Next door's retaining wall bulging, they wont fix it, court action costs?

[AliG]

I am temporarily locking this thread as it has gone off topic.

[AliG]

Posts that got off topic onto the subject of the neighbours have been deleted, please can we keep to the topic of the wall.

[AliG]

On the actual topic, my view is that generally you cannot make someone fix something of theirs that is in disrepair because you would like it fixed.

 

Building Control may order a fix if they think the retaining wall is unsafe and a danger to the public, but it is not that high, doesn't appear in imminent danger of collapse and it is unlikely that people would be near it, so I very much doubt they would care. If you wait two or three years I doubt the wall will be in any different a state.

 

It is probably best to read this thread in conjunction with this other below thread where @PXR5discusses building a further retaining wall very close to this one. My view is that they should be considered as one and this should not be built without the input of a structural engineer. Indeed I think building a retaining wall over 1m without SE input is a breach if building regs. A tall retaining wall like this would have be considerably more substantial than suggested.

 

If you propose digging down 2m within 500mm of an existing retaining wall you are going to have all kinds of trouble, with a good chance of destabilising the existing wall. If you need to do this to build a house then the cost and responsibility of this will be yours.

 

I am sorry that the neighbours appear to not be very nice people, but they do not have to rebuild their wall to help your project. Indeed it would be pointless of them to rebuild their wall if you then plan to dig right next to it.

 

 

 

 

 

[Temp]

Perhaps you could hammer in sheet piling as used to protect workers in deep holes?

 

Not very pretty but you could clad it with something, even just regular fence panels?

Edited January 27, 2023 by Temp

[ProDave]

5 minutes ago, Temp said:

Perhaps you could hammer in sheet piling as used to protect workers in deep holes?

 

Not very pretty but you could clad it with something, even just regular fence panels?

Much earlier in the thread we suggested King Post retaining wall systems that don't take much space and would just go in front of what is there to stop it leaning any further.  For some reason this was rejected?

[PXR5]

Thanks for the input, the problem is that they refuse to remove the tree & bushes that are pushing the wall out. If they agreed to remove the bushes/ trees I would crack on & rebuild  it all.

The only way to make a sound job of it is to build a new retaining wall well onto my land. The site is not very wide & I just can not do that, I need every inch of it.

 

Re; The King Post System, would it not need the leaning wall correcting first?

[ProDave]

38 minutes ago, PXR5 said:

Re; The King Post System, would it not need the leaning wall correcting first?

No.  The one I posted a picture of earlier was done because the owner of the wall said there was nothing wrong with it.  So if the wall leans a bit more it would come to rest against the king post wall and move no further.

[saveasteading]

In approximate terms, a wall tends to break about 1/3 up from the base. An earth or stone filled (rammed) patio up to that level might hold it.

 

My garden sprayer is not very precise. Be careful not to accidently spray weedkiller onto the offending plants. Be careful several times a year.

 

You are allowed to cut overhanging branches , but not to spray them.

[PXR5]

If i used some heavy equipment to push back the wall & it bulged up their garden, could they make a claim against me for damaging their lawn?

[saveasteading]

44 minutes ago, PXR5 said:

could they make a claim

Yes, for the cost of re-levelling their lawn. Negligible cost, but then add legals.

 

Is it a long way from the house and anything else that could bd damaged?

Any existing damage is likely to bd blamed on you too.

But I wouldn't count on the wall moving at all. There are many tons and friction  resisting any shove.

Don't go there i suggest. 

[Kelvin]

52 minutes ago, PXR5 said:

If i used some heavy equipment to push back the wall & it bulged up their garden, could they make a claim against me for damaging their lawn?

of course they could. It might also collapse and it’ll be your cost to fix it.

[PXR5]

Thanks for that, seems like a rough deal for me, they neglect their wall & Ill be paying to put it right   ;-( ......

[ProDave]

If the wall is leaning it will have been a gradual process and the foundations will be leaning as well.

 

If you push it back upright with brute force, you will likely just break the wall so when you remove the force it might all just fall over.  Then who do you expect will be expected to pay to repair it?

[PXR5]

"If you push it back upright with brute force, you will likely just break the wall so when you remove the force it might all just fall over.  Then who do you expect will be expected to pay to repair it? "

 

I'm just amazed that some one can neglect their wall to the point that it collapse onto a neighbours land, & the owner of the collapsed wall can just sit back & not be forced,  to do some thing about it. Either before or after.

 

No other structures are close to this wall.

Its a dry wall, no mortar between the joints, I've pushed my wall ( at the other side of the plot) at 3 points where it was bulging with a heavy vehicle....The thing is, now its leaning over onto my land at the top, is there no rights  as the land owner that they are effectively crossing the boundary line onto my land, albeit by only inches. 

 

My neighbours have also had a new fence put up at one end, & their fence is over the boundary

 

line onto my land by a few inches, no big deal but its just annoying.

 

 

[saveasteading]

1 hour ago, PXR5 said:

fence is over the boundary

 

line onto my land. 

Land ownership must be deep in our psyche. I had a neighbour remove a line of Leylandi, then plant more on my side. This despite remnants of an old fence showing the line. Fortunately his wife told him to shift them, and then out tiny child decided to watch him til he was finished. 

If you want the fence shifted or removed you must tell them now, or forget and relax. If you have proof of  the boundary (+/_ 1m on some title deeds), then get it recorded.  Or relax.

 

Re the wall, most people don't understand structures, or physics. It might not be sinister. 

[PXR5]

On 10/01/2023 at 09:30, ToughButterCup said:

 

Thats not the main question  - very far from it. The problem is much deeper than that.

 

The key issues here are attitudes to problem solving, and having sufficient  humility and emotional intelligence  to work with other people: difficult people by your own description. 

 

Lets see if I've got this right. 

Two groups of people, who don't get on with one another, are in dispute about a wall. If nobody does anything at all, over time, the wall will collapse. If nothing is done about that, you will lose some benefit from the land.

 

Now, there is a choice between;

 

Do nothing

Argue the matter in the courts

Rebuild the wall yourself

Rebuild the wall with your neighbour

 

The first choice means everyone loses

 

The second choice means everyone loses and everyone pays a lawyer's mortgage for a month or two.

 

Third: you spend some money and time, probably less than a lawyer's fees.

 

In the third choice, you get a grip of your own emotions, and start to build a relationship with your neighbour. Little steps. Over time. And in maybe a year or two, you might just be able to agree to work on the project together. Maybe even share the cost.

 

Who knows, you might even make another friend. It'll be hard. But you'll be proud of yourself. You'll have achieved something rare.

 

A victory in the fight you have with yourself.

For all of us, that fight is the only fight worth having.

I would totally agree with this, but the trouble is these people have shown them selves to be beyond any reason they have a mind set that is not compatible with decent people

[ToughButterCup]

14 hours ago, PXR5 said:

I would totally agree with this, but the trouble is these people have shown them selves to be beyond any reason they have a mind set that is not compatible with decent people

As pointed out by the Mods above,  the discussion should be about the wall, not the behaviour of people involved in the dispute

[AliG]

The moderators decided to lock this thread as it continued to get off topic and personal.