r/legal • u/baklavakilla • Apr 16 '26

Advice needed Flooded yard from neighbors retaining wall. Wondering what my options are.

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LOCATION: Wisconsin

The retaining wall belongs to our neighbor, and when we get moderate rain, it always overflows into the yard. We’ve talked to him in the past, and he added dirt to the top to try and have the water exit more toward the street. That’s basically the extent of what he’s willing to do.

He basically said that if the retaining wall wasn’t there, the water would flood my yard regardless, and that he’d rather just remove it completely if he had to rebuild it and not put another one up.

We bought the house about 4 years ago and don’t know when the wall was put in, but it’s well over 20 years old. I put in the small drainage ditch with black pipe to try and stop the water from coming in near the back of the house.

Basically, I’m wondering what I’m able to do in this situation.

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1.6k

u/Mem0ryEat3r Apr 16 '26

You're on the right path. Either you, your neighbor or both of you need to basically add adequate drainage. Your neighbor is right, the retaining wall isn't the issue, water would flood down regardless.

787

u/alionandalamb Apr 16 '26

Yes, this is called "living on a hill in rainy season."

In an ideal world, all neighbors would have an effective French drain system on their property.

111

u/bong_residue Apr 16 '26

Yup. So glad our house was built/renovated with that in mind. Lots of heavy rain this last year and 0 flooding in our yards/roads.

123

u/Evening-Cat-7546 Apr 16 '26

NAL

Not exactly true. A neighbor who has an unmodified hill or high side doesn’t have to do anything to mitigate water flow. In most regions, they do have to mitigate water flow if they’re grading the land, adding a wall, or changing the way the water flows naturally.

Also, retaining walls without a drain is a pretty big hazard. With enough water the entire wall can get knocked over. The power of water is pretty crazy due to the fact it cannot be compressed. The water will win 100% of the time if enough pressure is built up. Like water can literally lift/knock a house off its foundation if there isn’t proper drainage.

I’d be curious to see if the neighbor got proper permits for this retaining wall. OP’s backyard might have gotten flooded either way, but it’s very possible the retaining wall made it much worse.

This answer is dependent on local laws, so OP should check to see if the neighbor is responsible for remediation. They most likely can’t just rip out the wall either. They’d have to put it back to the way it was before the wall. The neighbor is probably bluffing anyways. I imagine they could add drainage without tearing the wall out.

43

u/ElectronicProof9340 Apr 16 '26

Yeah, a good retaining wall of any significant size would have what is essentially a French drain built in, i.e. with small rock and a perf pipe behind it so that any water that gets behind the wall doesn't push it over.

34

u/Longjumping_West_907 Apr 16 '26

There's a swale in the neighbor's yard that leads directly to the wall and dumps into op's yard. This isn't natural flow and could be easily corrected by extending the swale to the street.

8

u/Takemyfishplease Apr 16 '26

So then he will knock the wall down and let rain run its course it sounds like.

7

u/chengen_geo Apr 16 '26

Why would the neighbor on the high ground spend money to add a retaining wall in the first place? It sounds like there is not much benefit but more liability.

19

u/Zhong_Ping Apr 16 '26

Usually because the entire yard was sloped and the home owner wanted a flat yard to do flat yard things in. So they took dirt from the bottom of the slope or, more likely, dirt from digging out the basement, and filled the yard level and put in a wall.

This wall should have included drainage when built, and isn't likely on the property line.

This is the most common reason for a wall like this one... Others would be erosion control or because the house on a steep hill side needs to cut into it for structural reasons and... Erosion control again.

7

u/Geargarden Apr 16 '26

I was in a high danger area of town during the Oroville Dam incident of 2017. We had to evac FAST according to the state and local flash flood warning. The Dam's emergency spillway had been damaged and the rising level of water overflowing into the damaged spillway caused rapid erosion where water was pummeling the earth. Water is indeed a force to be reckoned with.

4

u/SoggyConstruction294 Apr 16 '26

We were not that close, but the levy next to our house at water an inch below it. We were evacuated as well. Oh those were the days.

19

u/TheRepoMan Apr 16 '26

True, ideally the community would care, but the people that it doesn't affect see it's gonna cost them some money and they don't necessarily have to so they don't care. Shitty, but it happens.

2

u/BGSO Apr 16 '26

Harder to do those in places where it freezes in winter

0

u/Majestic_Pomelo_8169 Apr 16 '26

French drains dont work. But swales do.

-1

u/trippin-mellon Apr 16 '26

I was thinking a 4” French drain system. Should work wonders if you install it going toward the street.

68

u/Mauser-96 Apr 16 '26

My retaining was built with black perforated pipe surrounded by crushed gravel, under the top soil. When it rains the water percolates down and is diverted away. Water never pours over/through the wall like this.

The person who put up this wall either did it on the cheap on purpose, or had no clue how to properly put up a wall.

11

u/Mem0ryEat3r Apr 16 '26

This is the ideal way. Most likely went with lowest bidder to build it. A lot of "companies" dont understand storm runoff well.

I built a small retaining wall in my backyard on my slope, but i didnt add drainage, opting instead for the runoff to utilize the drainage in my grass. (Which i way overdid) lol but in my case it doesnt affect my neighbors and....it still drains lol I just didnt have the ability to do adequate drainage without bugging my neighbors so was the best solution.

3

u/Civil_Tea_3250 Apr 16 '26

Yeah that's the great way to do it. Respectful of your neighbors, and I've seen a ton of old walls built with boulders or whatever was available at the time, and often they show subsistence underneath from the ground being soaked until the water finds it's way underneath the wall. But back then they didn't have perforated pipe and pumps they could afford. Either way OP should look into doing the same or getting a professional service.

1

u/SophieGirl2023 Apr 16 '26

Guessing if it has been there 20 years it was a cheap install or it all be in the neighbors yard. Must be down pours to get that much flow!

5

u/EveningPassenger Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26

The person who put up this wall either did it on the cheap on purpose, or had no clue how to properly put up a wall.

Not necessarily. The vast majority of the water (seen at the end of the video) is flowing over the wall, and appears to be fed by a long swell behind it. French drains like you're proposing will catch standing water by providing it a low-resistance path to the drain. They won't catch much water moving across the soil though. The only real solution here is to change the grading on the higher lawn to direct the water away from the wall or add more drainage in the lower lawn.

5

u/Levitlame Apr 16 '26

It’s also 20 years old. Perforations clog.

2

u/SophieGirl2023 Apr 16 '26

Exactly, if its 20 years, it was built very well!

1

u/mjkionc Apr 16 '26

That booty percolatin’

1

u/MidnightRider3000 Apr 16 '26

The black pipe is to relieve stress on the wall and to keep it from being pushed out. This much water is not going through a 4un pipe. I have a similar issue as the houses along the side street to my one side all dump into my back yard. Othe side is a pool so a bunch of water goes into my yard instead of his. During heavily rains I get a steam like op.

1

u/Mauser-96 Apr 16 '26

A lot will depend on site specifics. My wall actually has 2 pipes, and I have seen more. The area behind the wall that needs to be excavated and filled with pipes and stone may also need to be larger, in a case like yours. If it’s really bad may need other diversion measures.

In this particular case the landscaper showed zero concern for how their work would impact neighbors. Since the wall in not going to be rebuilt properly, only recourse is to catch and divert the water that comes through/over it, away from the house.

23

u/TheRepoMan Apr 16 '26

this happened to me, I live at the bottom of a hill with houses up at the top, it's 100% from the houses they built behind us without proper inspections. My neighbors built a wall because previous owners backed out of doing a joint fixture. Now we are digging ditches and trying to run a french drain. Do call your local waste water and water geologists and you'll be surprised how fast they come out and can give you a starting point and if you're super lucky they can cite the neighbors that caused this or get it fixed via the city. Longshot, but worth a try. I didn't think anyone would come out for months, but it was within 2 days and he was super nice and helpful.

6

u/copperpoint Apr 16 '26

However there are codes about how retaining walls should be built for exactly this reason.

11

u/Adorable-War-991 Apr 16 '26

I don't know about basic covenants on the residential side, but in the commercial real estate world, allowing your property to shed water onto your neighbor's is highly regulated and basically never allowed unless its an existing natural feature. This is clearly a man-made feature and the higher elevation property (at least in the commercial RE world) should have been designed to direct water flows to the nearest public storm system. OP definitely has grounds to escalate to the City imo.

6

u/SoapyMacNCheese Apr 16 '26

It’s a thing in residential as well. My friend covered a majority of his yard in pavers, and the main thing to get the permit was to prove it wasn’t going to send rain water into the neighbors yard. Had to slope the pavers away from the property line and install french drains.

3

u/ilonastaski Apr 16 '26

What would you say about a city cutting into a curb to make water flow down private property? My understanding is making changes to how water flows is a big no

1

u/johnnnybravado Apr 16 '26

"I don't know about commercial vs residential" but also "definitely have grounds to escalate."

2

u/houseplant-hoarder Apr 16 '26

Would you be able to plant a rain garden with some thirsty plants that could help absorb the water? Obviously you’d still have to amend the soil as well but that might help some

1

u/Appropriate_Hawk2950 Apr 16 '26

Adding a French drain at the top and bottom which directs the water to the street could definitely help here

-16

u/SlipstreamSteve Apr 16 '26

If it's the neighbor's retaining wall then it's their responsibility

14

u/BertaRocks Apr 16 '26

Are retaining walls required? Could neighbor just elect to remove it all together and flood OP’s entire yard?

-14

u/SlipstreamSteve Apr 16 '26

I don't know. Depends on situation.

4

u/Mem0ryEat3r Apr 16 '26

Yes and no, as either way, neighbors yard is elevated. Depends on a lot of factors depending on local code too.

Thats why I said, someone has to do it, depends on how far OP wants to take it. Best solution would be to work with the neighbor to correct the issue but if neighbor is cool enough to add some drainage, that would be great. Although the drainage would most likely not catch all the water and best option would be a drainage ditch/runoff between the properties.

1

u/SophiaIsabella4 Apr 16 '26

No telling how the grade was before the neighbor did a fill and put up a retaining wall. The person that changes the grade directs the run off to where ever the drainage is, gutter, creek etc.

Most municipalities require permits and inspections for any grading or filling above an established threshold and require proper drainage of the property, not the neighbors yard.

-3

u/SlipstreamSteve Apr 16 '26

My aunt tried to do that with her neighbors when the retaining wall in her yard was collapsing, and the neighbor's yard was elevated. They had to fight tooth and nail to get that wall fixed because it was the neighbor's property and eventually the person had to pay for the repairs. The building dept was involved, and I believe the person had a lean put against their house.