Neighbours wall falling down and he just covered it with a fence

Eirexox

Heya, so my neighbour is redoing their whole garden. The wall separating our houses belongs to them. On their side they had raised flowerbeds against the wall itself. There was builders in with a mini digger digging the land and pulling away the flowerbeds. In this process the digger has pushed blocks out of the wall into our side. Photos included. The wall is now extremely unstable and dangerous. Talking to our neighbour the other night he said the builders told him it needs to be replaced as it’s unstable etc and he agreed. However I had a lie in this morning , I get up go look out the window and to my shock the wall is still there, but they have now attached a fence on their side , thus hiding the wall from their view and leaving the dangerous falling down wall there at our side. Have I a leg to stand on can I tell him he needs to get the wall sorted? Thanks so much I’m advance.

We are also redoing our garden so please ignore the state of it lol

Also apologies I can’t turn the photos

Madd002

It was probably cheaper than building a new wall. Looking closer he already had another fence up can see from blocks missing in close up pictures. You'll have to speak to him again about when he is going to remove the wall as its structurally unsafe.

taylor3

WTF that's bad form imo. Fair enough the wall is actually theres but it also acts as a boundary between you two and as a courtesy this should not have been left like that, especially saying nothing and you wake up to this shambles, it's very negligent on their behalf. I'd at least knock in and invite them into your back garden to fully assess the mess and ask them to clarify have they intentions to remedy this. As it stands (pardon the pun) this is very dangerous and poses a great risk, especially when windy stormy nights come in.

Overheal

I would press him on the need for it to be removed or that section repaired/replaced ASAP, but would take your own reasonable precautions on your side for now, keep the kids away from pulling blocks out etc or playing near it and such. IANAL but I'd say there must be something on the books about needing to keep your walls on your land up to code.

muffler

It could be argued that block was removed on the OP's side. I cant see how a block could be dislodged but the timber post behind it is still intact. If that was knocked from the neighbours side then the post would have snapped.

Citizen Six

Work out getting a new wall done and split the cost.

magicbastarder

am curious on what basis a wall dividing two properties belongs to only one owner; is it built fully within the land they own, or actually on the boundary?

or in another way, are you leaving the maintenance of the boundary wall/fence entirely up to your neighbour to worry about?

Eirexox

Luckily I have security camera footage that shows the blocks being dislodges from their side by the digger. I would post if possible but obviously multiple people are visible and can’t post them online. I mean the neighbour and the builders acknowledged it themselves im Just gobsmacked that they went and just put them fence over it like that.

Eirexox

Thanks for your reply, the wall is on their land and built by the previous owner. We had a fence about 4 inches in-front of it up until recently as we took it down to redo our garden.

10-10-20

Is there a height difference between the soil heights two properties? Can't tell properly from the photos, but I think I can see that his is higher?

CramCycle

The cheapest and obvious thing thing that will actually look OK for you is to approach the builder, say you can see he knocked the wall, accidentally, and its is caught on your rear cameras and its not safe. Since the fence is up, you would be happy if they just took the blocks out and disposed of them.

GSBellew

Remove what is left of the wall, put up your fence, claim an extra few inches of garden for the price of a fence you were going to have to put up anyway, the cost of the few inches is disposing of the blocks, the peace of not having a dispute with the neighbour is priceless.

hesker

OP can’t touch the wall as it doesn’t belong to him and isn’t on his property.

Wall can’t be removed anyway probably because the fencing is anchored to it.

OP don’t approach the builder as he doesn’t work for you.

Talk to your neighbour and simply ask him what he intends to do.

Havenowt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120905926#Comment_120905926

I'd say that is what the neighbor is hoping for..

magicbastarder

you could suggest to your neighbour that you hire a skip and split the cost. from a quick look, there's 18 x 18" blocks per course, say four courses. that's ~1 cubic metre if stacked efficiently. would comfortably fit in a mini skip (typically 1.5 cu m+) which would cost probably €150 or so.

one of the main purposes of suggesting this is that you're saying to him the wall is fit for nothing except to be chucked in a skip.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120906910#Comment_120906910

Fairest compromise to be honest. Neighbour inherited that wall when they moved in.

Naos

Even with the overhang, is it still within your neighbours property?

If so.. curious from a legal perspective why he would have to fix it if he doesn't want to.

magicbastarder

from a legal perspective, would the wall not be considered the boundary by now? is the wall not essentially an admission that that's where the two properties meet?

from a legal perspective, i don't know how you could build a wall say 4 inches on your own side of the boundary and continue to claim possession of those four inches.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907618#Comment_120907618

It looks like it poses a serious danger.

Eirexox

Nope no height differences between our houses the ground is level.

Eirexox

We had the fence up originally to hide the wall as it is an eyesore. It’s a danger the wall isn’t properly supported nor does it have propper foundations. It’s literally bellying and leaning.

Eirexox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907174#Comment_120907174

I agree I would have no problem going halves on a new wall or fence or whatever. He did not give that option nor approach us before going ahead with what he has done.

Eirexox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907166#Comment_120907166

I mean it’s not fit for anything it’s literally falling down. I have no problem going halves to sort it out but he never approached us or consulted with us before going ahead with his fence.

Eirexox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120906158#Comment_120906158

That is true indefinitely do not want to have tension or anything. The fact that he’s been super friendly and we have cut their grass etc while they were on holiday, helped with plumbing issues etc etc and he didn’t have the common courtesy to approach us regarding his plan, after telling us he was taking down the wall and building a new one.

10-10-20

I'd presume that within the law you're entitled to some type of safety within your own property, but how this effectively works when the danger is a neighbouring property is unknown to me, but I did find this article which has a section called "boundary buildings and repair"

https://mcmahonsolicitors.ie/boundaries-ii/

As the wall is clearly leaning into your property and can only fall one way, I'd be thinking that you need to formalise the communication to the neighbour by stating the concern in a letter. I'd provide a timeframe to have the safety issue resolved and if they don't respond within that time, contact a solicitor to communicate it in a legalese way and proceed with the above. I'd be stating that you request a replacement wall in line with the existing building regulations, and you could state that you wish the replacement wall to be on the party line (therefore giving him back 4 inches of unusable garden 😉 ).

Eirexox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907865#Comment_120907865

Thanks a million for that. They are building a wall out the front of their property also (they not have a hedge there now) and will want to join onto our wall pillar so my hubby is saying she’s going to tell him he can’t join onto our pillar until the back wall is at least made stable lol

Op.

Call into your neighbour and ask him what exactly does he intend on doing with his wall that is collapsing into your garden.

bring any of the blocks that are currently in your garden and hand them directly into his hands or leave them in his porch.

Every week that passes then call in again asking for an update.

Don't be stupid enough to pay for someone else's wall.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908324#Comment_120908324

Surely you don’t think the neighbour should pay to build a wall for the Op?

10-10-20

If as per the information provided that if the neighbour wants to maintain the wall fully on their property and not a party wall, then yes, the neighbour should pay for it fully.

(added missing "if")

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120910709#Comment_120910709

The neighbour doesn’t have to build a wall though. Make it safe sure, but not build a new wall.

Op is redoing their garden. Surely the best option is approach neighbour and offer to split the cost.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907732#Comment_120907732

Perhaps he's just going with the cheap/lazy option for now. Looks like he didn't even bother removing the old fence panels before putting the new ones up.

You say he didn't present an option of going halves on the wall, but did you suggest it to him? Maybe he can't afford the full price of a wall, but wouldn't have a problem if the cost was split.