Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Oct 04, 2014 11:12 am Bit of background info, we've been in our house for just over 18 months and still don't have a complete back fence. We got along with the neighbor fine and i assumed he was just slow in doing everything and then came up with the excuse of waiting for the builders to come back and repair a pipe before he finished his wall and we put the fence up. Anyway i understand this have no problems with it while still putting up with the lack of privacy and runoff from his place. Fast forward to a month ago and he starts building a gabion wall which is as ugly as hell but it's on his land so i can't do much about it, but i let him know my concerns about it and he apologizes now saying he can't afford to continue the concrete blocks he's used. I'm not happy but deal with it just hoping to get the fence up and he informs me the fence will be put into the gabion wall which i'd never heard of and i thought it would be dangerous but apparently it's all passed through council which i didn't believe for a second. He then fills the wall by just throwing the rocks in from his driveway leaving big voids between the rocks and covering my grass with bits that kept braking off every time he threw the rocks in. That was the point were i'd had enough, putting up with rubbish, their headlights shining into our living area, lack of privacy and just general lack of respect to actually talk to me about anything. So i contacted council and lodged a complaint about an unapproved wall because it's not approved which he told me it was. I'm more concerned about my kids safety if this thing falls over. Now the guy won't even speak to me and just said talk to council and walked off. Hope that makes sense and I've attached a few pics, what i'm wondering does anyone know where i can go from here? Thanks. Example of what we've put up with for the last 18 months. Building the Lawson with Eden Brae in Cameron Park Re: Neighbors retaining wall 2Oct 04, 2014 11:47 am He obviously doesn't care about the wall or what you think so go see the council. Despite you being a "good neighbour" he has now drawn a line in the sand. What are on your plans or what is on his notification plans regarding the wall and proposed fence ? I think anything over 900mm high needs an engineered wall to retain the soil behind it but I'm not sure whether gabions qualify. Stewie Re: Neighbors retaining wall 3Oct 04, 2014 12:08 pm The only wall on his original plans is the block wall. The new one is going to be level with the top of the existing one and i think council may have inspected the gabion one and told him to stop and that's what's made him cranky. Building the Lawson with Eden Brae in Cameron Park Re: Neighbors retaining wall 4Oct 04, 2014 8:00 pm All structural retaining walls require an engineers certificate..simply putiing up a bit of mesh and throwing stones behind it doesnt qualify it as a gabion wall please refer to AS2784 The onus is on your next door neighbour to provide the correct documentation please contact the building depart at your council. Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Re: Neighbors retaining wall 6Oct 05, 2014 10:48 am wakudoki Any reasonable person would have pulled their finger out and finished the wall properly as an apology for dragging it out for so long. You'd think so wouldn't you Building the Lawson with Eden Brae in Cameron Park Re: Neighbors retaining wall 7Oct 05, 2014 2:02 pm What a frustrating issue!! Did you know that a dividing fence is a joint asset? You do have a say in the type of fence on any of your boundaries (he/she should've done this prior to installing it). Contact your council for help with dealing with this. Most councils have information available of fence requirements etc, but it's going to hard for you to rectify if your neighbour isn't being receptive to your concerns. I also agree that it is not ok it have the retaining wall unless as mentioned above it is compliant. Good luck! Re: Neighbors retaining wall 8Oct 05, 2014 4:32 pm welby wakudoki Any reasonable person would have pulled their finger out and finished the wall properly as an apology for dragging it out for so long. Welby what about their drainage and your drainage on your retaining wall has that all been taken care of? 'It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.' Re: Neighbors retaining wall 9Oct 05, 2014 5:39 pm Handy007 welby wakudoki Any reasonable person would have pulled their finger out and finished the wall properly as an apology for dragging it out for so long. Welby what about their drainage and your drainage on your retaining wall has that all been taken care of? Hi Handy in the last pic you can see the ag pipe from his original wall that was just discharging above my wall. It's been continued behind the new wall to nowhere as far as i can tell and there's also no geo fabric between his drainage gravel and the wall. My wall's drainage goes to a pit that i've installed and has all been approved and checked off by council as per my engineer's drawings. Building the Lawson with Eden Brae in Cameron Park Re: Neighbors retaining wall 10Oct 06, 2014 1:35 pm Your neighbour is a donkey-hole, so forget about being friends with him, unfortunately 50% of fencing disputes end up with neighbours hating each other, so dont fret. We live in an ignorant blameless self righteous arrogant society these days. 1. All fencing laws state the fence must be completed in the same stye as existing if on party insists, and Id assume thats what you want aesthetically? Surely you want the block wall continued right through? If so you have the right to disallow the rock wall. 2. Usually any retaining wall over 1.0 metre in height must be engineered and council approved. 3.Unless you have signed anything given to you by the neighbour in which you gave permission for the gabion wall, you are entitled to refuse to allow the wall, and request continuation of the existing blocks. 4. Boundary fences are a shared assett. You must both contribute equally to the cost. 5. Start reading and get clued up. http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/maint ... 991+cd+0+N So mote it be. Re: Neighbors retaining wall 11Oct 08, 2014 3:39 pm Bit of an update i've been in touch with the council building compliance officer who has inspected the wall. He informed them that if they could get there private certifier who has done the original wall and house to sign off on it then it's fine. The private certifier dosn't want a thing to do with it and have been very helpful towards me, so the council will be now formally preparing an order for him to remove it as they also believe it is dangerous and cannot support a fence installed on top of it. The only bad news is i'm likely to never see a fence in the near future as the guy dosn't have a time frame in which a wall must be built. Building the Lawson with Eden Brae in Cameron Park Re: Neighbors retaining wall 12Oct 08, 2014 4:53 pm welby Bit of an update i've been in touch with the council building compliance officer who has inspected the wall. He informed them that if they could get there private certifier who has done the original wall and house to sign off on it then it's fine. The private certifier dosn't want a thing to do with it and have been very helpful towards me, so the council will be now formally preparing an order for him to remove it as they also believe it is dangerous and cannot support a fence installed on top of it. The only bad news is i'm likely to never see a fence in the near future as the guy dosn't have a time frame in which a wall must be built. Hi Welby, He won't have a time frame but the council building will which he willhave to comply with. Just keep the pressure on council once the order is issued. 'It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.' Re: Neighbors retaining wall 13Oct 08, 2014 7:08 pm Yeah i will be keeping on their case but they have been pretty helpful so far. I also can't seem to find any interim occupancy certificate for their house either listed on the council development tracking website. I could really make this guys life difficult if they don't have one i'd imagine. Building the Lawson with Eden Brae in Cameron Park Re: Neighbors retaining wall 14Nov 01, 2014 1:14 pm One thing I noticed from the pictures posted is that you neighbours driveway is reasonably close to the wall. This changes a lot of things. Any added weight above the wall is called a surcharge. Parking lots, swimming pools, driveways, and vehicles parked on driveways are common surcharges. Here is a picture to give you an idea. http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq311/EB_Photos_2009/Surcharges.jpg The additional load of the driveway and the potential weight of a vehicle being parked on the topside of the wall (where his trailers are positioned in your pictures) must be addressed in the construction method of the rest of the retaining wall. Your neighbour will most likely argue that he will never park a car there so the wall doesn't need to be engineered. Your picture already sets the precedent in this case that if the area is suitable enough to position 2 trailers, then over the lifetime of the property how can your neighbour guarantee that a vehicle will never be parked there. There are Aus standards for this type of thing and the Development Planning Controls as set out by your local Council will also have some sort of reference to Retaining wall surcharging regs. my 2 cents. Re: Neighbors retaining wall 15Dec 01, 2014 4:00 pm Sorry for the late reply knockitdown and you are right. Bit of an update walls been removed but they arn't going to do anything. There's been a few heated arguments and i'm the bad guy for going to council apparently. Anyway will update again if anything else happens. Building the Lawson with Eden Brae in Cameron Park Re: Neighbors retaining wall 16Dec 02, 2014 5:09 am 1. Don't let ya kids play there at all. 2. request a curb / barrier be added to the slab approx 250mm higher than slab , to resist a vehicle spearing into your backyard. 3. plant bambo boo along back fence as a sight barrier so ya don,t look at the hillbillies ever again Design from top down to ground , build from ground up Re: Neighbors retaining wall 17Dec 02, 2014 5:14 am Also the slab for parking is undercut from errosion run off , already. So may be grounds for non compliance requiring major re work Design from top down to ground , build from ground up Re: Neighbors retaining wall 18Dec 03, 2014 12:06 pm welby The only bad news is i'm likely to never see a fence in the near future as the guy dosn't have a time frame in which a wall must be built. Re: Neighbors retaining wall 19Dec 03, 2014 2:12 pm I know you don't want to but could you offer to buy the blocks he can't afford to finish it, short term loss for long term gain? Re: Neighbors retaining wall 20Dec 03, 2014 2:30 pm Honestly, if it were me id go and buy a panel or two of the colourbond fencing and just be done with it. I'd also plant some nice THICK shrubbery along the back fence - privacy Thank you again Simeon.. I will call my certifier for that. Have a good day 4 5141 Thanks for the insights, that makes perfect sense, and yeah, I will be leaning on the experience of the excavator operator entirely. 6 16104 Hi All, I engaged a tradie to install concrete retaining wall 600-800mm high over 32 meters in Victoria. Sleepers are 200*75*2000 mm installed over 17 steel posts. I… 0 6888 |