What to do when neighbour didn't build a retaining wall

Hi,

I'm from WA. I have this situation where i just bought a block of land and had a survey contour done. I found out after the survey that the neighbour's land is more than 0.5m higher than mine but he did not build a retaining wall. I now noticed that my fence is leaning towards my land. I.e. the weight of the soil is pushing against my fence.

I rang the council and they sounded surprised to hear that and advised me to talk to the neighbour as it is their responsibility to build the retaining walls. The neighbours have proven to be elusive. I have spoken to the wife and gave her my contact but have not heard from them. I am preparing myself for an unfriendly response but am wondering if anyone knows what is my recourse should the neighbour refuses to build it?

I already have to spend quite of bit of money on retaining walls for other parts of my land and now this!!! My dream home is fast turning into a nightmare!!!

The council might be able to advise you on your options.

As they are the ones that told you that it's the neighbour's responsibility and offered you the advice of talking to the neighbour, once you have managed to speak to the neighbour if you get nowhere it's worth going back to the council and saying that you followed their instructions and what should you do next as that didn't work.

Try to speak to the neighbour and make sure that they will not do anything before escalating to the council though.

Are there any nearby neighbours who you can speak to in order to get a feel for what this particular neighbour is like?

I'd immediately start taking some good clear pictures from a couple of set vantage points for easy comparison. You may need to prove that there has been movement of the land (or your fence).

dont know how the law works down there. Hoever I another possible angle to take. Since he has damaged your fence he should be liable to replace it. If it is deemed to require a retaining wall then he should pay for that too.

I don't want to put a damper on things, and the regs may be different in WA, but we are higher than our neighbours block and require retaining walls between the two.

When I enquired with the council, (we're in Victoria by the way), I was informed that it is the responsibility of the owner of the land to the lower side to provide the retaining walls.

If I've read your post right, you are the lower block?

I'd double check exactly whose responsibility it should be before escalating too far and making an enemy of your neighbour as you may find that it's your responsibility anyway?

We may be in a similar situation.... not sure yet as the house behind us has only just started under construction.

They have put quite a bit of fill onto their block and as such their slab is quite a bit higher than ours and there is now quite alot of soil on the back of their block on our border.

If they did not put the fill in their would be no need for a retaining wall so I would feel it is completly unfair if we are the ones who have to build one just because we are on the lower block. (we are in VIC)

Cozmo
http://fromevetoeternity.blogspot.com/

My co-worker had that problem he had to go to mediation because his neighbour wouldnt admit liability! the first step was was to speak to the fencing dispute panel (at the council), thats what he had to do in VIC, they tell you who they think is at fault, if you can't solve it between each other you go to Mediation and if you get no where there then you have to go to court (apparently 95% of cases are solved before this!)

My co-worker offered to pay for half at one stage and the guy is like no you pay for 80% and ill pay the rest he was a REAL prick! so you can image how great my co-worker felt when he left mediation a winner! oh in the end when the neighbour lost he then goes i'll pay 50 50 now, but it was too late!

i just feel sorry for anyone in that situation you've just made this BIG investment and then u end up having to start off in a bad way with neighbours if it like my co-worker it got alot worst and will never be better, yet he is stuck living beside them until either he sells or they do!

I just did a quick search on google. Turns out there is an entire Legal Act on Dividing Fences but nothing concrete on retaining walls. On Legal Aid-WA website, this is what i found.

"The person who changes the land level by digging or building up is responsible for building a retaining wall to make sure that there is no risk of earth movement.

Any person buying a property with a retaining wall is responsible for maintaining it.

If both neighbours change the land level, then each neighbour will be responsible for building the retaining wall and maintaining it. The amount that you pay will depend on how much you have each changed the land level.

Always check with your local government about building requirements before building a retaining wall.

Problems about the cost of retaining walls can be complicated and legal advice may be necessary. Your local government will in some cases send out a building inspector who may be able to help solve the problem."

I have included the website in case anyone else has any disputes and want to have a read. (http://www.legalaid.wa.gov.au/InfoAbout ... =Homes.xml)

It seems that my neighbour is the one responsible because he had built up his home. Even the council is surprised that there is such a large drop and its not stated on the plans. We rang up the council and was told we had no real recourse. The impression I get is that they do not want to get involved. I will just have to try and contact the neighbour again and failing which, get a building inspector in. I do not wish to go down this route cos I will end up living next to them but it seems i don't have much of a choice unless i pay for it.

In a moment of madness, I had half a mind to just remove the fence and let all their soil fall on mine. It would be interesting to see how they would respond when they find the paving on their courtyard falling over.

That seems to ring a bell now, our neighbour cut into the block along the adjoining side, thereby creating the need for an adjoiing wall and hence him footing the bill.

Just been reading your thread.
I feel mad just reading it and I feel for you.
It makes me mad that when most people want to build they have to get reports and inspections passed or if you dont you get into trouble, Then sometimes you come acrross people who havnt bothered to get them done and get away with it somehow then when something happens or said further down the track they still get away with it
I am in Vic and someone I know has the same problem as you it looks like their neighbours fence and entertaining area is going to fall on their house! I havnt seen her for a while so I dont know whats happening there so I cant help you with this sorry, I think its like another poster said in Vic the lower side has to cop it.
But its so annyoying if someone builds first and changes the course of land and fencing then they should make sure it doesnt cause any hassle for the block next door.
Someone else I knew of built their block up sooooo much on the lower side the fence was 6ft high and on their side 2 ft high, I wonder what would had happend if a small child fell over their low side onto the 6ft drop below?
It makes me wonder how they get away with things sometimes

Is there an easement at the back of their property?
They may have been denied permission to build a retaining wall.

What about putting fill onto an easement surely they would need permission to do this?

Phew!!! Issue finally resolved. Managed to contact the neighbour and they have agreed to have a retaining wall built. I was really sweating for a while. Hopefully, things will be smooth from now one.

But still wondering how they got away with it. I heard through the grapevine that sometimes its on the drawings for approval but at the end of the day, they just didn't bother. As long as the council doesn't send someone to check...they can pretty much get away with it.

Good to see your problem is solved
A friend had a similar issue . his land was excavated lower than his neighbours block. ..So when it rained he copped the water from his neighbours and consequently got flooded, he asked the neighbour to build a retraining wall on one side of the house but he refused , so of cause this caused bad neighbourly relations verbal fights and nearly punchups ,would you believe but there where other issues too.

Anyway my friend also refused to pay thinking it wasnt his issue so he hassled the builder and the builder ended up having to pay for the retaining wall

Does anyone actually know for sure who's responsiblilty it is in Vic? I'm having disputes with my neighbour (unfortunatly things have turned quite nasty already and have had abusive phone calls)....we have been advised that whoever has to retain the land (in this case us) is responsible for the retaining wall (maintenance etc etc) but they are saying they are responsible (who on earth ever wants to take responsibility!) and want copies of all our paperwork associated with it......
I've tried to speak to our council but they wouldn't help and they refered me to fencingonline.com.au and they were useless so at this stage it's a case of my solicitor says this and theirs say something else

I just built where we had a cut and fill site.
My block is lower than my neighbours and it was our responsibility to build the retaining wall as we are responsible for the site cut. The builder should build this for you.

Should the block behind mine be built on, they will need to build a retaining wall as my land falls into theirs.

Matty dals we are in the same position... with our block falling the same as yours we have had quite alots of dirt pushed out the back making the height between our block and the one below quite a bit..... i assume that because when they start building they will have to cut that they are required to build the retaining wall.. i'm sure they will be spewing when they see how high the back of our block has become...

any chance of pics at all?

my block needs a 900m retaining wall on both sides, which our builder will make, the blocks on both sides of me will also needs retaining walls of around the same size so not sure how all of it works out, do they just make the wall on top of the other wall or stagger it?

Our relatives needed to pay for repairs to the retaining wall along one side of the house they bought. Apparently it was their responsibility because it was the ground level on THEIR block which had been changed. That makes sense to me. You choose to cut or fill, you pay to hold it up.
Very sad to read how much trouble this issue causes.