Neighbour and retaining garden wall
Discussion
DozyGit said:
The OP claims the wall is not his and doesn’t care. I think the neighbour is a fool. If it were me, I were the neighbour I would just dismantle the retaining wall and let the op face the music. Then sue the op for discharging water and soil from their unretained land. I am sure in the absence of any agreement, it’s the person on the higher side who has to retain their land. Would also give the neighbours a lovely bit of land.
What a prat 
I want to know about the treees please 
dickymint said:
who's were they and did they have/need permission? Are you in a conservation area for example?
Sorry. You did ask but I forgot to reply. The trees were in neighbours garden grown close-ish to the wall. The area is not a conservation area and I could find no evidence of any TPO’s in place. eltax91 said:
dickymint said:
who's were they and did they have/need permission? Are you in a conservation area for example?
Sorry. You did ask but I forgot to reply. The trees were in neighbours garden grown close-ish to the wall. The area is not a conservation area and I could find no evidence of any TPO’s in place. That they didn't like the answer and went all bolshy says a lot about them. I think main priority is protecting MiL so you should be keeping a record of their contacts to her.
Take ownership of the wall.
Knock it down.
Buy a load of red bricks and a quantity of black bricks.
Rebuild the wall in red using creative alignment, placement and spacing of the black bricks to form letters and words in the wall to spell out a message to the chancers.
Maybe something like "f
k Off".
Then move house.
Knock it down.
Buy a load of red bricks and a quantity of black bricks.
Rebuild the wall in red using creative alignment, placement and spacing of the black bricks to form letters and words in the wall to spell out a message to the chancers.
Maybe something like "f
k Off". Then move house.
eltax91 said:
We would be more than fine if they took it down and then followed their covenant of maintaining a sufficient fence to their SW boundary
But the likely purpose of the fence, when the original pre-1930s land was conveyed would be to mark the boundary, not retain the land.Those covenants you posted earlier in the thread are the undeveloped land being initially conveyed on the basis that it would be marked out and there would be a couple of houses on it.
It is likely that, as the wall that runs the entire northern boundary of your MIL and her neighbours land, and retains it, it was put there when the bungalows came along, by whoever developed them. Its very unlikely that the five or so neighbours to the north clubbed together to build a mini wall to retain the bungalows. Oral history from a neighbour who thinks it was there in the thirties probably isn't reliable.
Also, I'm not sure why hmlr and Google Maps are showing a different orientation for North, though that may just be how I am reading your Google Maps image.
Regardless, the crux of the matter is whether it is unsafe. If it is, then its worth proving ownership, if its not then there is nothing to see.
Ha ha, I wish the neighbour removes the retaining wall and ops land erodes away and gravity deals with his bungalow. If you did want a fence, a lovely steel chain link fence can be erected to let the soil sift away.
Looking at the Google map, doesn’t look like much room before the bungalow subsides.
I really think I should be charging to help the neighbour. Useful lesson for all the smart kids is grab the offer if your house would be affected lol
The neighbour can gain about 3ft of land, not bad and sell the reclaimed bricks.
Looking at the Google map, doesn’t look like much room before the bungalow subsides.
I really think I should be charging to help the neighbour. Useful lesson for all the smart kids is grab the offer if your house would be affected lol
The neighbour can gain about 3ft of land, not bad and sell the reclaimed bricks.
DozyGit said:
Ha ha, I wish the neighbour removes the retaining wall and ops land erodes away and gravity deals with his bungalow. If you did want a fence, a lovely steel chain link fence can be erected to let the soil sift away.
Looking at the Google map, doesn’t look like much room before the bungalow subsides.
I really think I should be charging to help the neighbour. Useful lesson for all the smart kids is grab the offer if your house would be affected lol
The neighbour can gain about 3ft of land, not bad and sell the reclaimed bricks.
There’s no evidence the wall belongs to the bungalow. Nothing written in the documents available to me that suggest it is our maintenance responsibility. There appears to be evidence to suggest the other party is responsible to maintain the boundary. Looking at the Google map, doesn’t look like much room before the bungalow subsides.
I really think I should be charging to help the neighbour. Useful lesson for all the smart kids is grab the offer if your house would be affected lol
The neighbour can gain about 3ft of land, not bad and sell the reclaimed bricks.
What is it, exactly, that we are supposed to do? Please enlighten me, or would you like me to pay for the advice?
eltax91 said:
There’s no evidence the wall belongs to the bungalow. Nothing written in the documents available to me that suggest it is our maintenance responsibility. There appears to be evidence to suggest the other party is responsible to maintain the boundary.
What is it, exactly, that we are supposed to do? Please enlighten me, or would you like me to pay for the advice?
I was under the impression that unless the deeds specifically mention retaining walls, the property who’s land is being retained is the person responsible for maintaining the wall.What is it, exactly, that we are supposed to do? Please enlighten me, or would you like me to pay for the advice?
NGRhodes said:
Why are they not claiming on their insurance for the wall repair ?
Probably because they know full well that the insurers will send round someone who will deem the wall fit and well. They are only doing this for aesthetics, they'll probably paint anthracite grey once they're done.
Tlandcruiser said:
eltax91 said:
There’s no evidence the wall belongs to the bungalow. Nothing written in the documents available to me that suggest it is our maintenance responsibility. There appears to be evidence to suggest the other party is responsible to maintain the boundary.
What is it, exactly, that we are supposed to do? Please enlighten me, or would you like me to pay for the advice?
I was under the impression that unless the deeds specifically mention retaining walls, the property who’s land is being retained is the person responsible for maintaining the wall.What is it, exactly, that we are supposed to do? Please enlighten me, or would you like me to pay for the advice?
All I am looking for is evidence of responsibility that is over and above what’s in front of me already. Then I’m happy to have a conversation about IF the wall needs work and WHAT that work looks like
eltax91 said:
There’s no evidence the wall belongs to the bungalow. Nothing written in the documents available to me that suggest it is our maintenance responsibility. There appears to be evidence to suggest the other party is responsible to maintain the boundary.
What is it, exactly, that we are supposed to do? Please enlighten me, or would you like me to pay for the advice?
What is that you cannot understand?What is it, exactly, that we are supposed to do? Please enlighten me, or would you like me to pay for the advice?
1. You claim you don’t own the retaining wall, so it is in the neighbours land, which by implication means it’s their land
2. The neighbour can remove the wall and sell it on or do as they see fit.
3. The person who will face the music when they loose the retaining wall is you, not the neighbour
4. The person who’s legal responsibility to retain their land in the absence of any explicit responsibility is the person on the higher ground.
5. You neighbour is actually very kind, only charging you a third for your problem.
6. You on the other hand arrogantly stormed off.
7. The right thing for the neighbour to do is remove the wall as it’s not yours and maintain the boundary with this:
https://premierbarriers.co.uk/catalog/barrier-fenc...
Will gain them loads of land and you will definitely loose at least another 3ft of land stabilising your home. To teach an arrogant person like you they should deny access, you will probably then loose another 3ft to work from the other side or pay loads.
It makes sense that the person whose land is being retained is responsible for the retaining wall itself.
What is unknown is how high the wall is. The OP states that it is holding back around 5ft of ground, however the neighbour wants to build it 2ft higher. So is the wall 5ft? Well its possible its 3ft as the quote says to build it 2ft higher. The result of building it 2ft higher is the fence will be behind it.
We also dont know how bad the condition of the wall is, we can see from the photos that the coping stones definitely require attention, and there may be some spalling on the brickwork.
Personally if I was the OP i would take a panel of the fence down, and access the top of the wall and lift and refix all the coping stones and leave it at that.
What is unknown is how high the wall is. The OP states that it is holding back around 5ft of ground, however the neighbour wants to build it 2ft higher. So is the wall 5ft? Well its possible its 3ft as the quote says to build it 2ft higher. The result of building it 2ft higher is the fence will be behind it.
We also dont know how bad the condition of the wall is, we can see from the photos that the coping stones definitely require attention, and there may be some spalling on the brickwork.
Personally if I was the OP i would take a panel of the fence down, and access the top of the wall and lift and refix all the coping stones and leave it at that.
DozyGit said:
What is that you cannot understand?
1. You claim you don’t own the retaining wall, so it is in the neighbours land, which by implication means it’s their land
2. The neighbour can remove the wall and sell it on or do as they see fit.
3. The person who will face the music when they loose the retaining wall is you, not the neighbour
4. The person who’s legal responsibility to retain their land in the absence of any explicit responsibility is the person on the higher ground.
5. You neighbour is actually very kind, only charging you a third for your problem.
6. You on the other hand arrogantly stormed off.
7. The right thing for the neighbour to do is remove the wall as it’s not yours and maintain the boundary with this:
https://premierbarriers.co.uk/catalog/barrier-fenc...
Will gain them loads of land and you will definitely loose at least another 3ft of land stabilising your home. To teach an arrogant person like you they should deny access, you will probably then loose another 3ft to work from the other side or pay loads.
1. Have you actually read my posts? I have maintained all along, including in my OP that I don’t know who owns the wall. 1. You claim you don’t own the retaining wall, so it is in the neighbours land, which by implication means it’s their land
2. The neighbour can remove the wall and sell it on or do as they see fit.
3. The person who will face the music when they loose the retaining wall is you, not the neighbour
4. The person who’s legal responsibility to retain their land in the absence of any explicit responsibility is the person on the higher ground.
5. You neighbour is actually very kind, only charging you a third for your problem.
6. You on the other hand arrogantly stormed off.
7. The right thing for the neighbour to do is remove the wall as it’s not yours and maintain the boundary with this:
https://premierbarriers.co.uk/catalog/barrier-fenc...
Will gain them loads of land and you will definitely loose at least another 3ft of land stabilising your home. To teach an arrogant person like you they should deny access, you will probably then loose another 3ft to work from the other side or pay loads.
2. Ok, if they wanted to they would have. They clearly don’t
3. Ok again, if they do then they do
4. As I’ve repeated several times. The only explicit responsibility I can see anywhere is in THEIR title deeds. And no mention of it at all in mine. Nothing at all
5. Let’s remember theres 3 parties at play here. So if they are being kind then the contribution requested would have been smaller and not included all the extra ‘nice to haves’
6. They through me out. For nothing. Incidentally I was sat on what you are saying is my wall at the time, yet they told me I was on their premises and should leave
7. I guess they could do that if they so wished, there are other considerations for themselves before doing so
DozyGit said:
eltax91 said:
There’s no evidence the wall belongs to the bungalow. Nothing written in the documents available to me that suggest it is our maintenance responsibility. There appears to be evidence to suggest the other party is responsible to maintain the boundary.
What is it, exactly, that we are supposed to do? Please enlighten me, or would you like me to pay for the advice?
What is that you cannot understand?What is it, exactly, that we are supposed to do? Please enlighten me, or would you like me to pay for the advice?
1. You claim you don’t own the retaining wall, so it is in the neighbours land, which by implication means it’s their land
2. The neighbour can remove the wall and sell it on or do as they see fit.
3. The person who will face the music when they loose the retaining wall is you, not the neighbour
4. The person who’s legal responsibility to retain their land in the absence of any explicit responsibility is the person on the higher ground.
5. You neighbour is actually very kind, only charging you a third for your problem.
6. You on the other hand arrogantly stormed off.
7. The right thing for the neighbour to do is remove the wall as it’s not yours and maintain the boundary with this:
https://premierbarriers.co.uk/catalog/barrier-fenc...
Will gain them loads of land and you will definitely loose at least another 3ft of land stabilising your home. To teach an arrogant person like you they should deny access, you will probably then loose another 3ft to work from the other side or pay loads.
*if* that did come to pass there are remedies, the nuclear option being a sheet piler hired for a day or so. I'm sure the neighbours will love looking at rusty wriggly tin, gaining them no land at all. The shortest distance from boundary to the house wall is large enough that it's unlikely to slump in the short term, perhaps never; without knowing the ground conditions it's impossible to know.I think this is getting a bit silly. The only person who benefits from the retaining wall in real terms is the OP.
Instead of proactively taking ownership and maintaining the wall that makes his property mortgageable and sellable, he is arguing of what’s on the deeds and a number of fools are egging him on.
Use a modicum of common sense. You don’t need deeds and legal documents. At the very beginning of this thread someone pointed out the reason for the existence of the retaining wall.
It will be in your best interest to claim the wall, which in real terms is rebuilding, keeping receipts to show your active ownership. Only a fool will let a third party take ownership of their retaining wall.
Instead of proactively taking ownership and maintaining the wall that makes his property mortgageable and sellable, he is arguing of what’s on the deeds and a number of fools are egging him on.
Use a modicum of common sense. You don’t need deeds and legal documents. At the very beginning of this thread someone pointed out the reason for the existence of the retaining wall.
It will be in your best interest to claim the wall, which in real terms is rebuilding, keeping receipts to show your active ownership. Only a fool will let a third party take ownership of their retaining wall.
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