Wall Collapsed

gmisk

As per title the top row of rather large bricks collapsed from a wall at the back of my house and fell onto my lawn, from talking to someone near by he stated this was built by the previous person who lived in the house behind my house.
My question is who is responsible for getting rid of these bricks and securing this structure?
I have recently had lawn put down and it now has big dents in it (but tbh happy enough to let this slide).
The same man also stated the woman who lives in this house is a single mother the house is council owned and she is not likely to want to pay for removal of bricks and repair.....
I don't see why I should have to fork out for a skip to get rid of these blocks.

seamus

Depends on where the wall is built. If it's built on your land, your problem. If it's built on their land, their problem. If it's on the boundary, then it's a shared problem.

If it's a council-owned property, then it's the council you should deal with, not the resident.

In-laws had exactly this issue with a dodgy boundary wall that partially fell. Problem is that the wall was on the boundary with two other properties. One neighbour was happy to go halves, the other was a cantankerous aul prick. So now three-quarters of this wall is a beautiful brand new wall and the last quarter is still the old dodgy wall.

listermint

If there was bricks on my lawn id get up and move them, all to often people gripe on about responsibility etc. Put yourself into an early grave worrying about who's fault it is.

I cant believe you'd be happier to live with big dents in your lawn just to be in the right.

Its akin to driving into the side of a car that pulls across you even though you see it coming just to be in the right.

gmisk

listermint wrote: »

If there was bricks on my lawn id get up and move them, all to often people gripe on about responsibility etc. Put yourself into an early grave worrying about who's fault it is.

I cant believe you'd be happier to live with big dents in your lawn just to be in the right.

Its akin to driving into the side of a car that pulls across you even though you see it coming just to be in the right.

I have already moved them and piled them at back of my house... I don't get your point RE dents in my lawn...I have already said im happy to let that damage slide.

I just don't see why I should have to pay for a skip for a load of bricks that aren't mine.

To be clear this wall is on their side not mine, I had a small metal divider at end of garden and it is on their side of that.

Lead

Can you not throw them over? Is that a silly thing to do?

Riskymove

gmisk wrote: »

I just don't see why I should have to pay for a skip for a load of bricks that aren't mine.

contact the Council if they own the House

exaisle

gmisk wrote: »

I have already moved them and piled them at back of my house... I don't get your point RE dents in my lawn...I have already said im happy to let that damage slide.

I just don't see why I should have to pay for a skip for a load of bricks that aren't mine.

To be clear this wall is on their side not mine, I had a small metal divider at end of garden and it is on their side of that.

Go and ask them neighbour to remove them....what's the problem here?? Why havent you done this already? It was their wall so it's their problem to get rid of the bricks.

gmisk

Lead wrote: »

Can you not throw them over? Is that a silly thing to do?

Er they are massive bricks it took two people to lift them.

Onto Dublin City Council at the minute.

I tried to talk to person I knocked but no answer, the neighbour said a single mother lives there and will likely not do anything about it.

Update: house not owned by Dublin City Council....so will just have to knock in again this evening.

Mrs OBumble

Forget about the blocks for a minute- what about the stability of the rest of the wall. Could it fall down and injury someone who was in the way? This is what I'd be worrying about first.

After that, think about the blocks (they clearly ain't just bricks if they're a two-person life). Surely there is someone in your community who could make use of them??? A Freecycle group?

ohnonotgmail

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Forget about the blocks for a minute- what about the stability of the rest of the wall. Could it fall down and injury someone who was in the way? This is what I'd be worrying about first.

After that, think about the blocks (they clearly ain't just bricks if they're a two-person life). Surely there is someone in your community who could make use of them??? A Freecycle group?

if they're a two-person lift they're not regular blocks either. they must be huge.

ohnonotgmail

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

if they're a two-person lift they're not regular blocks either. they must be huge.

Capping blocks?

pilly

gmisk wrote: »

Er they are massive bricks it took two people to lift them.

Onto Dublin City Council at the minute.

I tried to talk to person I knocked but no answer, the neighbour said a single mother lives there and will likely not do anything about it.

Update: house not owned by Dublin City Council....so will just have to knock in again this evening.

Twice now you've mentioned that she's a single mother. What's that got to do with anything. Your neighbour who told you that is busybody gossip.

You don't know for one minute what this lady is like until you speak to her.

Talk about assumptions.

gmisk

pilly wrote: »

Twice now you've mentioned that she's a single mother. What's that got to do with anything. Your neighbour who told you that is busybody gossip.

You don't know for one minute what this lady is like until you speak to her.

Talk about assumptions.

I am just repeating what the neighbour said, chill out.
Of course I don't have clue what she is like until I meet her, but as I said before I haven't been able to get a hold of her yet and I know pretty much no one here as I havent been here that long.
Hopefully someone will be in tonight when I call in.

They are big concrete blocks not normal sized.

pilly

gmisk wrote: »

I am just repeating what the neighbour said, chill out.
Of course I don't have clue what she is like until I meet her, but as I said before I haven't been able to get a hold of her yet and I know pretty much no one here as I havent been here that long.
Hopefully someone will be in tonight when I call in.

They are big concrete blocks not normal sized.

Look, you don't know anything about her situation. Just approach it in the right way, not with an attitude.

If she has bought the house she's obviously going to be a reasonable person to deal with, it's not completely her fault either as you said the previous person built the wall.

If she's renting then it's down to whomever her LL is. Simple.

I just don't get why people would assume someone wouldn't be inclined to do anything about a situation. I also don't get the need to label her a single mother but that's another conversation I suppose.

Claw Hammer

There seems to be a failure to maintain a party structure. A letter should be sent to the owner. The owner should be asked to collect the blocks or capping (definitely not bricks).

davo10

Op, you said you put up a metal divider, but is the wall the boundary wall seperating the two properties? If it is then it doesn't matter what you put up on your side of it, the wall is a shared boundary so it has to be jointly maintained.

The planning office and your solicitor will have a site map for your property, this will outline where the boundary is, it would be very unusual for someone to build a wall inside a boundary as it would effectively be giving your neighbor part of your land, permanent structures/walls are built to seperate properties along boundary lines.

gmisk

davo10 wrote: »

Op, you said you put up a metal divider, but is the wall the boundary wall seperating the two properties? If it is then it doesn't matter what you put up on your side of it, the wall is a shared boundary so it has to be jointly maintained.

The planning office and your solicitor will have a site map for your property, this will outline where the boundary is, it would be very unusual for someone to build a wall inside a boundary as it would effectively be giving your neighbor part of your land, permanent structures/walls are built to seperate properties along boundary lines.

I didn't put up a metal divider there was an original metal divider at the back of garden when I cleared out garden, the wall is on their side of that.

listermint

gmisk wrote: »

I didn't put up a metal divider there was an original metal divider at the back of garden when I cleared out garden, the wall is on their side of that.

So you don't have a clue who's wall it is and are making them wholly responsible for it when the wall could be simply both your issue.

Metal devider means nothing in the context of boundaries.

davo10

gmisk wrote: »

I didn't put up a metal divider there was an original metal divider at the back of garden when I cleared out garden, the wall is on their side of that.

It doesn't matter where the metal divider is, that's a movable structure, the concrete wall was most likely built to divide the properties at the time of construction.

If there is a wall between my house and the one next door, I can put up a metal fence wherever I want inside that, it doesn't change the fact that the wall is the boundary divider. Get out your site map and measure it off before you start making demands.

And make sure you read/measure the map accurately, look at the scale in the corner of the map, a millimetre on the map can be a foot on your site.

the_syco

gmisk wrote: »

As per title the top row of rather large bricks collapsed from a wall at the back of my house and fell onto my lawn, from talking to someone near by he stated this was built by the previous person who lived in the house behind my house.

gmisk wrote: »

I didn't put up a metal divider there was an original metal divider at the back of garden when I cleared out garden, the wall is on their side of that.

As said, you'll need to look at the property map to see if the wall jointly owned or not. Is it possible the metal divider was put to reinforce the wall?

James 007

Is it possible the metal divider is on the original boundary line and the previous owner threw up the wall to seek privacy. Hard to tell. Check the maps.

Free-2-Flow

Put them in the Free section on Adverts, they will be gone in an hour

gmisk

The small metal fence would be the original divider and boundary between the houses back gardens (some other houses still have them I still have then on lhs and rhs of garden) ...so the wall isnt on my side and was built by those previous back neighbours.

davo10

gmisk wrote: »

The small metal fence would be the original divider and boundary between the houses back gardens (some other houses still have them I still have then on lhs and rhs of garden) ...so the wall isnt is on my side and was built by those back neighbours.

I think what most of us want to know is, how certain are you that the wall is not a boundary wall? You can guess, but the only way you can be certain is if you check your site boundary map, everything else is just you speculating. You need to be certain of this before you make demands, if your neighbour arranges to have it fixed and then they confirm it is a boundary wall, you could be in for a shock when you get a bill for half.

Go get the map.

gmisk

To update - called over to neighbour I was very polite as I realise work was done by the previous owner, but she was very teary and upset in general and said she is broke, so I said I would get rid of the blocks this time, and get someone into fix lawn, but if any more issues she agreed she would have to get it fixed/knocked down - thread can be closed, a big thanks for all the helpful feedback.....and.....zero thanks for the unhelpful responses.

davo10

So you offered to remove blocks from an unstable wall that there is a good chance you are partly responsible for (but no doubt left that bit out when talking to your visibly upset neighbour) and you are giving yourself a pat on the back. Something tells me you will never check your site map to see if it is a boundary wall and you are happy to let this poor lady worry about it.

Give yourself a high 5, you da man.

listermint

gmisk wrote: »

To update - called over to neighbour I was very polite as I realise work was done by the previous owner, but she was very teary and upset in general and said she is broke, so I said I would get rid of the blocks this time, and get someone into fix lawn, but if any more issues she agreed she would have to get it fixed/knocked down - thread can be closed, a big thanks for all the helpful feedback.....and.....zero thanks for the unhelpful responses.

Knock Knock,

Hey im here to talk about the wall at the back of your house that i have no clue if i own or you own but im laying the blame at your feet for repairs. Like i dont mean to come across all serious and stuff and make you cry but i will. Sure i dont care if i own it or you own i just want to make someone responsible that isnt me.
:rolleyes:

fishy_fishy

davo10 wrote: »

So you offered to remove blocks from an unstable wall that there is a good chance you are partly responsible for (but no doubt left that bit out when talking to your visibly upset neighbour) and you are giving yourself a pat on the back. Something tells me you will never check your site map to see if it is a boundary wall and you are happy to let this poor lady worry about it.

Give yourself a high 5, you da man.

Probably not responsible for. The metal fence is likely the original boundary. Very common. And other neighbours who'd been there longer confirmed the wall was built by the previous owner of the other house, not of the OP's house.

SteM

fishy_fishy wrote: »

Probably not responsible for. The metal fence is likely the original boundary. Very common. And other neighbours who'd been there longer confirmed the wall was built by the previous owner of the other house, not of the OP's house.

It could have been built by the previous owner of the other house with money supplied by both owners and agreement between them that they would both be responsible for the maintenance?

How would the neighbour in question know what agreement was made?

gmisk

fishy_fishy wrote: »

Probably not responsible for. The metal fence is likely the original boundary. Very common. And other neighbours who'd been there longer confirmed the wall was built by the previous owner of the other house, not of the OP's house.

Thank you.

Before calling I talked to solicitor and the wall 100% isn't on my side.
I was extremely polite with the lady in question, she started crying about getting divorced and being stoney broke.
I have put blocks online for free, but no takers so will likely get a skip when I have the money.

Some of the people in this thread are truly bloody horrible.

If a MOD can shut this thread down please.

Yawns

fishy_fishy wrote: »

Probably not responsible for. The metal fence is likely the original boundary. Very common. And other neighbours who'd been there longer confirmed the wall was built by the previous owner of the other house, not of the OP's house.

Other neighbours also said it was a council owned house. I wouldn't be putting much stock on what they say after the OP found out it wasn't a council house.