thier fking wall and they have a legal obligation to keep it safe.

Alternatively, say, I'm sorry, I'm not in a financial position to help you, being a poor pensioner with no savings living in poverty.

[Tlandcruiser]

I was under the impression that unless specified in the deeds, the responsibility of a retaining wall is normally down to the persons land that is being retained?

[steveo3002]

tell em she's broke , otherwise the rest of the street will want the wall to match when they see the new bit

[eltax91]

Hi folks

Mother in law gave solicitor permission to speak with me about her affairs. I have spoken to them and they are saying the destroy all records after 10 years, the last time they didn;t anything was 12 years ago to put the property into mother in laws name after her marriage breakdown.

I have paid for the Title deed from the land registry, this shows a pink line all around the property and no "T" markings.

Is there anything else i can do to establish ownership? Assuming no "T" markings on anyone's documents, presume at this point it's a shared boundary and no responsibility either way?

[bennno]

eltax91 said:

Hi folks

Mother in law gave solicitor permission to speak with me about her affairs. I have spoken to them and they are saying the destroy all records after 10 years, the last time they didn;t anything was 12 years ago to put the property into mother in laws name after her marriage breakdown.

I have paid for the Title deed from the land registry, this shows a pink line all around the property and no "T" markings.

Is there anything else i can do to establish ownership? Assuming no "T" markings on anyone's documents, presume at this point it's a shared boundary and no responsibility either way?

Get a full copy of the deeds / transfer deeds - ask the solicitor for guidance.

[eltax91]

bennno said:

eltax91 said:

Hi folks

Mother in law gave solicitor permission to speak with me about her affairs. I have spoken to them and they are saying the destroy all records after 10 years, the last time they didn;t anything was 12 years ago to put the property into mother in laws name after her marriage breakdown.

I have paid for the Title deed from the land registry, this shows a pink line all around the property and no "T" markings.

Is there anything else i can do to establish ownership? Assuming no "T" markings on anyone's documents, presume at this point it's a shared boundary and no responsibility either way?

Get a full copy of the deeds / transfer deeds - ask the solicitor for guidance.

They are ‘checking their archive’ now. I suspect they are going to come back to tell me that they have been destroyed as more than 10 years.

Is there any way to get them from elsewhere if they have been destroyed

[Total loss]

Ask the other bungalow owner & the people wanting the wall rebuilt what it says on their deeds?

[jet_noise]

Total loss said:

Ask the other bungalow owner & the people wanting the wall rebuilt what it says on their deeds?

And/or get yourself a copy/ies. Same process as you've done for the MIL's.

[eltax91]

Total loss said:

Ask the other bungalow owner & the people wanting the wall rebuilt what it says on their deeds?

Thanks. That's on the hit list. The other bungalow is currently going through a sale, the owners moved into a care home, new owners are not in yet, mother in law has not met them.

We just discovered in the last 20 minutes, the house wanting wall rebuilt is saying they've spoken to new owners who are in agreement that it needs rebuilding and have apparently negotiated "an amount" with their seller to cover their share of the wall rebuild.

This is coming in polite but firm emails from the owner wanting the wall done. They have left MiL 7 missed calls this morning (she's a class assistant, no phone other than break times) and trying to make it seem urgent that this needs to be done asap in order for new bungalow owner to claim their monies (not my porblem, and probably BS)

[Total loss]

eltax91 said:

Thanks. That's on the hit list. The other bungalow is currently going through a sale, the owners moved into a care home, new owners are not in yet, mother in law has not met them.

We just discovered in the last 20 minutes, the house wanting wall rebuilt is saying they've spoken to new owners who are in agreement that it needs rebuilding and have apparently negotiated "an amount" with their seller to cover their share of the wall rebuild.

This is coming in polite but firm emails from the owner wanting the wall done. They have left MiL 7 missed calls this morning (she's a class assistant, no phone other than break times) and trying to make it seem urgent that this needs to be done asap in order for new bungalow owner to claim their monies (not my porblem, and probably BS)

Maybe the other bungalows bit of wall does need rebuilding?
If nobody's it it yet, pop around & have a look & get photos.

[outnumbered]

If she can't afford to repair the wall, why does it matter whose responsibility it is ? If the neighbour wants it fixed, they can pay.

[hidetheelephants]

eltax91 said:

A picture of the wall in question. Apologies for the poor quality but it’s the best I can do without trespassing on neighbours land.

If he wants you to pay for a new wall he can let you take a proper photo, preferably with a plumb bob or spirit level showing whether it's on the piss or not. As it is he just seems intent on railroading a little old lady into paying for something he wants but may not be needed.

Make him understand the timeline and to stop being a pushy bellend about a wall that worse case will fall over and crush the life out of a cheap garden shed.
proper photo > surveyor > pay for share of wall after at least two other quotes as that's how such things are done.

It won't fall over though judging by your picture, it's not very clear but what can be seen seems sound enough.

[Nimby]

If m-i-l has a mortgage, the mortgage co. might have the deeds and/or better documentation than the land registry entry.

[bristoltype603]

Pit Pony said:

You don't need a solicitor, you need 2 surveyors. A structural surveyor, to say if the wall is indeed dangerous, and a boundary specialist, to tell them.that it's thier fking wall and they have a legal obligation to keep it safe.

Alternatively, say, I'm sorry, I'm not in a financial position to help you, being a poor pensioner with no savings living in poverty.

This. Get a Land Surveyor (i.e. boundary specialist). They'll probably charge around £200 for a report saying what's what. Send report to neighbour and job jobbed.

You probably don't even need a structual engineer (in fact best not to as they always find fault).

[pquinn]

Why make any effort at all? Leave it up to the other party to provide proper documentation proving a) that work is necessary, and if so what b) that there is some responsibility involved and c) multiple quotes for the minimum work involved to repair any identified defect.

Even if I was partially responsible for it there's no way I'd contribute a share to something that was anything other than the bare minimum remediation work required. If someone wants a big shiny new wall then anything beyond the minimum should be 100% their responsibility.


I've seen exactly the same thing before where someone is trying to bully neighbours into paying for a cosmetic upgrade they don't need to, and the constant harassment over it is a classic tool so you'll fold and go away. Reality is there's no urgency to it on your part.

[Taylor James]

What's the point of a wall there anyway? If they're that bothered pull it down and stick more (unnecessary) fence panels up. Who is it going to squish IF it falls over - a midget?

[pquinn]

eltax91 said:

For what it’s worth Access is required over mother in laws driveway to build this. The other properties don’t have access for the equipment.

Really?? They can get the materials & equipment in via their own side access, which has the advantage of actually being at the right level.

Price seems steep too (to me at least) for a short wall little retaining wall, rebarred hollow block + concrete + a skin is hardly a complicated job.

And what are they proposing to do at the boundary of their little run of the wall? Just stop their shiny new bit? Unless there's a convenient joint at each fenceline (which I doubt) then they aren't exactly helping the rest of it stay upright.