Hazardous garage needs demolishing

[anteena]

Hello

I've just discovered that my garage I wanted to turn into an office is a safety hazard as the bricks have blown etc
I can not afford to demolish and rebuild so our only option is to demolish and build a fence.

This is where It gets complicated. My parent owned the house before me and the garage was a detached garage. In the 80s my parents went on holiday and the neighbours built a garage up against it using our wall which was solely on our land as a fence panel was against it.
New neighbours moved in and now 40 years later I have to knock mine down.
The neighbours claim its now a shared wall as they have used it for so long so I must pay to build them a new wall and fix their roof where they built theirs.
I can not afford to do this. Is what they say true, they now have a claim on that wall even though it's a safety hazard?

I want to take it down but they are saying to leave it up or replace it but it's in my garden not theirs and it seems so unfair.
The neighbours have rented out the house for 18 years and not spent a penny maintaining it and the tenants are taking them too court so I know it's only because they don't want to pay for wall on their property.
I can't afford legal advice or surveyor but if I leave it up and someone gets hurt then I'm liable. It feels like a no win situation. I'm really hoping someone can help me with advice
I've attached 2 pics mine is the blue door slightly open on the right. They used my wall then built on past that
Many thanks

Does your house insurance have legal cover? Maybe they could advise.

It looks as though the neighbour's garage is built against yours but is it your wall visible inside their garage or is their garage just butting right up to yours? Impossible to tell from the photos. Agree with the pp who suggests your insurers may be able to help.

If you don't find the advice you need here, I would recommend going to Reddit.com and seeing if you can find their sub-reddit for legal matters. If you are in the UK it will be called something like UKLegal, failing that something like UKHousing. There are a vast number of people on that forum and I am sure you will find a lawyer who really knows what they are talking about.

Thankyou I'm not sure about the legal cover. I will check

I don't know will see if they let me look

Thankyou I will take a look

It looks like they built up to your garage, but using their own wall from the photos, difficult to be certain. You could demolish the test of the garage and leave that side standing if need be.

I would ring your home buildings insurers in the first instance. They will come and look and advise you.

You could demolish the test of the garage and leave that side standing if need be.

I did think that could be an option, although op then has their garage wall in her garden.

Thank you for all your responses. We did think about leaving up that wall but it's crumbling and could fall on us if we are up that end of the garden.
So say by some miracle they decide to pay for a new wall can they demand to put it back up on my land?

If it's been there a long time they could argue adverse possession. However it is your wall so that would be tricky. You really need a boundary dispute lawyer, they will suggest mediation.

You can make a claim for adverse possession of registered land these days so it's worth speaking to a property lawyer about how best to handle this before approaching the neighbours.