Neighbour brings down wall - legal position?

Hi,

My neighbour is doing a reno on their property and have now brought down a part of the fence / wall between our properties without consultation or warning.
While that's generally not a very nice thing to do I want to understand my legal position. The wall itself is a retaining wall and my side is the lower side. The wall was in place when I bought the property.

Is this 'my wall' that they have partially brought down, is it their wall or is it a shared wall? I want the wall back in place asap.

Happy to have a further chat with anyone in the forum whose profession this is so we can take it further, if necessary.

Regards
 
As far as I know, because you are on the lower side, I believe the wall is yours and your responsibility.
Can you ask them what their intentions are and when they expect to replace it?
 
I thought it was the other way around.

The wall is in place to retain their property from yours, therefore their responsibility?

Either way, works on the boundary generally require neighbour consent.
 
I thought it was the other way around.

The wall is in place to retain their property from yours, therefore their responsibility?

Either way, works on the boundary generally require neighbour consent.

Not sure about that.
What if you were to excavate your whole backyard on the fence line by 2.0m (level yard), because you thought it would be cool.
How would feel telling the neighbours to do something about stopping their soil falling into your hole?
 
Not sure about that.
What if you were to excavate your whole backyard on the fence line by 2.0m (level yard), because you thought it would be cool.
How would feel telling the neighbours to do something about stopping their soil falling into your hole?

Not the natural ground level though. It is the same as saying I am building on my higher block, make sure your lower house is retained ready for my new house...

Neighbour has built based on the natural level of his block, which happens to be higher. His responsibility to ensure his house and land does not encroach via retaining wall.
 
Where is the property located?

Speaking from a Queensland perpective, the law around retaining walls is quite complex.
A retaining wall is classed as a structure and not a dividing fence. On this basis, the usual fencing legislation does not apply.

As a general rule, the retaining wall should be located entirely on one lot (in this case, likely your neighbours lot if it is their land being retained). The neighbour with ownership of the wall can remove it as they please, however may owe a duty to you to ensure their land does not erode onto yours. The plus side of this situation is that the owner of the retaining wall will have all of the maintenance obligations.
 
The property is in NSW.

Had a chat with the neighbour and they were surprised this had happened. Will speak with the builder tomorrow and see what their plans are.

I am getting the feeling I am being fobbed off and in the not too distant future lawyers will need to get involved.
 
I should add - I want to make a complaint against the builder with the appropriate licensing / governing body. Is NSW Fair Trading the place or is there a builders regulator of some sort?
 
The office of fair trading is a toothless tiger in this instance, you are not a party to the building contract.

Contact your insurer and the council who approved the work.
 
My understanding is that if the retaining wall either supports a fence or forms part of the fence/wall, in NSW it's treated the same as a dividing fence, i.e. cost is usually shared. See, for example, http://www.legalanswers.sl.nsw.gov.au/guides/neighbours/walls.html

BUT as they've removed it deliberately, they'll have to pay the entire cost of restoration: http://www.legalanswers.sl.nsw.gov.au/guides/neighbours/fences.html - see fifth para under heading "Dividing Fences Act".

I suspect they'll have to pay to repair/replace the wall, but I doubt you have recourse beyond that, other than suing in private nuisance for the intrusion of their soil onto your land. (Which seems a bit OTT.)

The builder has been a bit inconsiderate, but it doesn't sound like a legal issue at this stage. (Presuming they're not expecting you to contribute to cost of restoration.)
 
I am getting the feeling I am being fobbed off and in the not too distant future lawyers will need to get involved.

Why do people always seem to default to a negative/aggressive position?

Wait and see what your neighbour says before jumping on the "lawyer" bandwagon.

They have said they will check to see what the builder is doing - did you give a timeframe for them to get back to you? If not, two working days will suffice.

Let us know what they say
 
Why do people always seem to default to a negative/aggressive position?

Wait and see what your neighbour says before jumping on the "lawyer" bandwagon.

It happens a lot on the internet.
Once in a while we get aggressive, complaining, overreacting emails to our business, usually over small issues, sometimes ridiculous stuff with threats to Dept Fair Trading, etc.
Then when you call them over the phone to offer a resolution they're as polite as can be, totally fine, and the big man attitude has instantly vanished.
 
I'm just finding SS a very negative place to be atm - so haven't been posting nearly as much as I used to.

Lots of instant aggression - bagging of others choices - dragging down - and persistent doomsayers.

Used to be a much more positive and motivated place to be ...
 
Why do people always seem to default to a negative/aggressive position?

Wait and see what your neighbour says before jumping on the "lawyer" bandwagon.

its because nobody takes responsbilitiy for their actions these days!!! the older generation arent so bad, but the younger generation (and no this is not generation bashing) is getting worse

20/30/40 years ago, as a whole, chances are youd be freidnly with your neighbours, so if you tore down their fence accidentally, youd do something about it,

now its "oh well, bad luck" or "oh well, bad luck, legally, I can do whatever I want" or "oh well, bad luck, im in the wrong, but it will take 3 months for the courts to do something about it"
 
I'm just finding SS a very negative place to be atm - so haven't been posting nearly as much as I used to.

Lots of instant aggression - bagging of others choices - dragging down - and persistent doomsayers.

Used to be a much more positive and motivated place to be ...

I stopped going to the Coffee Lounge in the hope I'd avoid this, but alas!
 
I should add - I want to make a complaint against the builder with the appropriate licensing / governing body. Is NSW Fair Trading the place or is there a builders regulator of some sort?

I agree with Lizzie. It sounds like your neighbour did not know this was going to be done. Try to sort it out amicably. If you approach it without suspicion you are likely to get a better resolution.

Your neighbour has told you he will talk to the builder. Wait to hear the outcome of the that. If you are not happy, ask the builder which association he belongs to (if any)--HIA or MBA--and write them a letter.

My builder used my next door neighbour's electricity without her permission (and without my knowledge). I told the neighbour to write to the MBA and they got it sorted out immediately by making sure the builder paid the neighbour.
 
Interesting to see the responses on this. I can understand where they came from.

Firstly, though, let me provide a bit of context as to why it appeared I 'jumped' on the negativity bandwagon. A number of circumstances seemed to point to a very bullish approach from this neighbour which left a few of the neighbours disillusioned:
- the DA was submitted over the Easter period (with a lot of people away, this is sometimes a tactic to try to keep objections down);
- when works began, they soon realised that they needed access to another neighbours backyard and did not engage with them effectively - strange as it brought their project to a halt;
- when the wall came down it was under the pretense that 'they were doing an investigation' - minutes later the wall was down i.e. my explicit permission was not sought (technically speaking, though this was sort of in the DA);
- when I apporached the neighbour I was asked to discuss with their builder and the neighbour had not even been aware the wall came down.

Now all of the above is circumstantial and does not directly point to any 'evil' intention from my neighbour, however neither does it point to a highly neighbour-friendly approach. All in all, I had not 'defaulted' to a negative attitude, but the attitude arose through the experience.

That said, involving lawyers itself is (in my mind) absolutely NOT a negative thing. It is done to formally protect oneself against the unintended impacts of others. I can trust my neighbour completely to do a good job, but by getting lawyers involved I am better able to protect my own interests. (Always an interesting philosophical discussion around whether fundamentally this is what one ought to do.)

All of that said, after a stern conversation with the builders, and without engaging lawyers, they have put up a temporary structure to act as a wall.
 
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