Who is responsible for retaining wall on property line

If the neighbour has concerns, they may engage a professional engineer to provide a report, along with plans and specifications, on the need to shore up any excavation or to underpin, stabilize or otherwise strengthen the foundations of any building. They are also required to pay the reasonable costs of obtaining the report, plans and specifications. Payment can be enforced, if necessary, by application to the Environment, Resources and Development Court.

If the neighbour has requested that work be carried out, as specified by a professional engineer, the person building the wall may be able to obtain some payment from the neighbour towards the work, either by negotiation or by application to the Environment Resources and Development Court. This may occur, for example, when the neighbour will obtain some additional benefit from the performance of the work specified by the engineer. A land owner who has been served a Schedule 10A Form 1 Intention Notice and believes they need more time to obtain engineering advice should, in the first instance and if possible, discuss the matter with the person proposing to do the building work.

If more time is not agreed, the land owner may make an application to the Environment, Resources and Development Court to stop commencement of work until necessary engineering advice has been obtained. If required notice was not given before work was done, a neighbouring owner may, if necessary, apply to the Environment, Resources and Development Court to have further work done to ensure the stability of their land is not affected.

It is not the role of local councils to check or enforce the service of notice in relation to work that may affect the stability of neighbouring land.

However, if a local council has received a development application, which includes a retaining wall that does not itself need approval, the council may attach an advisory notice to its approval, reminding the owner that they may still need provide notice under s of the Act by the prescribed form, a Schedule 10A Form 1 Intention Notice.

If so, and if you need development approval, your application to the relevant authority must indicate that you have approval to build from the relevant person or authority who benefits from the easement or encumbrance. If you do not need development approval, you must still obtain the approval of the authority controlling the easement or the person holding the encumbrance before starting work.

The most important factor in answering this question is determining the natural state of the land, as land in its natural state needs no support. It is only when the natural land is altered that support is required. Any party can alter the natural state of their land subject to development controls , but with this ability comes the obligation to support the adjoining natural land. As a general rule, each owner is responsible for retaining the portion of earth that they or the previous land owner have altered from the natural ground level.

This could be fill placed on top of the natural ground level or excavation below the natural ground level. In Pantalone v Alaouie 18 NSWLR , Giles J considered the law of nuisance and found "withdrawal of support from land is an actionable nuisance for which strict liability attaches without proof of negligence. If a land owner is experiencing loss or damage because their neighbour has altered the natural state of the land, even though their neighbour has a responsibility to support the land, the land owner has an obligation to mitigate minimise their damage.

If action is not taken to mitigate damage, any claim they may have may be affected. Rather than each owner building a separate wall to retain what they have filled or excavated, it is usually more practical and economical to build one retaining wall. It is therefore advisable to discuss your plans with your neighbours.

Where one party fills and the adjoining owner excavates, each party is liable according to the proportion that the retaining wall supports the fill or excavation.

What happens when there is an existing retaining wall? Owner A also has an obligation to ensure the existing retaining wall is not overloaded. This may require piers to be sunk below the level of the existing retaining wall to maintain its integrity. The owner B seeking to excavate will be responsible for the cost of the retaining wall to support the excavation they caused and also any costs to ensure that the previous retaining wall erected by the adjoining owner A is adequately supported.

However, under the Planning, Development and Infrastructure General Regulations SA , the existing fill retaining wall should have been built to allow for some excavation on the adjoining property. If this did not happen and stabilizing work is needed, B may be able to argue that A should contribute to the cost of this work.

In that particular case, the cause of the damage was the failure of the wall as opposed to landslip. The reason we are making this point is it is very important to check with your insurers to see what your policy actually covers, because there is quite a distinction here between a retained wall giving way through deterioration and lack of maintenance and an accidental event such as landslip or heavy rainfall causing the land to unexpectedly slide irrespective of the quality of the retained wall.

Skip to primary navigation Skip to main content Skip to footer Boundary disputes and questions over boundary responsibility often come at a very high cost with sometimes very little reward, so it is important to establish who has responsibility for a boundary.

What is a retaining wall? Who is responsible for maintaining a retaining wall? Exceptions There are some exceptions to this general position however if the landowner of the lower land to a retaining wall has excavated a way to his own land to provide a lower but level area or if the owner of the land on the lower part of the retained wall had undertaken repair works that can indicate they have assumed responsibility for maintaining that retained wall.

Public highways In the majority of cases where a wall retains or supports a public highway then it is the responsibility of the highway authority. What if the retaining wall collapses?

Connect with us Facebook LinkedIn Twitter. However, the neighbour with the plans can request payment from the homeowner if they require work to be carried out, as specified, by an engineer. When the land is altered, it requires support of a retaining wall. The party who alters it also has the obligation to create the wall. It makes no sense for both landowners to build separate retaining walls. And what about the cost? The neighbour who built the wall is also responsible for the repair and maintenance.

If the structure was built to benefit both parties, upkeep is a shared responsibility.