Neighbour dispute over extending party wall

Hi all,

I have DA approval to extend my semi detached house and need to extend my side of the party wall for a new back-room extension with a flat roof. Two issues though:

1. It seems that the fence that continues on from the party wall into the backyard is actually on my property. This section of fence needs to go for the 3 metres of the wall it will be replacing on the boundary line. It looks as if his pergola id actually over the boundary line and will impede the extension of the party wall.
2. A builder said that he will need to remove temporarily my neighbour tiles on the property lines where the flat roof will now meet the existing tiles roof as part of the construction.

My neighbour refuses to meet with me re discussing above and is actually quite aggressive about it. The irony is tat he wants to build as well one day and I will be very accommodating.

What are my possible next steps? If council has approved it and I give my neighbour written notice can I remove the fence and replace that section with a brick wall without his agreement. What about displacing his roof temporarily?

I have run out of patience because his complaints to council has delayed construction for 1 year. What legal option do I have at my disposal?

Thanks pman

Theoretically if your neighbor has encroached on your property, provided you have proof that this is so, he must change it, and its probably why he is getting aggressive -- which wont achieve anything in the long run.

Can the Council suggest who to contact? You may be heading for legal action, but I will leave that to others who may be more experienced in this matter

I had a similar issue where the fence was about 1 metre on my property - the neighbour was quite angry about it, but once they researched their ( and our) rights they realised there really isnt much they can do about it except go to court which will add personal cost to them and in the end I would have ended up reclaiming the land anyway. However as there is some form of construction of theirs on your side - things get tricky and there has been a recent precedent set via court action in Adelaide where if there is a constructed structure on your side - you may not be able to do much about it

Wouldn't that only apply if it was a solid structure? In this case I think its the neighbor's pergola and IMHO would be able to be shortened etc



This is the part I dont understand. Are you saying he will be removing your neighbor's roof tiles? If so, WHY?

how do you define " solid structure" - is there footings to the pergola, is there any brickwork to the pergola?

A slab with brick walls roof etc; a living area?