Hi,
I live in a strata block in Sydney East. Our property shares a retaining wall with a neighbouring family home.
Several years ago our neighbours raised an issue where they wanted to repair the retaining wall quickly as they were going to build a "studio" near the boundary and wanted us to share the costs. We had not objected but wanted to get a survey done first.
They had built the studio very quickly and rather close to the boundary by the time the survey was done.
The wall is on the boundary
As the wall is in a bad state we had now been trying to agree to repair the retaining wall with them as well as the sharing of the cost 50:50 for approx 5 years.
We also wish to erect a fence as the occupants of the "studio" as well as anyone attending the trees on our neighbours' property regularly trespasses and uses our property for access.
We have obtained quotes repeatedly and made proposals in writing to neighbours where we organise all the work but ask them to share costs.
They always come up with excuses not to do the work
1) they believed water was running from our property onto theirs
We had that inspected and and a small fix was done
2) they were concerned that a 1.5 m fence will overshadow their property and requested a meeting to discuss. We agreed and they did not show up
We wrote to them suggesting to put fence on hold and repair wall first
3) they raised concern about a tree on their property near the boundary which they now want inspected by an arborist first to see if it needs to be removed
Variations of this have been going on for 5 years and we are unable to progress.
What are our options to resolve this given friendly negotiations seem to have got us nowhere in 5 years?
The NCAT tribunal seems to deal with fences and with retaining walls only if needed for fence support, which may or may not be our case, based on my googling.
Our Strata Management company has been useless with any advice
Kind regards
Jana
I live in a strata block in Sydney East. Our property shares a retaining wall with a neighbouring family home.
Several years ago our neighbours raised an issue where they wanted to repair the retaining wall quickly as they were going to build a "studio" near the boundary and wanted us to share the costs. We had not objected but wanted to get a survey done first.
They had built the studio very quickly and rather close to the boundary by the time the survey was done.
The wall is on the boundary
As the wall is in a bad state we had now been trying to agree to repair the retaining wall with them as well as the sharing of the cost 50:50 for approx 5 years.
We also wish to erect a fence as the occupants of the "studio" as well as anyone attending the trees on our neighbours' property regularly trespasses and uses our property for access.
We have obtained quotes repeatedly and made proposals in writing to neighbours where we organise all the work but ask them to share costs.
They always come up with excuses not to do the work
1) they believed water was running from our property onto theirs
We had that inspected and and a small fix was done
2) they were concerned that a 1.5 m fence will overshadow their property and requested a meeting to discuss. We agreed and they did not show up
We wrote to them suggesting to put fence on hold and repair wall first
3) they raised concern about a tree on their property near the boundary which they now want inspected by an arborist first to see if it needs to be removed
Variations of this have been going on for 5 years and we are unable to progress.
What are our options to resolve this given friendly negotiations seem to have got us nowhere in 5 years?
The NCAT tribunal seems to deal with fences and with retaining walls only if needed for fence support, which may or may not be our case, based on my googling.
Our Strata Management company has been useless with any advice
Kind regards
Jana
