Can my Neighbour do this

[kingandy2nd]

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.

oh yes, I see what you mean re the wobble - I stand corrected, but I guess the op is now into territory where there has already been a change in the boundary at some point in history

 

[Diver Fred]

Me thinks the plan the OP has posted is either Land Registry or copies of the council plans from the property search. The thick, overdrawn lines are "guidance" not accurate from such people. The OP needs a copy of the original plans for his property and a site plan without any overdrawn markings unless such are dimensions. It doesn't help that such plans rarely have boundary measurements shown.

IMO the wall does look like a 'land grab' by the neighbours and now, not inexpensive to resolve.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

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

As said, it is free-hand drawn, to highlight the boundary. Really what is needed is a copy of the original drawing with just the thin line on it.

The drawing appears to show the thick line nearer to the OP's neighbours house, than the OP's house. Without any written agreement from the OP, agreeing to moving the boundary, the neighbour had absolutely no right to claim the extra land as his and certainly no right to start building a wall on the OP's land.

The OP needs to sort this out immediately, without delay. The longer he delays the greater the ill feeling it will cause between neighbours.

 

[cdbe]

An alternative to all out war may be for him to convert to a single skin for the section alongside your property, with a couple of additional supporting piers/planters on his side for stability. They'd have to render your side of the wall. You'd lose 100mm but still have access for maintenance.
I can see why he's done it and although I'm a complete "Englishman in his castle" type myself if he'd explained what he was doing and why (and done it as a single skin) I may have accepted it, especially with a nice free garden wall thrown in.

But don't hang around as already said - if he fills that cavity with concrete it'll be a lot harder to sort out.

 

[mattylad]

And its a bank holiday this weekend, if he's doing it himself he will be trying to finish it off this weekend.
Get round PDQ, read the riot act and get it stopped now!

 

[Braddy07]

The plans I posted was the original plan given when the house was built as I've lived in it since new as part of the house purchase, up until now there's never been any modifications or changes to any structures until this new wall and driveway being built.
I downloaded a plan from the gov registry website but that was really basic and didn't show anything new.

Is there some sort of more detailed plan I can obtain and where from?

I managed to have a word with the builder today and he said the section of the wall that runs parallel to my house will remain at that height and maybe they will keep the section that's on the driveway the same too or maybe put one more level on it depending on how it looks.

Due to the rain it's kind of stopped play for him but I'm going to try and have a word with the neighbour this weekend as I've not seen him come home all day and ask him to remove the higher part of the wall near the gate so it's the same height as the lower step wall.

Failing that if he doesnt agree to lower that wall I'll have to get the council/surveyor/legal involved.

Does this kind of build need planning permission to do?

 

[big-all]

only above 1m assuming the front requires planning
or if theres a covenant placing a restriction on the deeds its not allowed unless they can remove the covenant

 

[Diver Fred]

Go and see your area's (County) Highways Office. They are probably best to have an original site plan of the road and houses on it. You may have to pay them for a copy but I'm certain they will help.

 

[SUNRAY]

Has there been any further action on this matter?

 

[kingandy2nd]

@Braddy07 was last online in September when they edited their posts to remove the pictures they’d put up.

suggest maybe pm’ing them

 

[Braddy07]

Hi apologies for not updating the thread.

Following everyone's helpful comments and then discussing it with the neighbour we came to an agreement that the wall on my side would remain at that low height.

As it's still low enough to climb over and do anything on my wall if needed to.
They also agreed to foot any costs if ever i required more access down that side, I'm guessing at ground level.

With all the hassle/costs of trying to obtain documents and figuring out where the actual boundary is as I couldn't be 100% sure according to the plans, and in keeping with neighbourly harmony we decided to compromise on it.

Although originally not ideal I did gain a bit more land on my drive which does benefit me but lost a bit near my house due to the dogleg construction of the wall which I hardly ever used.

Another person may have dealt with this in another way and been more reluctant to let it go but for me I think it's worked out ok.

Again thanks everyone for your help with this.

 

[SUNRAY]

OK thanks.

I'm pleased for you that an agreement has been reached, as you mention the legal costs on issues like this can very quickly get out of hand.

Did you also agree where the real boundry is for future reference?

 

[Braddy07]

Didn't really agree anything further on it as we've taken that the new wall would be the boundary now.
Also it only really affects the front of the house, not the rear due to the split elevation of our rear gardens.

As we both live in more or less our forever homes we shouldn't have any further disputes on it.
Fingers crossed lol.

 

[SUNRAY]

Well done.