These are some ideas that people use for retaining walls. The main reasons people choose to build them are landscape goals and privacy. If your neighbour has a common law right to lateral support on land. For example, does your neighbour have the right to build the retaining wall to support your property to prevent damage to their property? There is a general rule of law that a landowner has the right to have his land supported by his neighbour`s land, and his neighbour has a duty to maintain that support. Example 2: Existing retaining wall and subsequent backfilling It is not the responsibility of municipal governments to verify or enforce notification of notices of notices of work that may affect the stability of neighbouring properties. However, if a local board has received a development application that includes a retaining wall that does not require a permit itself, the council may attach an advisory opinion to its permit reminding the owner that it may still require notice under section 139 of the Act (using the required form, a Notice of Intent on Form 1 of Schedule 10A). The neighbour threatened that if we are not willing to pay half, they will sue us for the full cost of the retaining wall and refer the matter to “collections”. We do not even want the retaining wall. We offered an amount that we could afford to be a good neighbour. You have now started building. A retaining wall is a structure built to maintain a difference on the ground floor. Although a retaining wall can serve as a foundation for a fence, the wall itself is not considered a fence and is subject to other laws.
You can find information about fences in our brochure Fences and the Law. The Retaining Wall Act is mainly found in the Common Law of Nuisance, the Planning, Development and Infrastructure (SA) Act 2016 and the Planning, Development and Infrastructure (General) Regulations 2017. The role of planning boards and authorities with respect to retaining walls is as follows: First, when constructing a retaining wall, municipal codes and ordinances must apply. Both parties should always check with your local government for rules and regulations. Some cities do not allow the owner to build a retaining wall without an authorized contractor. Legality verification can save lawyers, courts and trouble time, money and trouble. There have been fights in the courts over who should pay for the construction of the retaining wall. Before the construction of the wall, an agreement must be reached, as it affects both parties and their property. Unfortunately, some neighbors do not understand each other and refuse to talk to each other.
There are situations where the owner of the wall built the retaining wall without the permission of the neighbour at the property line. They wanted the neighbour to pay half or part of the retaining wall, and both ended up in court. If a part fills and the adjacent owner digs, each part is responsible according to the proportion in which the retaining wall supports the fill or excavation. For example, if a neighbor digs 300 mm above the natural ground and the adjacent neighbor digs 700 mm below the natural ground, the neighbor`s filling is responsible for 30% of the cost and the neighbor 70% of the cost of the retaining wall of 1 meter. Generally, each owner is responsible for preserving the part of the land that he (or the previous owner) has changed from the natural ground level. This can be backfill at natural ground level or excavation below natural ground level. I have a 1.96m high limestone retaining wall on the south side of my house, built by the 1st owners of the property. It has been rebuilt once and is starting to fail again. For 12 months, I advised the neighbor and they inspected the wall. But they left and sold the property without alerting the new owners to the wall problem.
Major work is needed and the new owner asks me to cover half the cost, which could be up to $25,000 per owner. The wall is built on the border line of the neighbor.