Responsible for new retaining wall.

bob skunkhouse

Hi,

Neighbours house is about 5 feet below mine and I've started to notice the embankment is falling away into his property. The owner mentioned that he'd planned to build a retaining wall during house construction but never got around to it, so there's only an embankment separating the two properties. If he decides now to build a wall, who foots the bill - him, as his house is lower than mine, me, as its my garden falling into his, or joint cost?

Thanks,
Bob

jimmycrackcorm

Who is responsible for your garden falling into his? I.e. Was the embankment the result of digging out or leveling of the ground for construction of his house.

Cookie_Monster

how close is the house to the boundary, it may be that a wall should have been required by him as part of planning?
otherwise (in my experience of building in NZ) there's an unspoken rule that you're responsible for the wall "above" you. It's lack of protection on his boundary causing your land to erode after all.

you can't build a retaining wall on your property without digging out a huge amount and using his section for access I would think which is way the above rule tends to apply over here.

bob skunkhouse

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Who is responsible for your garden falling into his? I.e. Was the embankment the result of digging out or leveling of the ground for construction of his house.

Nobody is really responsible per se. It's naturally falling away due to the elements. Yes, his ridge height was too high as per the planning regulations so rather than reduce the house height, they dug down into the ground.

Their house is about 5/6 metres away but there's a shed that at it's closest is 1.5 metres away. Structurally it's not an issue as it's holding relatively firm (especially considering the amount of rain over the past 12 months), it would me more from an aesthetic point of view in that he's bits of earth from the embankment laying about...know what I mean like....it's untidy looking

Cheers..

slimjimmc

Is a retaining wall included in his planning permission either in the application or conditions ?

It sounds like he built the slope on the embankment too steeply for the location and if that's the case then I would have thought that he is responsible for ensuring that his excavations don't cause damage to another property. On the other hand if you later done anything which interfered with the normal drainage of your own site and caused an excessive amount of runoff to be directed towards the embankment is it possible you may have inadvertently contributed to the problem.

nuac

Check your neighbour's planning permission.

His excavation may have been in breach of his pp.

It would be a matter for an engineer to advise if a retaining wall is necessary to avoid subsidence of your site.

If it is necessary your neighbour should pay for it as he caused the problem

Victor

If a party reduces the level of the ground and adjacent ground is collapsing, then that party has a duty to make sure this doesn't affect a neighbour. This might be through lack of support, changes in ground water levels, vibration or other matters - not all of which are visible or obvious. On the face of it, it is the person doing the development (having the ground excavated) that should foot the bill

Realise that if this gets out of hand, your house could be undermined, subjected to subsidence and become uninhabitable / unsaleable / uninsurable.

First step would be to get and engineer to do a report. In talking to them, ask them for prices for:

1. Doing an initial report
2. Negotiations with neighbour / supervision to ensure that the neighbour / the neighbour's engineer does things satisfactorily.
3. Design and construction of a retaining wall along the boundary.

If, at any point, you feel that things aren't being addressed / done properly, do speak to a solicitor who is familiar with such issues.*

Getting a legally-binding boundary agreement might be important.

---

* Not all solicitors know what they are doing. A client's solicitor one entered an agreement with their client's neighbour's solicitor to build a retaining wall due to a malfunctioning septic tank - and trespassing sewage! What was needed was a functioning septic tank, not a retaining wall. An engineer even accepted a commission to design the wall and the engineer hired the engineer's father to build it - at which point we were called in.

As I said, some people don't know what they are doing.

nuac

Victor wrote: »

If a party reduces the level of the ground and adjacent ground is collapsing, then that party has a duty to make sure this doesn't affect a neighbour. This might be through lack of support, changes in ground water levels, vibration or other matters - not all of which are visible or obvious. On the face of it, it is the person doing the development (having the ground excavated) that should foot the bill

Realise that if this gets out of hand, your house could be undermined, subjected to subsidence and become uninhabitable / unsaleable / uninsurable.

First step would be to get and engineer to do a report. In talking to them, ask them for prices for:

1. Doing an initial report
2. Negotiations with neighbour / supervision to ensure that the neighbour / the neighbour's engineer does things satisfactorily.
3. Design and construction of a retaining wall along the boundary.

If, at any point, you feel that things aren't being addressed / done properly, do speak to a solicitor who is familiar with such issues.*

Getting a legally-binding boundary agreement might be important.

---

* Not all solicitors know what they are doing. A client's solicitor one entered an agreement with their client's neighbour's solicitor to build a retaining wall due to a malfunctioning septic tank - and trespassing sewage! What was needed was a functioning septic tank, not a retaining wall. An engineer even accepted a commission to design the wall and the engineer hired the engineer's father to build it - at which point we were called in.

As I said, some people don't know what they are doing.

Few solicitors would advise re septic tanks and/or retaining wall. For obvious reasons advise clients to consult the appropriate professionals - usually an engineer