Can my Neighbour do this

[Braddy07]

Here's a photo will hopefully make it clearer now.

Will try and speak to him as soon as possible and see what he says.

 

[jacko555]

So you own the existing boundary wall.
Their extension wall is covering 50% of the width of the boundary wall?

 

[kingandy2nd]

Thanks @Braddy07

$64,000 question is now, how confident are you that the rear retaining wall is 100% yours and on your land. If the rear retaining wall is yours, and the boundary is not staggered, then it's a clear cut case of trespass of both skins.

If the retaining wall is shared, then the outer skin is trespassing.

An old photo or google street view shot of your house showing where the old wooden fence was fixed / aligned with the rear retaining wall will be your best bet to prove where the boundary was understood to be by both parties prior to this build starting..

Looks to me that the wall has been placed to miss the manhole on the left. Good luck with the neighbour.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

That, looking at your diagram of where the actual boundary is located, appears to have been built partially on your side of the boundary. I also cannot see any real point to the wall at all, except your neighbour trying to land grab and his trying to be awkward.

Best advise him in writing that he has built on your side of the boundary and you require its immediate demolition and removal. Take a copy of the document first, then give him a little time to respond/stop any further progress. If that fails you need to engage a solicitor and have your house deeds to hand showing the boundary line.

It might be an idea to see if anyone in your area has a drone with a decent camera, to take an aerial view of the layout, because it all looks rather confused.

 

[kingandy2nd]

I'd also say that, with the dog leg in the wall you drew in the diagram earlier, you may well be no worse off if you've been gifted a bit of land nearer the road and lost a bit closer to the house. (Not suggesting that's right, but just something to consider).

Aligning the new wall with the old one, looks more sensible (visually) than offsetting, and for the neighbour they'd render their gate useless (which might be another factor in why they've done this).

Ultimately, if you start the dispute you'd get your land back, in the end...but it's not like you could do much more with that land if the wall was moved 300mm to the right. If they leave the wall at the current height, you can still maintain your property.

 

[catlad]

I'm with Harry, I can't see any real point to that wall! A better solution would be bring the neighbours gate forward and make it bigger to go right across to your side with provisal that you need occasional access for maintenance.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I'm with Harry, I can't see any real point to that wall! A better solution would be bring the neighbours gate forward and make it bigger to go right across to your side with provisal that you need occasional access for maintenance.

I agree with the solution suggested above. Offer to let him use your strip of land, he pays for it to be concreted or paved, adds a new gate, but he allows you access when ever you have a need. Have him agree that the land remains your property and get it all down in writing, again at his expense.

The other option would be for you to offer to sell him the strip of land, with the proviso that you are allowed any reasonable access for maintenance of your own property.

 

[big-all]

that wall looks like the finished height with a step down awating capping ??

 

[Braddy07]

Again thanks to everyone that's replied I really appreciate it.

I believe the wall is being put there to mirror the other side, I'm not sure if they are putting a gate in to access their drive or something by adding columns either side of their drive. Maybe the wall is for security as then no one can cross from my drive into theirs.
I've not seen or been shown any plans for the works.

I get that I will get a bit of land at the opening of my drive but as it's a double drive which can fit 2 cars easily I'm not really bothered about having any extra land my main concern is if I ever need access to that side of my house for whatever reason as there's a black pipe there as well which I didn't put in my original drawings but can be seen in the first photo that I posted before, I'm guessing is something to do with the boiler as well as the vent above.

Couple of photos of where the wall will terminate at the start of the drive and the other side, the parking bay out front in red bricks is council, so not sure how they would even get in if someone parked a longer car there.



I've also attached a pic of the plot and boundary, as they've gone over it with a thick pen it's hard to tell the exact details but it is a straight line, the wording just underneath the outline states 'marker posts to parking bays' whatever that means.

I'm guessing I need to confirm 100% that the retaining wall is on my side of the boundary as I believe it is.

 

[kingandy2nd]

Perhaps the neighbour thought you'd agreed to this when you had the earlier discussion?

It's not common to have the dividing fence/wall on the boundary.

**Edited as original post wrong**

 

[Nakajo]

FWIW, It doesn't look that way to me. The wall (Except for that pier thing) appears to be entirely on the OP's property.

 

[Keithmac]

Looks like they've built the whole wall on your side? Surely the face of the wall should be where the arrow is?.

 

[Celeronmanuk]

FWIW, It doesn't look that way to me. The wall (Except for that pier thing) appears to be entirely on the OP's property.

Looks entirely on the OP's property to me too. Looks to me like they didn't want to make their own access narrower or deal with the drain, so pinched your land.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I'm not an expert, and plans are not fully accurate, but if you use the plan as the guide then the existing retaining wall is on boundary and what the neighbour is doing is mimicking the boundary with their new wall - which means that half of the wall is on either side of the boundary.

I disagree. If you look at the drawing, you can see a small part of the original thin line indicating the boundary, where the free-hand drawn thick line wobbles a little. The thin line it seems and to some extent the free-hand line, go down the centre between the two house walls. That would seem to suggest that his neighbour is already over the boundary with the right hand side of his gate. The edge of that garden retaining wall visible next to the gate in the photo, the retaining wall is built entirely on the OP's property. That leaves me wondering who built and owns that retaining wall?

Both leaves of the new wall are entirely built on the OP's land.

The dog-legged part of the new wall, close to the road, would seem to be approximately where it ought to be and had it been continued straight back without the dog-leg, it would have been an accurate indication of the boundary. His present wall in its entirety between the two building has been entirely built on the OP's land.

I would guess his neighbour has made a slight boundary land grab in the distant past and is now claiming a much bigger slice of the once shared access space between the houses.

 

[kingandy2nd]

The boundary line is very thick on the plan, but doesn’t look central between the house to me....but like I say, I’m not expert.

also I assume the boundary is the central point of the drawn line highlighted, not the outer or inner edge of it