Neighbor's landscaping encroaching on, and knocking down, my retaining wall

[sjmelus]

I'm in Colorado.

My property is on a slope. The neighbor to the south is uphill, the neighbor to the north is downhill.

The fence in my back yard, between my property and the uphill neighbor, is a 4 foot chain link fence built on top of a 2 foot concrete block retaining wall. The wall and the fence were there when we bought the property 3 years ago.

The uphill neighbor is an absentee landlord and we've only spoken a few times.

The problem is that he has a lilac bush and a large tree planted right up against the fence. Both have apparently been growing unchecked for many years. Both the tree's roots and the lilac bush's roots had caused the retaining wall to lean slightly when we bought our property.

In the few years we've been here, the bush has continued to grow and now has caused the bricks in the wall to separate and has broken the mortar between them. The bricks are loosened and at a serious angle now. The fence on top, of course, is leaning considerabley more than before. The tree roots have also pushed the retaining wall, but not as severely as the bush.s roots.

My two biggest concerns are:

1. I am afraid the wall will fall any time, which could cause injury to my child or my two dogs.
2. The broken retaining wall is unsightly.

My wife spoke to the owner a few months ago when he was there to help new tenants move in. She specifically called to his attention the fact that his bush and tree are causing the damage. He casually mentioned that he'd be willing to discuss splitting the cost.

What are my options? I know that it's common for neighbors to split costs of boundaries like new fences, etc., but this is so clearly being caused by his landscaping, and I cannot afford even a few hundred dollars right now.

 

[HuAi]

Your neighbor is a landlord. He's ultimately going to look at his investment property as a business proposition. He doesn't want to spend any more money than absolutely necessary to maintain the place. It may be cheaper to take him up on the offer of splitting the bill (and since he's not there, you'd have to do the legwork to call up a landscaper etc with neighbor's written permission). The other option is to remove the wall, trim teh roots, then replace the wall and bill the neighbor. This will be more expensive as you'll have to pay for the work up front and entirely from your side and probably antagonize him as well.

 

[justalayman]

If it does appear to be a danger, call the local gov office and ask who you would contact to make the complaint to.

I would argue against paying any of the costs simply due to the fact it was his vegetation that cause the damage and as such, he should be liable for the full costs of repair.