Boundary and retaining wall

[Foeveryoung1]

Hello, this is my first time posting in the legal section. I hope you can help with some insights.

I am purchasing a property that has a left-hand side rear garden boundary retaining wall with the neighbours situated at the higher point on the hill. That would be left-hand side with my back against the back of the house.

The wall in question has been assessed by an independent RICS surveyor and separately by a builder as posing a threat to life. It looks like it is on its way to collapse and would severely damage other structures in the garden as well as potential hurt/kill someone if they are unfortunate enough to be around when it collapses.

We have said to the vendor that we would only proceed if they get written legal commitment from the owner that this will be rectified at a specified date.

We are worried that this will be a long drawn out process and not worth our bother of waiting for this to be resolved not least because the vendor will need to determine conclusively who has liability for the retaining wall. We think it is generally the house whose land is being retained by the wall, which would be the neighbours.

Any advice on what we should be wary of? Any experience of this issue? Should we run away from this? Should the council be informed? We’re talking here of 200ft in length and over 2.5 meters in height.

Bump

I would not be buying that property. It will be a v expensive problem to fix.

I would not buy the property unless you had explicit confirmation that the current owners or either going to replace/repair the wall to the same quality and type before you move in or pay for it in advance. You need to be careful in case They get rid of the wall and put in something rubbish which will just cause problems later on.

Walk away

The wall is likely to be the liability of the neighbours not the vendor of the property we are buying from. Would that change how you handle the matter?

I wouldn't buy it. Depending how long you stay in the property, the wall might need restabilising. If the danger wasn't immediately apparent to you, and only the RICS surveyor noted it, then how would you assess whether the danger had reoccurred in the future? You could be killed in 10 or 15 years by the collapse.

I'd also be quite worried that a burst pipe and/ or heavy rains could undermine the wall, even if it were stabilised. The 50/100 year event that they secure it against could be overwhelmed and the chances of that occurring are just as likely to be tomorrow as they are in 100 years time.

No, because you can't guarantee they are going to fix it. They might not want to, they may not be able to afford to. Even if they did one day they will move house and the new owners may not maintain the wall to a good standard.

I’m sorry to say this but yes - run away from this one...until it’s actually fixed by whoever is liable (& it’ll be expensive & complicated to sort by the sound of it) then don’t touch with a barge pole!!

You need to establish 100% who owns the wall.