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Hi all,
We are in the process of demolition of our old home and rebuilding a new home however we have the neighbours from hell who have objected to absolutely everything!
We have done a site repeg which shows that our garage boundary wall is partially encroached on their side.
Is a boundary wall not a dividing fence when it is attached to a home?
We have an engineers report back stating that the footings on the boundary wall are not up to todays standards and would probably not stay upright once the rest of the home is demolished.
Do our neighbours have claim to what happens with this boundary wall as it is part of our existing residence even though it is partially on their boundary too?
Has anyone gone through something similar?
HELP!!!!
Argh I just wrote you a huge reply that got deleted
Anyway short version is:
We did a similar process and had difficult neighbours but didn't have to build on difficult side's boundary. I suggest writing to them (registered letter) outlining that the wall is encroaching on their land, and is likely to be structurally unsound. Reassure them that you will not ask for any $ toward the new wall, that you will provide a temp fence for them, and you will consult them about the colour of bricks/render. (if they don't like your choice maybe allow them to paint their side)
The dividing fences act is quite difficult to utilise in this scenario, but I remember that no one can unilaterally pull down a fence/wall without the permission of the other party. But I would write them a letter first and ask them to call you to discuss further.
Thanks for that - we have done all of that though
. We will pay for the new wall, they can paint whatever color they like etc, pay for temp fence and gate post etc - they wont have to do anything at all and will get a new spanking wall out of it but noooooooo, they dont a new one!
We have even got a proper engineers report that states that the wall foundations are not acceptable under todays standards but the neighbours still want the wall to remain regardless of that fact.
Think we are going to have to go to court..............
Hi,
If it was me I would agree to keep the wall, and then once demolition started the wall would (as your engineers report indicates) 'fall down'. At this point build your new wall
In all seriousness, you should probably get some legal advice, but I would imagine that once the wall was gone there isn't much they could do. Even if you had to pay some $ to modify your DA it would be cheaper and quicker than going to court.
Paul
Thanks for that - we have done all of that though
. We will pay for the new wall, they can paint whatever color they like etc, pay for temp fence and gate post etc - they wont have to do anything at all and will get a new spanking wall out of it but noooooooo, they dont a new one!
We have even got a proper engineers report that states that the wall foundations are not acceptable under todays standards but the neighbours still want the wall to remain regardless of that fact.
Think we are going to have to go to court..............[/quote]
Ohhh that's crazy!
I guess you might have to go to court, what a pain! My neighbour was refusing to let us pull down an old timber fence, we considered putting our new retaining wall and fence against the old one, but then we would lose some land, and it may affect resale value. She would probably have pulled down her old fence within the month, knowing her
Ask your neighbors to sign a paper releasing you from any responsibility should the wall collapse into their property.
Failing that its court
How long has the wall been there? I'm not an expert in legal matters, however you may be able to file for Adverse Possession:
Adverse Possession
This is an old doctrine that says, basically, that where a trespasser remains in possession of land for a period of time (generally 15 years) then that person may have acquired ownership of the land.
http://www.lawyersconveyancing.com.au/advposs.aspGiven your garage has encroached on the boundary, then you may have a claim. If your neighbour is faced with a claim for adverse possession, they may be more willing to accommodate your request. If not, and you meet the requirements of adverse possession, then the land may be yours to do as you will.
I would suggest going to council first regarding this. Seeing as it's your property you're willing to demolish (regardless of the fact it's partially in the neighbour's boundary) and you can do as you please with it (provided you have the necessary approvals, etc.) your neighbours should be the last people to give you "permission" to remove parts of your house.
Councils would generally suggest mediation first. If that doesn't work, then Civil Court might be the way to go (unwanted option, but an option nonetheless). Neighbours can't generally stop you from doing what you want to do with your property, irrespective of their complaints.
Good luck!
Have a look at *********************************** under their fences link they have heaps of fencing info for every state.
Hi Guys , I am facing the similar issue too.
Basically one wall of my garage is on the boundary - only one face is on the boundary, and whole wall is in my property zone. I would say my neighbours are from good family and the old couple seem very nice to us. They don't have objection to demolish the wall. However, they asked us to put up a similar new wall all at our cost, because they claimed that the wall is a boundary wall, and they contributed the cost many many years ago! I offered to put up a paling fence at my cost, but they don't agree.
I need seek legal advise, but before that I did some research. Basically I want to ask : 1) since the garage is totally in my boundary, is it at my discretion to abolish the wall ? 2) does their contribution matters (assume no)? 3) if matters, what envidence they should provide ?
The following link (
http://www.lawhandbook.sa.gov.au/ch30s02s04.php)shows bounary wall in SA is not fence , so not regulated by fence act. I don't know if the same applied in Victoria.
Hope to hear your advice.
Hi Lilmonkey,
I feel your pain. We have the neighbours from hell over our back fence. We wanted to knock down our fence and replace at our cost. We needed it to be higher as we were building a deck to match up to our balcony which meant it was a metre off the ground so needed the fence to be higher. We wanted to build a brick rendered fence and they said no. Under council regs the deck had to be a metre off the fence. So we built the deck, a blue panel fence, painted it to look like a rendered wall on the top of our deck, and lost a metre of our land along the whole back fence. She had a major whinge about it and said she was going to take us to court. Told her to knock herself out, as it was all council approved, plus was not covered under the fencing act as was on our land. Never heard another word about it.
So you may have to think outside the box to get the look you are trying to achieve.
Caz