What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York
I’m having problems with a new side neighbor that recently fenced his yard. Our properties were once owned by relatives. The neighbor’s land is elevated toward the back of the yard and a retainage wall was constructed on my land where his vegetable garden is located. The wall is about 12 feet long, 17 inches tall. It sticks out about 2 feet wide on my side. Where the wall ends there was just a little hill held up by tree roots and overgrown vegetation (the properties were unkept when we bought them). This runs about 30 feet long to the end of our properties.
When he fenced, he removed an entire block of the retaining wall rather than slicing through it on the property line. I’m missing a 12 inch section of the 2 foot wide wall, 12 inches high (he left a 5 inch high block in the ground). He removed the soil in that section (so it wouldn’t touch his wood fence) until he had to put in another fence post. At that point he raised the fence up a foot to follow the height of the property to the end to the yard so he’s created 2 levels of land in my wall section.
I couldn’t match the blocks he removed. I had someone help me remove the whole wall except the first bottom cinder-block layer. I was in the process of rebuilding the rest of it with matching blocks that I could lift. Some of the soil I had pushed up against his fence so I could place my blocks down. The soil wasn’t any higher than where it needs to be to fill the wall back in. The neighbor called the police on me because the soil is touching his fence and threatening me that I need to get an attorney. The wall is only about 10 inches right now because I haven’t finished. I know it wasn’t filled to the original 17 inches but it’s hard to determine because he removed so much of the sand and it wasn’t level terrain to begin with. What are my legal rights? Can I remove it now since it was damaged and he’s complaining about me restoring it? I took photos and filed a police report (he also damaged my driveway, a concrete slab, my tree, and a concrete planter in the same way he damaged the retaining wall).
A second problem I’m having is on the hill after the retaining wall. The neighbor removed trees (I gave permission for this last year when we were speaking) but he didn’t finish taking out the stumps and refilling the holes as agreed upon. I have a police report where he admitted he hadn’t finished work we had agreed on). It’s left a mess down the line of my property and I’m concerned about termites near my wood garage). Can I remove the stumps on the hill and do I have to refill the holes? He doesn’t understand the tree roots were the only thing keeping the hill together so it’s going to be another battle with him when the land starts to slide.
Thank you for any advice you might have.
I’m having problems with a new side neighbor that recently fenced his yard. Our properties were once owned by relatives. The neighbor’s land is elevated toward the back of the yard and a retainage wall was constructed on my land where his vegetable garden is located. The wall is about 12 feet long, 17 inches tall. It sticks out about 2 feet wide on my side. Where the wall ends there was just a little hill held up by tree roots and overgrown vegetation (the properties were unkept when we bought them). This runs about 30 feet long to the end of our properties.
When he fenced, he removed an entire block of the retaining wall rather than slicing through it on the property line. I’m missing a 12 inch section of the 2 foot wide wall, 12 inches high (he left a 5 inch high block in the ground). He removed the soil in that section (so it wouldn’t touch his wood fence) until he had to put in another fence post. At that point he raised the fence up a foot to follow the height of the property to the end to the yard so he’s created 2 levels of land in my wall section.
I couldn’t match the blocks he removed. I had someone help me remove the whole wall except the first bottom cinder-block layer. I was in the process of rebuilding the rest of it with matching blocks that I could lift. Some of the soil I had pushed up against his fence so I could place my blocks down. The soil wasn’t any higher than where it needs to be to fill the wall back in. The neighbor called the police on me because the soil is touching his fence and threatening me that I need to get an attorney. The wall is only about 10 inches right now because I haven’t finished. I know it wasn’t filled to the original 17 inches but it’s hard to determine because he removed so much of the sand and it wasn’t level terrain to begin with. What are my legal rights? Can I remove it now since it was damaged and he’s complaining about me restoring it? I took photos and filed a police report (he also damaged my driveway, a concrete slab, my tree, and a concrete planter in the same way he damaged the retaining wall).
A second problem I’m having is on the hill after the retaining wall. The neighbor removed trees (I gave permission for this last year when we were speaking) but he didn’t finish taking out the stumps and refilling the holes as agreed upon. I have a police report where he admitted he hadn’t finished work we had agreed on). It’s left a mess down the line of my property and I’m concerned about termites near my wood garage). Can I remove the stumps on the hill and do I have to refill the holes? He doesn’t understand the tree roots were the only thing keeping the hill together so it’s going to be another battle with him when the land starts to slide.
Thank you for any advice you might have.