whatisthedeal
Member
I moved into my home 5 years ago. At the time I purchased the property, my neighbor had already erected a concrete wall along the property boundary that separates our backyards. The neighbor who built the wall sold his home approximately 1 year ago to my new (and current) neighbors.
We live near the top of the hill, and my home is located on the side of the hill, while my neighbor's home is located upgradient of mine; my current neighbor's land is approximately 5' higher in elevation. Prior to the wall's construction, a 5' tall natural berm (dirt "wall") was all that separated my yard from my neighbor's yard. There is a great deal of vegetation that has grown on the wall making it difficult to see the surface of the concrete wall, thereby making it difficult to assess the condition of the concrete wall.
Three weeks ago, the concrete wall that was constructed by my former neighbor collapsed during a thunderstorm, and the debris landed in my yard. As it turns out, the wall was constructed without a permit, is not built to code, and is total disaster. During the thunderstorm, and shortly after the wall collapse, my neighbors came to my front door to notify me that a large portion of "their wall" had collapsed into my backyard- I was unaware that the wall had collapsed until they told me. We made plans to assess the damage the following day due to the ongoing thunderstorm.
The following day rolls around and my neighbors were in my backyard at 0900. They helped me bust down the remaining loose concrete blocks from the portion of the wall that collapsed. A very large portion of the wall remains intact and is upright. My neighbors told me that they would contact someone to come look at the wall to determine what their course of action would be (tear-down vs repair) and I have the texts to prove their intentions. After having the wall assessed by an engineer, my neighbors told me the wall is located on my property. The top edge of the 5' tall "dirt wall" that separates our yards is apparently mine. They dont want anything to do with the wall following the inspection and have asked me to find a solution to the problem.
I pulled the survey map of my property boundaries that was issued to me during the purchase of the home. According to the survey map, approximately 1.5" of the width of the wall was laid on my property, while the remaining 8.5" of the width of the wall rests on their property. There was no need to verify that the wall was not on my property prior to its collapse since it is located at the top of the 5' dirt berm, which is ground level for my neighbors- the wall in question is also constructed in a way so that it connects with their front yard fence, and is not connected to any other feature on my property. Now that I am aware that a small portion of the wall rests on my property, I would like for the wall to be reconstructed (to code) or removed off of my property since it is unstable and another collapse would result in severe damage to my home.
I would like to know:
- What are my options for having the wall torn down; the remaining wall is unstable (according to the engineer) and if it were to collapse it would fall on to my home resulting in catastrophic damage to my living and dining rooms.
- Am I financially responsible for the removal of the wall if the wall was built on my property without lawful permission?
- Considering that the vast majority of the depth of the wall is actually located on their property, is it even possible to remove a wall that is not wholly located on my property?
- Do I have legal ground to request my neighbors to remove the wall altogether at their expense?
- Also my neighborhood has bylaws that specify how far away a fence must be constructed from existing property lines (im confirming the distance now). Does this matter since the wall already exists?
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much in advance.
We live near the top of the hill, and my home is located on the side of the hill, while my neighbor's home is located upgradient of mine; my current neighbor's land is approximately 5' higher in elevation. Prior to the wall's construction, a 5' tall natural berm (dirt "wall") was all that separated my yard from my neighbor's yard. There is a great deal of vegetation that has grown on the wall making it difficult to see the surface of the concrete wall, thereby making it difficult to assess the condition of the concrete wall.
Three weeks ago, the concrete wall that was constructed by my former neighbor collapsed during a thunderstorm, and the debris landed in my yard. As it turns out, the wall was constructed without a permit, is not built to code, and is total disaster. During the thunderstorm, and shortly after the wall collapse, my neighbors came to my front door to notify me that a large portion of "their wall" had collapsed into my backyard- I was unaware that the wall had collapsed until they told me. We made plans to assess the damage the following day due to the ongoing thunderstorm.
The following day rolls around and my neighbors were in my backyard at 0900. They helped me bust down the remaining loose concrete blocks from the portion of the wall that collapsed. A very large portion of the wall remains intact and is upright. My neighbors told me that they would contact someone to come look at the wall to determine what their course of action would be (tear-down vs repair) and I have the texts to prove their intentions. After having the wall assessed by an engineer, my neighbors told me the wall is located on my property. The top edge of the 5' tall "dirt wall" that separates our yards is apparently mine. They dont want anything to do with the wall following the inspection and have asked me to find a solution to the problem.
I pulled the survey map of my property boundaries that was issued to me during the purchase of the home. According to the survey map, approximately 1.5" of the width of the wall was laid on my property, while the remaining 8.5" of the width of the wall rests on their property. There was no need to verify that the wall was not on my property prior to its collapse since it is located at the top of the 5' dirt berm, which is ground level for my neighbors- the wall in question is also constructed in a way so that it connects with their front yard fence, and is not connected to any other feature on my property. Now that I am aware that a small portion of the wall rests on my property, I would like for the wall to be reconstructed (to code) or removed off of my property since it is unstable and another collapse would result in severe damage to my home.
I would like to know:
- What are my options for having the wall torn down; the remaining wall is unstable (according to the engineer) and if it were to collapse it would fall on to my home resulting in catastrophic damage to my living and dining rooms.
- Am I financially responsible for the removal of the wall if the wall was built on my property without lawful permission?
- Considering that the vast majority of the depth of the wall is actually located on their property, is it even possible to remove a wall that is not wholly located on my property?
- Do I have legal ground to request my neighbors to remove the wall altogether at their expense?
- Also my neighborhood has bylaws that specify how far away a fence must be constructed from existing property lines (im confirming the distance now). Does this matter since the wall already exists?
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much in advance.
