Shared wall quote

Finally got the ball rolling with the housing association about the shared wall between me and next door..

I knew it what it was going to cost roughly as my other half is a builder/brickie.. the wall is going to be about 15 metres long and 1.2 meters high to retain my garden, I've been quoted from the HA which will be shared. All fine, I want and need the wall built for my own sanity.. but it doesn't say the height and length of wall on the letter or if it needs new footings.

I also explained I had ordered fence panels at the time to the inspector and wished to concrete them in on my side so the eventual hight would be around 6ft on my side but couldn't do it without the retaining wall.. he agreed.

Anyways.. what I'm wondering is could I tell them to take off half towards the fence panels for that side or not? And also ask for clarification on the size of wall? Any advice please?

 

If you're paying for something you need to know what you are paying for, 6x2 foot wall is expensive, but a wall for here to mexico would be cheap at £830

If you don't ask you don't get, what's the worst they will say, no

I'm no expert

 

I've always understood the responsibility for retaining walls normally lies entirely with the owner of the (higher) property who's land they support, unless of course there's any specific legal requirement otherwise.

Do you own the property?

 

Yes I own it, next door is HA.

I thought that too.. according to the deeds, it's a shared responsibility. When I bought the house there was a small dispute about the fence at the front garden where the previous owner had to go half with the HA to fix it. When I rang the HA to tell them I was planning on putting a wall ion they said the cost would be shared too.

I just rang them back and she said she will send measurements through email but couldn't comment on the deducting half the cost of the fence panels.

 

Is that just the retaining wall?

But what about liability/responsibility for fencing above, is that also shared?

 

It's a shared boundary so I assume that's the wall and/or fence that goes there.

You've made a good point though with

the whole reason I went and bought my own fence panel;s to put in on my land (inside of the wall, not on top) was so the neighbour couldn't take it down when he felt like.. so in that case I shouldn't be seeking payment for the fence..is that right?

 

I was just about to ask exactly where the precise line of the boundary is, front face of retaining wall (meaning the wall is entirely within your property), centre line of retaining wall, etc.?

 

To be honest I'm not entirley sure, I've asked the partner but I believe it's centre line, but the wall/footings will be in next door.

 

Email hasn't included measurements except for the blocks they're using...

EDIT.. worked it out. UOM - unit of measure, SM - square meter, LM - Linear Meter x the quantity column.. but the wall should be 15 meters, not 10.5

 

Check the precise wording and requirements. If you erect a fence within your garden you might also a legal obligation to pay 50% towards a second one on top of the retaining wall a very short distance away.

 

When they put it for tener as most HA do, they will have to specify what they want. The builder will state what he's using, this should be passed to you as your paying half.

If you don't know what you will be paying for after asking, then tell them no work will start until you get an answer.

If they decide to start without waiting for your verdict, tell them they will have to build it entirely on the HA land and not yours, refuse access on your land and refuse to pay half.

 

@Scrungee I don't think I will be expected to put another fence on top of the wall as I told the inspector what I planned to do. I suppose if that is the case though I could concrete the fence posts on my side with the fence panels on the wall rather than inside..

@Jimcub I asked for the HA to do the wall in the first place so I don't want to refuse it (other half hasn't got public liability insurance and I didn't want to be waiting months after sending them an invoice for half). Other half looked over the email, he said if he was given that to work off there would be a retaining wall to ground level.. seeing as that's what I asked for I'm thinking it's all ok. I have sent the agreement off this afternoon..

 

This is exactly the sort of disputes I envisage can occur with a shared responsibility for boundary walls/fencing.

Fencing Query

 

I did think mine was going to go that way if I tried to sort it with the tenants.. so I went and checked the deeds and phoned the HA.

Thankfully, its all sound.. the retaining wall is shot and my patio has a big gaping hole where it has cracked and fallen by the existing boundary.. needs doing, especially when I have a 4 yr old running around