Retaining wall damaged on neighbours' side: reasonable to ask for contribution or not?

[Radam87]

Hi

I have a retaining wall attached to my house which is badly frost damaged on my neighbours' side. Would you say that it is completely my responsibility or am I being reasonable in asking if they will contribute to repairs/replacement as it forms part of the boundary? Their gate is attached to my house.

I'm in the house on the right as you look at the pic above.

Possibly not relevant to the discussion but these detached houses are very close. From the back: my conservatory (left) their garage (right).

 

[motorbiking]

It looks very much like a wall on your land. So no

 

[A Trowel]

Either the wall is wholly on your property or the side of your house is built on theirs, isn’t that edging in line with the corner of your building actually the boundary

 

[motorbiking]

For the garage wall.. if it was built like that from new then its possible the boundary extends to the end of their gutter. It’s possible your foundations (conservatory) are trespassing if this was a subsequent addition

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

If it's soaking wet then it's retaining water as well as soil. You need gravel and drainage behind it, together with somewhere for the water to go, which is your problem and not theirs - if you don't want it dripping on your driveway then a soakaway under yours would be needed.

It does look like it's on your side of the notional boundary. Was your parking place added later? I'm wondering if yours was once a garden that sloped the same as their driveway. In which case the thin concrete kerb you can just see at the bottom of their driveway would have been the original boundary. If it's a later addition then it's definitely all yours.

 

[Radam87]

I thought it might be my responsibility. Am I obliged to consultant them on repair? For instance could I opt for fence panels or rid the wall completely? I know I will need to let them know what is happening as it will likely disrupt their parking. They run a business out of their garage. They do a lot of jet washing of their cars and driveway so I don't know if that was part of the issue ...

 

[Radam87]

My guttering is actually overhanging their drive and I have to access their property to service it. As do they with their neighbours.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

It's retaining their driveway, you'd probably be liable if you took it away completely. It's on your land, but its purpose was that you were able to dig out your garden to make a parking space.

If you didn't want a wall there then you'd need to restore the land to a sloping bank as it probably was in the first place. Then your soil would be supporting the edge of their driveway as was probably the case when the houses were built.

I'm pretty sure you'd be fairly narked off if your neighbours dug out alongside your driveway then just left it to collapse.

The jet washing is probably a source of water, but the wall was a botch job to start with as groundwater is always present, drainage is a basic part of any retaining wall.

You need to be reasonable and considerate about it. You may need to ask them very nicely to keep off the driveway while the wall is taken down, before the new one is built.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It looks very much like a wall on your land. So no

I would tend to disagree. The purpose of the wall is mainly one of retaining the weight of soil and steep drive, the property of that neighbour, and therefore the responsibility of the neighbour to maintain it.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

If you didn't want a wall there then you'd need to restore the land to a sloping bank as it probably was in the first place. Then your soil would be supporting the edge of their driveway as was probably the case when the houses were built.

There appears have something of a retaining wall at the extreme left as well, though not to the same extent as on the OP's side - suggesting a ramp has been added. Perhaps the OP could comment on that point?

 

[Radam87]

Not sure who did what first - we've been here for just a couple of years.

 

[robinbanks]

which is badly frost damaged on my neighbours' side

Have they complained about it?

(also, what was the idea behind posting a blurry google street view picture of your side of the wall 14 years ago? Surely a modern, clear picture showing the actual problem on their side of the wall would be better?)

 

[noseall]

Hi

I have a retaining wall attached to my house which is badly frost damaged on my neighbours' side. Would you say that it is completely my responsibility or am I being reasonable in asking if they will contribute to repairs/replacement as it forms part of the boundary? Their gate is attached to my house.

I'm in the house on the right as you look at the pic above.

Possibly not relevant to the discussion but these detached houses are very close. From the back: my conservatory (left) their garage (right).

I'd say get your wall re-built with suitable bricks. Nowt to do with the neighbours.

 

[motorbiking]

I would tend to disagree. The purpose of the wall is mainly one of retaining the weight of soil and steep drive, the property of that neighbour, and therefore the responsibility of the neighbour to maintain it.

Maybe there was no need for it until someone lowered the drive on the OPs side and constructed the wall to prevent damage to the neighbours’ property?

Either way. It’s not the neighbours wall.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

There appears have something of a retaining wall at the extreme left as well, though not to the same extent as on the OP's side - suggesting a ramp has been added. Perhaps the OP could comment on that point?

There's no retaining wall on the left, the grass bank follows the drive - as I suspect the OP's garden once did.

A major clue is the brick-built raised section with the inspection chamber. This is very unusual, and suggests that the chamber/cover was originally at ground level.

Also the fact that the wall is to the right of the building corner. If it was original it would have been inline with the building. It was built set back due to the concrete kerb that is the actual boundary.

The neighbour has 0% responsibility for this wall, and the OP has responsibility for ensuring that the neighbour's drive is held up by a functioning wall. The lack of drainage is a potential liability, it makes their driveway more likely to sink as it's trapping water under the tarmac that would have been able to escape into the soil when the wall wasn't there previously.

The frost damage is due to the wall being saturated with ground water, it's a botch job as it was built without drainage. You don't get frost damage on dry or even damp bricks, they have to be soaking wet for this to happen.