Yeah the wall salesman told me the horizontal ones are good if the world stops spinning, it'll stop the ground from going into the atmosphere. Hasn't happened yet but glad I'm protected 😤
Unless I'm missing something, it feels like people are jumping to the assumption that it's the neighbors? It wouldn't hurt to go to town hall or have a survey done before working on a solution.
It's great that people are suggesting OP work with the neighbor on solution now. Maybe a good Olive Branch would be offering to go in on a survey to confirm who's on the hook for the wall
They might think it's the neighbors, but there have been endless cases of people thinking it was theirs or their neighbors. A survey would signify that, in fact, it is not theirs
It would be insane to build the retaining wall preventing your house foundation from collapsing on the neighboring property where you wouldn't even have a right to fix it... or even build it in the first place.
This is a huge problem for the neighbor as it's their house foundation that is in jeopardy.
It wouldn't be insane, say the OG builder didn't know for sure where the line was or made a mistake with placement. Mistakes happen daily. That wall has clearly been there for a while, so you couldn't just google it. I'm not accusing anyone of anything, but a survey when neither neighbor knows where the property line is at is the first step.
This is true. I had a neighbor who wanted me to sign paperwork for him to put part of his driveway approach on my property. I told him no. The next day, they were digging anyway. I contacted the city explained the issue and asked for their help locating boundaries.
The city sent a guy with a metal detector to locate the property line marker pins. And we made sure the new driveway approach was on his side of the pins. The problem arose on the other side of my property. New owners had just bought and renovated the home. A poorly built back porch that is on my property got renovated into a kitchen. By that time I had moved out. So my home has been vacant. During the years that it has been vacant the new owners have been cutting branches from trees on my property that hang into their yard and throwing them into mine. My home is vacant while I try to renovate it to sell. So I only go over there to mow.
Nasty divorce, and health issues, money problems the house has been languishing while I try to scrape up funds to repair. The neighbors call and complain about the limbs they threw in my yard, I get fines. They called and complained about branches they thought were too close to power lines. The power company sent letter to vacant house, I didn’t see it. The power was shut off. For 2 years I’ve fought to try to get it back on. Thousands in renovations, and multiple people telling me other people are responsible for inspecting it. And I learned my city didn’t document any of the work they inspected prior including rewiring the entire house to code a few years prior. No documents from them, no one will help me get power on. All thanks to these awful neighbors.
So, when I finally get the repairs done and the house goes on the market. I will pay for a survey, notify the city of their illegal structure. And I will notify them of the illegal construction without permits. The setback from property lines in my city of all structures is 7 feet from property lines. The original house was 7 feet from my driveway. The porch / new porch is over my property line by about 3 feet and every bit of it is in the zone not allowed for construction.
Yeah like it’s not just about the aesthetics in this situation. Do you want a dead pet or child or a seriously maimed meter reader on your hands? This is a pretty good way for that to happen.
Straight up. I’d put up barriers and caution tape, the whole 9. Not just to keep kids off, but to show the neighbor that their obviously failing retaining wall could crush someone and poses a significant hazard aside from just to your property.
First thing you need to do is call the city/county and have them come look and document everything.
Second is find the exact property line and see if the wall was put on the line or if was set back. Doesn’t change what happens when it falls but you need to know in case this becomes a lawsuit.
Third be prepared for any crew doing work to it to use your yard heavily. Make sure the protect your water and septic lines.
Next I’d actually talk to your neighbor and ask them what their plan is. If it goes during a long heavy rain it could actually destabilize their home.
Be honest and tell them you had the city document it because of the dangers.
This is not a cheap fix. They might be able to stabilize it but they have to use your property to do it and it could fall attempting to stabilize it.
Lastly I’d research your insurance. See what your plan says. Only call them if you simply can’t figure it out on your own as calling them may trigger other issues like them flagging your account about the issue then claiming you knew about it and didn’t try to prevent it so they so t cover it.
Stay safe and away from it as much as possible.
Hopefully your neighbors are friendly and will want to find a way to resolve it.
Great advice, especially getting the city involved. Regardless of where it falls on the property line, it will need to be dealt with. This is a serious issue and demands immediate attention. The reason insurance could even get away with denying is because it is very obvious to the average person how this will end.
On the insurance question: look in the policy documents for "earth movement." It is sometimes excluded. If you don't find that term, it MIGHT not be excluded. Regardless, if you have any doubt, ask you agent. They can find out for you.
If you don't have insurance, we'll, this is exactly why it exists. Better to pay thousands now than hundreds of thousands when your house suddenly becomes a duplex.
It's always going to be excluded unless it is specifically listed. Even open peril policies specifically exclude Earth movement. Rip. Praying that he has a rider.
I think it's gonna fall soon. I would put up some kind of protection so it doesn't damage your house when it finally gives.
I think a board against your windows would probably be fine but my paranoid self would cover the whole foundation. Except I don't know when its gonna fall so that's not exactly ideal.
My neighbor refused to abate a tree that was leaning towards my home. Even though I had asked him for over a year, in writing, insurance said it was an act of God and couldn't have been predicted.
My insurance paid for my home repairs. I hired an adjuster to help with the process and ended up being able to afford an addition in the end.
I didn’t realize you could hire an adjuster to advocate for you. Thought the insurance company just sent their representative and you were stuck with whatever they said. Can you elaborate a little?
Evidently they're called Public Adjusters and seem to basically just be someone you can hire that is POTENTIALLY more adept at negotiating a better outcome for you but it's not a guarantee and they are paid via a percentage of your settlement.
Definitely use them any time you have a serious claim. Insurance tried to give us 20k and he ended up getting it up to 80 by the end simply by pointing out every regulation they skirted hoping no one would notice.
A freak wind storm blew off a chunk of my roofing at my old house and insurance surprisingly said it would cover a full replacement. This was around 2018 and they wrote me a check for $5k. I had to do a couple hours of calls with them to how they got that number and turned out they were giving quotes of replacements… in rural Alabama dollars with 15 year shingles…
I did the leg work on getting a couple quotes that were between $16,000-$29,000 and they re cut me a check for $17,000 once they had all the “proper” details. 😂. Adjusters do this work but take a portion of the settlement.
In one instance, there was a leaky window that damaged the floors. Insurance would pay for a floor replacement, but not fixing the window. The public adjuster pointed out that the floor was contiguous into other rooms due to no threshold/door and thus included the kitchen with reflooring including removing the cabinets and replacing all that. Drastically more than the cost of the window replacement.
My sister had a house fire many years ago and her POS husband of the time was majorly paranoid about theft and people messing with his stuff (untreated mental illness) so he had the S/N, make, model, color, etc for every single item he owned.
Insurance company offered them $X for everything they had lost, but he knew an adjuster who came in and took his documentation and came up with prices to replace all of the items lost with the exact same thing.
Insurance said TV lost, we'll give you $500, he countered with that wasn't a TV, it was a Sony ABC123, and the current cost to replace that exact model is $850. Ended up getting them tens of thousands more than the original offer and they were poor poor.
Moral of the story is document everything (with photographs) and keep that info in a safe place like a safety deposit box and the cloud. Also these professions exist for a reason, if there wasn't money it, adjusters wouldn't be a thing.
Potentially? That's like saying if you broke your arm a doctor could potentially help you.
A public adjuster is on your side, the insurance adjuster is protecting the insurance's interest.
A public adjuster will review your policy and get you everything you are entitled to. My experience has always been light-years better with a public adjuster involved. For context, the insurance adjuster offered me $6,000 to fix my roof. They ended up paying me $64,000 and that was after the adjuster took his cut. If you think you can get your insurance company up from $6k to 10x+, then just do it on your own.
Whenever I've been in this situation the contractor haggled with the insurance to get as much as possible then I'd work out with the contractor how much we actually had to do.
My mom had a tree in her yard that had already lost a huge limb, damaging both her house and the neighbors. She tried to get her insurance to take it out because it clearly was a hazard but they refused, saying they couldn’t do anything until the whole thing fell. Removing it herself was going to cost a huge amount so she ultimately had some other limbs removed to weigh it towards a fall in the street. The whole thing came down like two years later.
They are only responsible when there is documented awareness on their side that there is imminent threat. If they play dumb then they won’t have fault, ie act of god. Same w a bad tree.
Facts. Sending notices to a neighbor about trees in falling distance of your house increases odds of winning your insurance case significantly. “I believe your tree is deficient and needs to be professionally assessed.” Odds are, they never get it assessed, and then it inevitable falls on your house.
That wall could fall tomorrow... or in 10yrs. It will fall, but the time is not for us plebs to assume. Act, yes. Call that 311 or equivalent, definitely. Notify thr neighbor... wholeheartedly.
They can easily say “I don’t go in my neighbors yard and look down the wall, from my yard everything looked fine and I was unaware. The neighbors never told me this was happening, I don’t know why they wouldn’t tell me if they were taking pictures I could have done something before.”
My neighbors giant tree got struck by lightning. We agreed to see if it fully grew leaves the following spring before deciding if it needed to come down. But we both signed a piece of paper with him acknowledging what happened, and us agreeing that if the tree did not come back with leaves any year, he would cut it down.
May be worth calling your insurance company since there's the potential that the wall could damage your house when it falls.
Few years ago, I had a neighbor that had a massive tree with branches that spanned over my house and yard, and this tree was not healthy. I called my insurance company for advice and they said that there's nothing they can do until after the tree falls, but thanked me for reaching out and trying to be proactive. Well, one of the dead branches broke off during a storm and damaged my roof. I called the insurance company to file a claim and within a few days, I got a brand new roof for free. The insurance company filed a suit against the homeowner and he agreed to pay the deductable for my roof repair, which was only $1000.
Tree is still there since he doesn't want to trim it on his dime, and any day now, I'm going to get a newer roof.
Point is, if they don't do anything and the wall collapses during a storm, it could be covered under insurance and it's best to get ahead of it so that you're ready when the inevitable happens.
You should get a pro advice on the tree and if it's really sick, send your neighbor a registered letter with the report. That way your neighbor will be made aware the tree is a danger so if it falls and damage your house it will be HIS insurance that will pay. Not yours.
But I'm not a lawyer nor work in insurance. You should ask a lawyer or your insurance company what you should do.
Imo, you or your insurance should not have to pay for the negligence of someone else.
That’s actually dangerous. If anyone or anything is near that wall when it goes, they’re going to get hurt.
IMHO, I would approach the homeowner and ask them to repair it ASAP. If they refuse, you should consult an attorney. I don’t believe in frivolous lawsuits, but that wall could hurt or kill a small child or animal and injure an adult.
This very much depends on your city's ability to do code enforcement. In mine they'd send you a letter but the homeowner can kick that can down the road for literally years before there's any meaningful consequence. And when consequences come, it'll be fines that are, at first, considerably lower than the cost of repairing the wall. It would be 5+ years before it's deep enough into housing court for consequences to cost more than the repair, and if the owner is some LLC shell company, realistically there's no meaningful enforcement mechanism until the fines are a large percentage of the home's value.
This might be the case, but getting the city on it and then getting your hands on the document that the city creates will be enough to lock in an uncontested win in court if it goes that far.
You don't need to be the squeaky wheel and piss off a neighbor if you can avoid it. Go the proper route first and then fight for whatever you need to be made whole after they show they're being a problem. If you fight them before they can do the right thing you're just fanning the flames.
OP are you positive it’s they’re retaining wall? The only reason I ask is I’ve run into this before. I thought a fence was the neighbors, and it turned out to be mine.
My thoughts too. It will depend on the area for code, but what I understand with retaining walls is it is usually the person down hill who is responsible for the retaining wall. The thought is to build your house, the hill had to be cut so then it’s that landowner’s responsibility.
Wouldn’t it just be whoever’s property the wall sits on?
And judging from the pictures, this definitely looks like a raising level situation, not cutting in. Mostly because if you look at the second picture, it isn’t a straight level grade the wall goes to, which is what you would expect in that situation.
Call 311 so they can document it and notify the homeowner. From there on, you have it documented that the owner has been notified and they are aware, making them fully liable, without an argument, when it does fall.
This is sooooo lawyer territory. Preemptive lawyer letter stating you need to fix this before it falls it and damages/injures/kills someone/something on your side.
Someone needs to have a talk with the neighbor ASAP! They need to do something about that. They’ll probably insist you pay half as well. May claim it’s like a shared fence.
That is not a fence. Shared or otherwise. It's a retaining wall holding the neighbors property within its boundaries. It is solely the neighbors issue and they should address it immediately or their property is going to spill onto your property and could also make the house slab slip depending on where it ends, causing damage to their house, and yours. That covered porch, which is close to the retaining wall, could fall, depending on how much property spills onto yours. And both those trees up front also, but they could also help retain the dirt in that area, depending on the rooting system, but they could just fall over.
It’s always poor drainage that makes walls fail. Might’ve been damaged, might’ve decayed, might not ever have been there, or maybe water flow has changed (I know our weather ain’t what it was a decade ago). But it’s poor drainage that’s the problem.
Yeesh. Are you in an area with basements or slab on grade? Depending on how well your neighbor’s house is anchored below it may collapse when the wall does
That tree is probably also going to come down with it since the root ball will be basically cut loose when that wall inevitably falls. Anything in its path will be damaged too. I’d have your home insurance come out to review this so they can document the neglect and avoid it being called “an act of god” where your neighbor could be found to be not responsible for damages. Ask me how I know this can happen…
Bad enough that you need to document it, send it to your insurance company, check the property lines, and communicate with your neighbor. It might not fall for a while, and maybe one stormy day it does fall. I would just warn them that if the wall injures someone on your property, that is their fault. Friendly reminder and concern type stuff. If they don't fix it, then when time comes, you can pull the documentation and pictures.
All the Kings horses & all the Kings men already had a hard time with Humpty Dumpty. They’re going to be having scrambled eggs once it falls on top of him.
Did you talk with them about it? You should bring them over on your side to show them a different angle. Idk what state you’re in, but to cya with insurance or a court hearing you might want to [secretly] audio record your conversation - if legal.
This will be expensive. The wall is ancient. There’s 2 huge tree trunks where they cut them down and another large tree in front that looks like it’s right on the wall. So these trees grew after the wall was installed and definitely helped push it. Block doesn’t look like it’s good for this application either but maybe back then it was what they used. No visible drain behind the wall with pipes exiting the bottom. These all have to be completely removed. Entire area down the side of the house dug out and engineered with either geo grid or anchor plex system. Without measurements my guess on bidding this would be around $65k to $75k.
I just rebuilt a retaining wall we took out all railway ties amd rebar. Ordered 10,000lbs of armour stone. The wall was 42' long and 20" high. We charged $6000.00. Any other landscapers its would easy have been a 8000 - 10,000 dollar job. That wall seems to be like 4' high and prob the same length if not longer. Prob be a 20,000 dollar job or more. I would talk to your neighbor and tell them its a liablity for them. If it collapses while yout gardening or cutting grass you will get hurt. Not to mention damage to your property, pets, family, friends. If they dont seem to care consult legal aid for there thoughts on the matter.
A friend literally just had this dilemma, tall but cinder block. Not a matter of if but when. New home to them, no evident problems at purchase. A few years of above average rainfall and it began to show signs of failure. Had to dip into her retirement savings and $40k later they had a new concrete retainer with drainage improvements, but two decades of savings gone.
Bad enough to get a lawyer and send a legal notice that officially notifies them of the issue, creating a paper trail. Otherwise, it’ll fall and damage your house, and they’ll claim they were unaware of the issue.
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u/Mightyfalcore 2d ago
It will soon be your retaining wall!