Who pays to repair a fallen wall between to houses

BIRDCAGE1

Hi,
I'm looking to get some opinions of the following situation.

A block wall between two houses (both are mid terraced houses) has fallen down due to the bad weather over the last few days. The owner of house 'A' is not the original owner of the house and is aware that the wall in question was built by the previous owners of house 'A' . The owner of house 'A' is renting the house and not living in the country.

My question is who is responsible for paying to rebuild the wall between the two houses. I'm sure the house insurance on the rental property would cover it, but as the wall divides the two houses then maybe the bill should be split between house A & B.

Something else that might be of interest is that the tenents in house 'A' are the offspring of the owners living in house 'B'.

FreudianSlippers

Not really a Legal Discussion issue, and if it were it would breach the no legal advice rule... so moved to Accommodation & Property.

silja

Who built the wall in the past is unlikely to be relevant.
Does the wall sit exactly on the boundary or is it on house A or house B's land? Is the wall necessary/ part of the deeds, or would a fence (or just clearing away the rubble) do?

Faolchu

silja wrote: »

Does the wall sit exactly on the boundary or is it on house A or house B's land?

that's what i'm thinking, in a lot of cases, especially newer houses there are no walls only a wooden fence, owner A asks Owner B to go halves on a wall, Owner B refuses so owner A builds the wall on his side of the dividing line and not on the dividing line. if this is the case owner A is responsible.

if they go halves and build it on the devide i would think its an equal split an the rebuild and if it was put theire during development i would think its on the divide so both are responsible.

D3PO

why exactly would anybody be "responsible" ?

If owner A built the wall and it fell down. He/she can either decide to rebuild it or not bother. He/she has no obligation to build it just becasue owner B wants the wall there.

the only way anybody would be "responsible" to rebuild it is if owner B built it for example and owner A hit it with their car or something causing it damage.

Basically OP if you want the wall rebuilt you can ask the other owner are they willing to split the cost. If they say no you either pay for it yourself or you do without the boundary wall.

BIRDCAGE1

Thanks for your comments guys.
The wall was built on the dividing line between the two houses after the development was completed. They are x-counsel houses with the first 3 or 4 foot of a wall build between each house and then the original owner of house A continued the wall down to the end of the garden, I dont know if the cost of that wall was split between the two owners or not. I'm of the opinion that any repair work should be split between the two owners unless or course as Faolchu suggests owner A moves the entire wall inside their boundary.
Can owner B be forced (legally) to pay for half the cost as the wall is on the dividing line?

Godge

BIRDCAGE1 wrote: »

Thanks for your comments guys.
The wall was built on the dividing line between the two houses after the development was completed. They are x-counsel houses with the first 3 or 4 foot of a wall build between each house and then the original owner of house A continued the wall down to the end of the garden, I dont know if the cost of that wall was split between the two owners or not. I'm of the opinion that any repair work should be split between the two owners unless or course as Faolchu suggests owner A moves the entire wall inside their boundary.
Can owner B be forced (legally) to pay for half the cost as the wall is on the dividing line?

Without knowing the original agreement, it is impossible to know.

Perhaps A went to B and said "I want a wall along the dividing line".

B said "I don't really care, but I won't object if you agree to pay for it, build it, and maintain it thereafter".

In such a case could B force A to pay for the complete replacement of the wall? I don't know but you could seek legal advice but I don't think you will get far unless you know what the original agreement was.

BIRDCAGE1

I guess at this stage that 'A' should speak with 'B' to find out what the original agreement was when the wall was built and then take it from there.

Victor

BIRDCAGE1 wrote: »

A block wall between two houses (both are mid terraced houses) has fallen down due to the bad weather over the last few days.

This seems unusual and one suspects a dodgy wall / foundations

BIRDCAGE1

Victor wrote: »

This seems unusual and one suspects a dodgy wall / foundations

Yes I agree, but thats a whole different kettle of fish. Apparently another wall was built in between house A and their neighbours on the other side, which also blew down with a strong wind. So I'm guess the previous owners of house 'A' weren't very good builders

D3PO

I go back to my original point. OP you cannot force him to rebuld the wall. If you want a wall there then speak to them and offer to split the cost. If they agree great, if they dont either pay for it yourself or do without.

They have no obligation to provide you with a boundary wall.

FreudianSlippers

3 questions:

1) whose property is the wall on?
2) so the neighbours are parents and children? The children renting house A live next door to their parents in house B?
3) what's the relationship like between owner A and owner B?