VIC Retaining wall on cut/fill boundary

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JanOef

Member
29 January 2019
1
0
1
Hi,
I bought a block of land in a new Estate where the 'Lots' have been flattened by the developer and adjoined by 'cut' and 'fill'. They all look very easy to build on. There is an Erosion Management Overlay in place.
Last week, I was informed by my signed up building company that they can't begin working on the estimate for the site work as I needed to organise the construction of the retaining wall beforehand. This involves employing an engineer, building surveyor, planning permit application , a builder and an inspection of the construction of the retaining wall. As it turned out ( to my surprise ) the wall height would be 0.80 to 0.90 cm with a fence on top. I am on the higher side.
I was not given a contour plan with the true topography beneath the infill as part of section 32.

Q1: The Real Estate Agent, should he have informed me re above prior my purchase of the land ? Was it his professional obligation and legal duty to do so ?

Q2: Because of a mandatory construction of the retaining wall on the shared boundary in place ( due to the circumstances of the erosion management overlay and existing cut/ fill situation ) should the costs be shared by both neighbours 50/50 ?

Q3: As the retaining wall will be both , the footing and support for the fence as well, is the retaining wall interpreted as part of the fence structure on top ? and such justifies that all costs in relation to the retaining wall plus fence should be equally divided between the two neighbours ?

Unfortunately , I did not find any convincing material in context on the internet. That's why I joined
LawAnswers today.
Thanks for advice in advance,
Regards
JanOef
 

Paul Cott

Well-Known Member
LawConnect (LawTap) Verified
26 May 2014
342
100
889
Ballarat, Victoria
Hi Jan,

There's a lot of issues in your inquiry. In short, question 1 possibly and question 2 and 3 and only on the basis of what you've said, not having viewed any docs obviously, are probably. This is a tricky set of issues to sort out by yourself. Good luck, Paul Cott.
 

Tripe

Well-Known Member
22 May 2017
229
14
619
Q1) Clarify with you council, if you need engineers etc involved if the retaining wall is less than 1.0m.
Normally, retaining wallls need engineers etc above 1m

Q2) in general, retaining walls costs are proportioned by who benefits, if you have 1m of cut and the neighbour has 0.5m of fill, you would be liable for a 2/3rd contribution.

Q3) in general a retaining wall is not a fence, in the context of most dividing fence acts. So the fence would be a separate expense to the retaining wall, and a 50/50 split.

Give your local council a call to further clarify.