back yard boundaries

[bronxbackyard]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? new york

I own a home in bronx, new york.
My rear yard consist of a patio close to the house, the rest of the yard consist of grass and plantings. on my property (in my back yard) adjacent to my house is a small retaining wall (6" high) filled with soil and planted with many shrubs and flowering plants (from hereon out referred to as: rear planted garden area). The area is approx 20' across x 3' x 6" deep).
My house was built in over 60 years ago and I have owned it for about 50 years.
The property abutting my property was vacant, about 15 years ago an investor purchased the property and erected a two story building (no basement). When this investor erected the building he removed the fence which divided our properties and erected his structure right up against the property line. About 3 years afterwards, I erected teh rear planted garden (since i was not staring at a cinderblock wall). Everything was fine for years. This past year the building owner contacted me as said that my rear planted area is causing him to get water into his building (on the first floor). He said that legally, my dirt can not touch his building. Is this true?

Also, he has left no space surrounding his building to make repairs to the exterior of the building, when he needs to make repairs he comes onto my property to reach his structure (there is no easement), can I deny him access?

Thank you for your information and advice.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[justalayman]

you cannot do anything that causes damage to his property. If the planter causes him damage, you are liable for it.


as to him accessing his building; check on local ordinances. Typically he would be trespassing and you could prevent his entry but some municipalities, especially cities with 0 set back lot lines, have enacted ordinances that allow a person to demand access to their building for maintenance reasons.

 

[FarmerJ]

Since he chose to build right up to the property line , I gotta ask this first , is your lot just a tiny bit higher than his ? reason being is that if your property is even as little as a inch higher than his and it rains hard are you really responsible for rain water that flows to a lower elevation ? ( I dont think so , had the same fight with a former nieghbor when I live in MPLS , home was under a foot from the lot line and LOWER than mine so when spring melt came all the run off or even after super heavy rain came it flowed into her yard and not because of changes I made to mine, her basement flooded ( city ords backed me up, I had not made changes to my property that forced water to hers) with I would suggest is first learn what your city /county ords are addressing changes to landscaping that could cause water to flow to anothers property , If you havent done any thing but since you live in a area that allows zero set back developement a better question to ask of a real estate attorney in your area is this ` if a land owner builds right up to the property line instead of setting back just a few inches to take steps like say install a french drain or something to drain away water from the structure . What are the odds they could win a suit claiming your responsible for damage if you have not made huge changes in grading my property that would force drainage to his land but only put in a planter and they made no provision to address draining away water from the structure they built. The atty can advise you and if needed draft for you a letter to the nbr.

 

[justalayman]

farmer, they added the planter after the neighbor built the building. I presume the planter is holding water against the neighbors building and it is soaking into and through the building.

 

[FarmerJ]

Zoning can actually take a look at what was done with planter and if they feel that the change was not enough to have caused a problem then next step is to seek the services of a atty , if the other lot is just a bit lower too or then the advice of a atty is best, I went through this with nieghbor EVEN after I had a blacktop parking pad installed that was graded to meet the city requirement that It could not force drainage onto a nbrs lot. Nieghbor still threatened to sue me , which would have been pointless because the blacktop was graded to drain to the alley and her property was still lower than mine. So her choice was to install a french drain pipe system into her yard on weekends and evenings and force drainage to go toward the next lot to her west which was lower than hers. So all im saying is even with the planter added its still worth the time even after the fact for OP to get more information , the OP will learn either they must remove planter or what steps they can take to improve drainage on own property if the planter is causing a problem or the last if zoning has looked at it and determines it is not a problem then seeing a atty to make sure nothing was missed.

 

[154NH773]

I think we need a little clarification. It sounds like the OP built a retaining wall several feet out from the neighbor's wall and then filled it with dirt right up against the neighbor's wall. In that case, Farmer, your scenario probably wouldn't apply.

So... my question is: Did you build a retaining wall that allows dirt to be held directly against the neighbor's wall?

 

[drewguy]

The claim seems a little odd--your soil can't touch his building? Well it does for the full length of the foundation underground. That's his problem to be sure.

Why not dig out the dirt right next to his wall and put in some cement blocks that come up to the current grade (6")? You can't see them much at all and then your "soil" isn't touching his wall.

But the idea that water from your 6" elevated bed is causing his moisture problems is pretty ludicrous. If you have a raised bed the water is probably rolling off of it away from his house. If you're feeling kind, invite him to come onto your property to install some waterproofing, so long as it is on his property.