My house is on a fairly steep slope rising up from the road about 50 metres. We have two neighbours along the left hand side of our property, each of their blocks are 25 metres along ours. The higher of the two blocks has been built on fill. I can see on Google Street View from ~10 years ago how it was filled then retained. For reasons unknown, a 3 metre high sandstone retaining wall was constructed between the two neighbours, but it was not extended to our property, leaving the corner as exposed earth on our side of the boundary. To make matters worse, the neighbour's deck comes right up to the edge of the retaining wall/earth wall, so any more erosion and we might get a collapse. In addition to the unretained earth, the fill they used has wire barbs stick out in some places. A retaining wall builder quoted us $12,500 (including engineering) to get it fixed. Not something that we can afford.
From what I understand, all three properties were built around the same time, around 10 years ago but ownership has changed. We only bought our house six months ago, and the neighbours less than a year ago also. When we bought it, the unretained earth was covered in foliage and the building/pest didn't make much of a mention of it. Based on my understanding, it should be the neighbours who are responsible for retaining the earth as their property sits atop the fill and they are the primary beneficiaries. I haven't approached the them about it, not sure they are even aware, but I am sure the idea of them forking out $12,500 is not appealing for them either and we'd like to maintain neighbourly harmony. I wonder if it would be possible to make some sort of claim against the original developers or the council approvers who signed off what is clearly an unfinished process??
Any advice would be appreciated prior to us approaching the neighbours.
From what I understand, all three properties were built around the same time, around 10 years ago but ownership has changed. We only bought our house six months ago, and the neighbours less than a year ago also. When we bought it, the unretained earth was covered in foliage and the building/pest didn't make much of a mention of it. Based on my understanding, it should be the neighbours who are responsible for retaining the earth as their property sits atop the fill and they are the primary beneficiaries. I haven't approached the them about it, not sure they are even aware, but I am sure the idea of them forking out $12,500 is not appealing for them either and we'd like to maintain neighbourly harmony. I wonder if it would be possible to make some sort of claim against the original developers or the council approvers who signed off what is clearly an unfinished process??
Any advice would be appreciated prior to us approaching the neighbours.
