Would I have ongoing liability?

[Onmyleft]

I am buying a property where the boundary wall needs repairing. The wall in question belongs to the neighbours but they are being difficult. They admit to having built the wall.

My vendors have written to the neighbours to say that they will proceed to fix the wall because of the imminent danger to life that it poses. The fix will be removing the wall and replacing it with a wooden fence.

Should I be worried that if they fix the wall that responsibility for maintenance will now fall on me? Will ownership of the wall pass to me? They are doing the right thing by sorting out this problem but will this just create problems for me in the future?

Would it be better if they simply built something within their boundary that stops the danger and not touch the neighbours dangerous wall?

Could they take the wall down and leave it at that ? Remove the danger only

Remove wall, install fence within the boundary (for which you would be responsible). There is no obligation to have a fence/wall though.

Thanks. I didn’t realise this was the case that they could simply take it down. I would want a fence to keep things enclosed.

I don’t want to enter a situation where there is a dispute so I will suggest to them to only build a fence on their boundary and gently remove the dangerous brick wall.

I get so scared about these boundary issues. I’ve heard so many horror stories.

Or they leave wall and put a fence their side to prevent access.

Can they not just inform the council who would insist something is done if dangerous ? Worse case they will fix it and bill the neighbours

If it belongs to the neighbours and removed without their consent I don’t envy you moving next to them.

The estate agent thinks we are better off letting the vendors repair the wall either by rebuilding a wall or putting a fence. She said anything on the vendors’s side would probably be temporary and would look unsightly. It would also restrict how we use or make changes in the garden in the future. She also said that what needs to be done to fix the problem may be more complex and so it is safer for us to let the vendors achieve a more permanent solution to the problem. Her advice sounds very sensible.

The neighbour is a landlord so he does not live there. He knows the wall needs to be fixed but said it is too much money. He is being difficult for two reasons; he does not want to spend the money and would like the sale to fall so he could purchase the property. He has asked the vendors to sell it to him but they are sticking with us.

The vendors say they will deal with the wall and pursue the neighbour legally to recover costs. I don’t know too much about what they plan to do.

Is it a level wall, or holding back an incline ?

It's not unusual for some more "quaint" properties that have been built specifically to a location to have quirks of the landscape that will feature on a regular basis in the ongoing maintenance of the property.

It's also not unusual for some owners to have a surprise when it turns out they need to replace a wall every 10 years at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds, as they are effectively holding half a hill up.

Even more fun when it's a series of walls along a series of properties.