Neighbor damaged my retaining wall

[jbella]

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.

 

[FarmerJ]

So when did you have a boundary survey done to show exactly where your lot lines are and the lot line with this neighbor ? If you haven't you should so you know for sure where the lot line is , What if the previous owners were wrong about lot lines when they put that wall in?

 

[jbella]

So when did you have a boundary survey done to show exactly where your lot lines are and the lot line with this neighbor ? If you haven't you should so you know for sure where the lot line is , What if the previous owners were wrong about lot lines when they put that wall in?

It was originally all one lot (mine). The owner subdivided and gave her sister the neighbor's lot. There was also an elaborate walkway built running across the lot lines. They used it as shared space. The sister inherited my property and did a boundary line adjustment to try to keep the retaining wall but they wouldn't let her move that close to my garage (and my lot is tiny to begin with). The BLA was done about 7 years ago and staked. The neighbor had it resurveyed, there were no changes in the stakes and they are in agreement with the map.

I read somewhere that it's the higher grounds responsibility to maintain their land but that wasn't advise I found for NY State. I understand people don't want sand up against their fence. But, how does he have a right to alter the elevation level and I don't? He's taken out all the sand on the one end which was in essence MY retainage and put in something that can't be used as a retaining wall. And now I either have to incur the cost to rebuild it to his specifications or continuously clean up the run off and look at a broken wall? Hopefully someone out there can advise.

 

[FarmerJ]

So how much land do you own to his side of this retaining wall ? or is this retaining wall right on the lot line ?

 

[jbella]

So how much land do you own to his side of this retaining wall ? or is this retaining wall right on the lot line ?

The length of the wall isn't on the lot line. The wall is 2 feet away from the property line on my land. It runs down about 12 feet. It stops there. (My garage is back there so I think they walled it originally to keep the sand from going next to my garage door. (There is only 5 feet from my garage to the property line). From where it stops there is just a hill which travels to the end of the property. The highest level of the hill is about 1 foot wide and then it slopes in various places. I don't know how high the hill is - maybe 2 feet high at the most.

Pre-fence - when you looked down my property you saw a 5 foot wide landscaped planter running across my property into his property - maybe 60 feet long. (Only 4 feet of it is on my property). Then, you see a 6 foot concrete slab walkway which joined our properties (it was all originally one property) - 4 feet wide into my property is mine, the rest his. Then they blocked all the way down that walkway. Here 22 inches of that wall jutted onto my property. This part he damaged. He wanted his fence to sit flat on the walkway. The retaining wall was 17 inches high and it was in his way when he got there. He removed that part of the wall to run his fence through. 14" of the block he removed was on my land. So I now have a 12 foot long wall with a missing 14" end-cap in the location of walkway. More than half of my end-cap is gone. I tried in good faith to just let this go, repair the wall and be done with it but he's calling the police because I'm filling the area back in. I don't believe I legally have to keep a broken wall, nor do I believe I have to incur the cost to repair it. But I need to ask a professional. Is there a law section I can refer to? This stuff is so complicated. I want to make sure I know what my rights and I don't want to do something I'm not supposed to.

 

[FarmerJ]

So when he calls the police do you tell them that you are repairing damage he did to your property ? If they wont accept that then tell them your sorry that the neighbor wasted their time but it still is your property you are repairing which is a matter for civil court not a criminal one.

 

[jbella]

So when he calls the police do you tell them that you are repairing damage he did to your property ? If they wont accept that then tell them your sorry that the neighbor wasted their time but it still is your property you are repairing which is a matter for civil court not a criminal one.

Yes, they know I'm repairing the damages. They came out to take a report of all the damages he did. They said the same thing; it's a civil matter but I wanted them to document the damages he'd done right away. When he came out again the cop asked if I could just take the sand off the fence so he could get out of there (they have to show up when you call). It's not the police I'm concerned about (they've been here 4 times now) it's what happens in court. This stuff is never simple.