Retaining wall issues ongoing

[Conor78]

Hi I was looking advice about a retaining wall. I bought my house from a builder in 2011 and there is a 13 foot and 60 foot long retaining wall that separates my house and my neighbours. 

The wall is leaning and an engineers report confirms this. Remedial work is not possible and rebuild will be in the 40k park. Is planning permission compulsory on a structure this size and if it was not built with planning permission is there anything I can do?? 

Thanks 

conor 

[Jeremy Harris]

Presumably the existing retaining wall had planning consent, so there should be no requirement for another planning application to replace it on a like-for-like basis.  As the failing wall was built less than 10 years ago it should be covered by whatever warranty the house came with.  These warranties (NHBC etc) aren't really worth the paper they are written on, though.

 

The original wall should have been included on the planning consent for the house itself.  This would be normal, and you could check this by looking at the planning application for your house on your local authority website.

[nod]

23 minutes ago, Conor78 said:

Hi I was looking advice about a retaining wall. I bought my house from a builder in 2011 and there is a 13 foot and 60 foot long retaining wall that separates my house and my neighbours. 

The wall is leaning and an engineers report confirms this. Remedial work is not possible and rebuild will be in the 40k park. Is planning permission compulsory on a structure this size and if it was not built with planning permission is there anything I can do?? 

Thanks 

conor 

Sorry I read your post differently 

Tell me if I’m wrong 

Are you looking for redress against the original homeowner ie builder 

If so and he built this retaining wall 

without planning consent You would have  a case for him to put it right 

[Temp]

The planners only have 4 years to initiate enforcement action (10 years if a change of use is/was required). So  if it wasn't built with planning permission its now too late for the planners to do anything about it. If you wanted to regularise the situation officially you could apply for a certificate of lawfulness on the grounds that its too late for enforcement action and it should be granted no problem. Consider doing this before knocking it down.

 

If the house has a structural warranty I would crack on and make a claim.

[Temp]

23 hours ago, nod said:

Are you looking for redress against the original homeowner ie builder 

If so and he built this retaining wall 

without planning consent You would have  a case for him to put it right 

 

I don't think building it without planning permission means he has to pay to fix it. 

 

At best you might be able to claim damages for the cost of getting planning permission but that's just a few hundred £.

 

Your best bet is to claim against any structural warranty he provided. NHBC policies require the builder to fix it in first instance and cover you if he goes bust.