Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jul 10, 2011 2:28 pm Hi All, Hoping someone can help me here! Our garage wall is on the boundary of our land. It doesn't go over the fence line. From the very beginning, our neighbour has expressed how unhappy having the garage there makes him. The garage sits next to his patio area, and he's put mesh screen up halfway down his patio to block out the afternoon sun (not an issue now our house is up. He's been there 4 or 5 years). There is about half a meter between the patio and our garage wall, and there is a rock garden (literally river pebbles and 2 cactuses) on the ground between the two. The only legal requirements I can find are high related so I'd like to know - Are we actually obliged to do anything to his side of the wall? Paint or render?? And if you were in this situation - What would you do?? We have done something, but I'd like to gauge what the 'average' person would do before I go much further. Thanks!!! ~W~ Building our forever home - Lilium Estate Clyde - Land due May 2019 Built our first home - Pakenham - 2011 Re: Need some advise - Brick wall to the boundary 2Jul 10, 2011 3:10 pm My view is you don't need to do anything. you are actually providing a permanent boundary at no cost to them. If you have already done something that's good on you The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Need some advise - Brick wall to the boundary 3Jul 10, 2011 4:14 pm as long as the wall is finished then i cant see that being an issue. I hate is when people however build houses that have part on the boundary, they render the whole house however save money by not doing the neighbors side. Re: Need some advise - Brick wall to the boundary 4Jul 10, 2011 4:38 pm We paid our brick cleaner extra to jump over the boundary fence to clean his side of the bricks He couldnt give us access any other way due to his dogs. As long as the wall is finished, you're under no obligation to do anything. He can always do something he wants though.. Custom European Cabinets - Melbourne Kitchen Specialist PM for business details as website currently being updated! Our Crazy Owner Builder Journey! Re: Need some advise - Brick wall to the boundary 5Jul 10, 2011 4:51 pm Okay, so given that he wasn't happy we've tried to do a few things to improve the look. We got a quote to render, but it was in excess of $1000 and so it just wasn't something we could afford - and we weren't allowed to add it to build cost. The renderer did explain to my DH how to add some extra mortar to some sections so that it could be sanded to be more level, suitable for a brick paint. We wanted to wait until the brick cleaner came, so that we could just paint the clean bricks. But the neighbour approached us about getting it done faster as he was getting a dog (about 8 fence palings either side had been removed to allow the wall to go up). The brick cleaner wasn't being booked until the last 2 houses we're ready and so that's still a few weeks off. So DH went to his place during the week, mortared up the wall, sanded it and painted it as best he could. We arranged for one of the chippies to put the fence back together. We knew that some of the river pebbles would be ruined by the mortar and so we have plans to have my MIL (who loves to garden, and is happy to come and help) to come on a Sunday and do up his garden. We've told him we'll top up his river pebbles with new ones when this happens. He's still not happy. He doesn't like the look of the wall, wants the garden done yesterday (it's rained all day today, I'm not having my MIL sit in the mud and rain to replace his pebbles) and is just generally complaining about it all. Are we at the point we're we can legitmately tell him to just get over it? Especially given the dog he was getting never arrived either . . . ~W~ Building our forever home - Lilium Estate Clyde - Land due May 2019 Built our first home - Pakenham - 2011 Re: Need some advise - Brick wall to the boundary 6Jul 10, 2011 4:56 pm IMO you have gone way beyond the call of duty! Some people are never going to be happy ( I know, I live next door to one of them )-he may be so miffed about someone building next door that he will give you grief no matter what! I would politely point out to him that you have already done much more than is required by law, that you hope your relationship as neighbours is going to be a cordial one and leave it up to him! Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: Need some advise - Brick wall to the boundary 8Jul 11, 2011 7:38 am I can see both sides here. If you werent bulky ding on the boundary you neighbour wouldt have been affected. Since you are building on the boundary he probably feels put out. The best you can do is try and make things look appealing so the neighbour goes back to their own after the build is over Re: Need some advise - Brick wall to the boundary 10Jul 11, 2011 9:13 am I'll relate my situation as it was pretty similar. Just points with how they were resolved Garage wall to be on boundary - Due to council regs had to get neighbor to OK it. We provided a letter stating the reasons we want/need it there and the things we would do to protect his existing building/s(as the garage wall is also retaining wall to 1200mm) The wall does change my neighbors view - We have given permission for him to paint/render the wall and hang plants/pots/statues/other from the wall. If he requires a fitting or fixing to be put in to the brick work he must seek permission, other than that he can do what he likes to the section of wall he sees from his house. We agreed to re-instate his garden beds and landscape if our builder causes any damage (we chase builder later) Neighbor has my number. I told him if there is ANYTHING that bothers him, to call straight away. I said it doesn't matter how trivial it is, I would rather talk it out right away than have something built then have an issue with it - HE is yet to call me other than about a separate issue. Best thing is to talk about the issue at hand. As Deemaree said, some people just won't be happy at all. If you do everything you legally have to and go that extra step (which you have) to keep your neighbor happy, in the end there is nothing more you can do. If it continues to be a problem, stop doing the extra things you are not legally required to do and call the council. If they don't help, perhaps some legal council between the 2 of you to set out a final resolution. Re: Need some advise - Brick wall to the boundary 11Jul 11, 2011 5:32 pm Could you try calling the shire to find out what their requirements are? I know that in Perth, boundary brick walls are a shire issue so you may get some help from them where you live also. Over here, the finish of all boundary walls must be approved by shire, which generally has to be tidy facebrick. The reason that brick walls on boundaries are often not rendered even if the rest of the house is, is because of the legalities of access issues - legally a builder needs written permission to be on the neighbours property to do the rendering, and even then there are grey areas, so most builders won't even give the option of rendering the wall. And if none of that is applicable where you live, it sounds like you have done everything you can and you just have one of those neighbours that just won't be happy no matter what you try to do. Re: Need some advise - Brick wall to the boundary 12Jul 11, 2011 6:25 pm I doubt the council would have approved his building permit unless having the garage on the boundary met the council's regulations. Looking at some of the other nearby houses in his build thread it looks like some of them also have their garage on/near the boundary so the neigherbour might not have had any say in the matter and I suspect this is all about teying to keep the peace rather than whether it is permissable. Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: Need some advise - Brick wall to the boundary 13Jul 11, 2011 7:04 pm cmhamilton I doubt the council would have approved his building permit unless having the garage on the boundary met the council's regulations. Looking at some of the other nearby houses in his build thread it looks like some of them also have their garage on/near the boundary so the neigherbour might not have had any say in the matter and I suspect this is all about teying to keep the peace rather than whether it is permissable. Actually, certainly not wanting to tread on other posters toes but just to correct... councils only approve a building permit for boundary walls "subject to" it being finished to an acceptable finish by the shire's standards. So while you may have a building permit for the wall and construct it in the correct position on the boundary, it could have ended up with a finish that is not permitted which would mean it is illegal even though you have a building permit for it. I only know of this because I've seen many a home owner forced to fix the finish of their boundary walls because they didn't check what finish they were supposed to do - and if the initial finish is too bad sometimes they are forced to pay for render to correct it Frosty it sounds like you've mortared and painted the wall which if it looks acceptable to any normal person should also be acceptable to your shire, so I don't think you'd have an issue with the shire/legalities anyway. In the end I think it all depends on whether you want to bend over backwards any more just to keep on the good side of your neighbours (if your neighbours still have a good side to get on ) Re: Need some advise - Brick wall to the boundary 14Jul 11, 2011 9:15 pm From what we can gather from the council, they don't have any requirements for what we have to do. It would be much easier if we had guidelines to be able to draw the line with. We're not the kind of people to do nothing, we understand how frustrating it would be to be in his position. But I feel like now that we're doing something, he's basically trying to get as much out of us as he can. Thanks for your input everyone! ~W~ Building our forever home - Lilium Estate Clyde - Land due May 2019 Built our first home - Pakenham - 2011 Building Standards; Getting It Right! Hi all, My neighbour has built his 15m long garage on our boundary. It was agreed as part of the planning permit that the wall must be in exposed recycled brick. For some… 0 10908 I am looking for someone who might have tackled a similar issue as me. I have a few rendered interior walls, the surface condition is hardly flat. I can see all the bumps… 0 7964 thanks Chippy, i hope they have applied sealer but i am doubt to be honest, so i am gonna do this job after handover. 8 16268 |