Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Feb 14, 2013 9:10 am I was hoping for some advice regarding a major issue we are having with our next door neighbours. We completed our build in August 2010 and our neighbours to 1 side are about 3 weeks away from completion. We have been very patient in this time as we have been unable to put in a fence due to neighbours filling their block and the need for a retaining wall which reaches 1m towards the back of their house. They have significantly filled their block (1.3m high) from the natural lay of the land. Needless to say along 1 side of our house (bedrooms) their living area looks directly into. We have had a quote done for the retaining wall needed as we are getting slightly annoyed as their stormwater has not been connected so all their stormwater is coming straight into the side of our property flooding it (no paving yet due to this retaining wall). Any way long story short they need to pay 80% of the retaining wall due to the amount of fill they need to retain but have just informed us they are out of money (havent even moved in) and wont be able to pay for 4-6 months. They have also just been on 2 holidays in the last 8 weeks, purchased air con and all new furniture (yes they told us this). So council (SA) has been very unhelpful (dont really care) but I am seriously worried about the integrity of our house and the upcoming winter rains. Also not to mention the lack of privacy, lack of security (we back onto a reserve) and worried about the amount of soil coming into our yard from theirs. Also we would really like to finish our back yard. We are thinking of writing them a formal letter explaining our concerns and their liability if anything serious was going to happen to our property due to their lack of care. If anyone could please give me some advice that would be greatly appreciated. Re: Neighbours and retaining walls advice please 2Feb 14, 2013 2:25 pm Browsing through the free Council booklet 'Fences and the Law' it seems retaining walls dont come under Council jurisdiction, unless its more than a metre high, even though a retaining wall can be a base for a fence. Apparently retaining walls come under 'the common law of nuisance and the Development Act 1993'. It seems a bad way to start out with new neighbors but read pages 12-13 of the booklet and perhaps obtain legal advice, because personally I think they are treating you with contempt Arfur Re: Neighbours and retaining walls advice please 3Mar 23, 2013 10:19 am So a little update.... I made council come at meet me and they said yes you need a retaining wall but they cannot enforce this but would send the neighbours a letter. They also said in the letter that as per their building approval their stormwater was required to be connected as soon as the roof and gutters were installed. So the Dad (neighbours) rang council when they received the letter (have 28 days so just over halfway through) and asked where in the approval it states this as they have not moved in yet and to his suprise it was there in black and white. So apparently they told council it would be connected last weekend but no one has been there yet. Council came out again yesterday and took more photo's and would call them and i think they are hoping they keep dragging thier feet and fine them. They are sick of these owners already as well so think they will be targeted for any breeches in future. Council also said that if any more run off from their property still enters ours when stormwater is connected they can start enforcing the retaining wall. Spoken to a friend lawyer and suggested we send them a letter with the quote attached and wait the 30 days and then if nothing is done we can threaten legal aid. Re: Neighbours and retaining walls advice please 4Mar 23, 2013 5:03 pm I have a funny feeling I read somewhere that we can't move into our house until our retaining is done. Only thing is I can't remember where we read this. Re: Neighbours and retaining walls advice please 5Mar 25, 2013 2:44 pm That would be nice but who knows in each council? So other half had it out with the Dad next door yesterday and explained our situation very clearly to him. In the end he did agree with us. We have arrange to meet with them on Friday morning to nut this out as they are now saying they are digging out the back of their block to be level with ours? they will still need to retain their place but at least it does not affect us. Although our next uphill battle is that their house & deck will look straight down on our backyard so will demand a privacy screen or taller fence to be installed. Thank god for some progress. Will still give them the 30 days notice because they took 4 months to pay back their other neighbours for the fence. Cant wait to get this fence up so I never have to see them again and be happy in my house! Re: Neighbours and retaining walls advice please 6Mar 25, 2013 8:26 pm Quote: That would be nice but who knows in each council? The building inspection/approval section Quote: our next uphill battle is that their house & deck will look straight down on our backyard so will demand a privacy screen or taller fence to be installed. Good luck with that. But what ever you do get the appropiate forms filled in, copies of which are in the Council's free booklet Fences and the Law (which I told you about) where it states that without the correct documentation you will have Buckley's chance of winning should it develop into a local Court battle. Arfur Re: Neighbours and retaining walls advice please 7Mar 26, 2013 8:43 am Thanks, I have them all filled out ready to go because I think they will be trouble. Versaloc is a mortarless besser block system that still needs a properly engineered footing. If you just do a 400x200 footing it will fail in time. At 17m long you need it… 1 17300 it depends on the natural ground level, if they excavated their boundary wall needed to be built as a retaining wall. If you filled, which sounds like the case then you… 1 7084 The only thing to add to these comments is that where possible it's always good to try and work with people than just say "no" because you can. Having someone… 4 17127 |