Hi there, Im in Perth and after 3 years just met my back neighbour. He has just revealed that the back fence is on his land. He was mates with the guy that built our home (1983) and he brought it to his attention back then but said it was ok cos he wasn't about to tell him to pull up the concrete retaining wall to set it back.
My question is what implications could this have for me in the future if he sells and the new owner makes a fuss etc.. Im on a hilly sloping block so any retaining work costs a LOT!
Please HELP!! I feel like just getting rid of this property…
I can't really see a problem,…
whats the problem,
There are a number of options, but panic is not one.
How many other owners have there been since the wall was built in 1983?
Have you had a survey to establish the legal boundary of your land? ie is your neighbour correct.
Possibly you and your predecessors in title have established adverse possession. The Property Law Act provides also for relief in various instances of encroachment. Worst case scenario you could negotiate with your neighbour to purchase thta bit of land from him.
Instead of panicking see a lawyer who specialises in adverese possession
This is a common problem, often surveyors do peg boundaries in the wrong position but now with new high tech gear there are less errors.
I would not bother with it unless you want to pay for costs to remove and replace , plus upset your neighbour.
Thanks for your replies, we will calm down – its our first live in home and we have not heard of this or experienced it before.
I guess the neighbour just wanted to point it out to us for his peace of mind or whatever reason cos he was not concerned and wasn't asking for anything. I was thinking more in terms of if he sold it etc. But if an issue did arise we would check the facts of what he is claiming.
not sure if it still applies but my dad told me about the standing fences act when i was a kid, as this sort of thing would cause major head aches for the banks and financiers there is a solution,
if it has been standing ten years and no one complained it is the new boundary
this may be the "great wall of china is to keep the rabbits out son" so i would check it out
but the old man worked in real estate finance
and from what we have heard "carried a big stick "on st georges tce at one time
cheersI assume that you are on the high side of the retaining wall.If your neighbour has dug his land out and that is why the retaining wall was built, then it should be on his side. If your side was built up, then it should be on your side.
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We have also just come across this problem, we are in the process of building a new house and have found out that our neighbours side fence and retaining wall (we are on the low side) is about 200mm on our property. I know it doesn’t sound like much but to fit the house on the block we need the fence to be taken back to the correct position. Who would be responsible for this cost?
JoH wrote:our neighbours side fence and retaining wall (we are on the low side) is about 200mm on our property.
We is it your neighbour's side fence and not shared?
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