Boundary wall crumbling issue

JmanZ

Hi not sure if this is the correct place for this.

I'm a new owner of an old house, have been in the house less than a year. Just discovered an issue with the boundary wall.

Had to rescue a kitten that fell from the heighth.

The wall is crumbling per photo, and if nothing is done to remedy it, a chunk of my garden is going to fall into the neighbours.

The neighbours is an empty property, been empty for a long time. Work on an extension was done back in 2014 but never completed.

I do not know the neighbour but have learned his name from checking planning records.

Have reached out to him via phone call, but no response as yet.

My property is beyond the wooden fence in the photo.

Fence was installed by previous owner of my house.

Maybe they actually created the problem when driving the wooden posts into place.

Since it's a boundary i believe it's a shared responsibilty, from a legal point of view.

Can only access this crumbling bit from standing in the neighbouring property.

In fairness he has scaffolding and concrete blocks a plenty really close by.

Ideally we could both hatch a plan of action and share the costs.

But i'd be afraid of touching this without some advice.

UrbanFox

Not legal advice - just a view on the general principles.

You have described the structure as a boundary wall.

Q1. Is it actually a boundary wall ?

Q2. If so, whose boundary wall is it ?

Q3. Is it a party wall ?

Opinions ;

a) If this is your boundary wall it is your responsibility.

b) If this is your neighbour's boundary wall it is their responsibility.

c) If this is a party wall you are probably both liable for it's repair.

A slight caveat if I may. The concept of a party wall is not always as simplistic as saying that each is a half owner or that both are joint owners of the wall.

How do you find out which species of wall it is ?

Title deeds might contain relevant information.

Although rare enough there might be a party wall agreement in existence which confirms it to be such. Such an agreement could have been formed by previous owners but constructed so as to bind successors in title. It might be in the deeds

 

 

UrbanFox

P.S. If you have no legal obligation but take action in relation to the wall you may find yourself incurring a liability that would otherwise not exist. Careful now......  

seagull

You say a chunk of your garden will fall if the wall goes. Is that just a boundary wall, or is it also a retaining wall?