Neighbour has threaten me

Norman_Castle

Take multiple photographs to show the current layout. One relatively amicable solution could be for your wall to be removed. He invited the damp by building as he did and its not your oroblem to resolve. I wouldn't take his threats seriously but if they are repeated explain you will remove anything he puts there and charge him for doing so.

Chandler85

Assuming there is no argument about the retaining wall being yours, then get a couple of baskets for your plants and attach them to the wall, then build your wall as high as his garage is, just put a damp proofing on your side so the damp is forced into his garage.

Or he needs to grow up and come up with a proper solution, mine is below.

Maybe you could suggest lining your flowerbed (at his expense, but it would be cheap really), so that the wet soil doesn't lean directly on the garage wall and is designed to drain out the base, should help him, keeps your with a flower bed and in theory keeps everyone happy.

jimbog

I'm curious why your 5 foot wall wasn't built up to the the boundary and instead a gap being left. Then again, the fact that he didn't build his garage up to your wall shows that he is aware that the land is yours.
 
The reality is he has damp and is upset. Totally his fault, but see if there is way to prevent this escalating (no one, including him, wants stress). One way to resolve it is to clear all the soil (yes, and put the plants elsewhere) but to then leave it clear so that there is a gap - but for no slabs or concrete to be placed in there. It will be helping him out, but you wouldn't be conceding ownership of the land. It's a gesture. 

Simon20203

jimbog said:

I'm curious why your 5 foot wall wasn't built up to the the boundary and instead a gap being left. Then again, the fact that he didn't build his garage up to your wall shows that he is aware that the land is yours.
 
The reality is he has damp and is upset. Totally his fault, but see if there is way to prevent this escalating (no one, including him, wants stress). One way to resolve it is to clear all the soil (yes, and put the plants elsewhere) but to then leave it clear so that there is a gap - but for no slabs or concrete to be placed in there. It will be helping him out, but you wouldn't be conceding ownership of the land. It's a gesture. 

The wall was built like this as it wld be the footprint of our future garage - the space left on the right hand side is where our overhang and spouting would exist so this airspace needed to be left so that we wouldn't intrude on our neighbours land. 

There was originally a fence in this area which he removed to build garage/peeble dash and said there was no point putting it back up as it was old and starting to rot. This was our fence but his wall left a nice clean looking boundary so we didnt see the need to demand him to replace it and I knew it wld now make the perfect high rise flower bed so Said that's fine. 

There are other neighbours who have done this and just built garages up from their retaining walls. 

I like the previous posters idea of a simple waterproof lining as it wld mean I could keep my decorative bed and not make my plants the reason for his complaint. Leaving the space empty wld be pretty hard as there is already concrete/stone/gravel and a pipe through this space and it wld just grow weeds, this is why we maintain it with Strawberries and flowers. The damp is most likely coming from the hill at the rear, this is just the natural passage for which it can flow.

Thanks for the input. 

Simon20203

Chandler85 said:

Assuming there is no argument about the retaining wall being yours, then get a couple of baskets for your plants and attach them to the wall, then build your wall as high as his garage is, just put a damp proofing on your side so the damp is forced into his garage.

Or he needs to grow up and come up with a proper solution, mine is below.

Maybe you could suggest lining your flowerbed (at his expense, but it would be cheap really), so that the wet soil doesn't lean directly on the garage wall and is designed to drain out the base, should help him, keeps your with a flower bed and in theory keeps everyone happy.

I really like the waterproof lining of the flower bed idea - sounds so simple and cheap! I will suggest this to him. And see what he thinks.

Although I think the whole space below the shallow flower bed is most likely the real cause of his problem. The hill is steep and this passage is the easiest way for the water to flow and I'm not convinced him blocking it would be make the situation better. The water will only try to find another route and I'm pretty sure he will be trying to angle it towards my wall and yard and away from his garage. He could of done with building a proper drain at the rear of his garage instead of the makeshift one he has made for his spouting. 

Suns out soon and my wife is anxious about taking the kids in the back yard without him starting something but hopefully he will of reflected on his behaviour and aggressive tone from last night and begin to reason like a normal human being. 

Thanks for your input. 

AdrianC

Simon20203 said:

Suns out soon and my wife is anxious about taking the kids in the back yard without him starting something but hopefully he will of reflected on his behaviour and aggressive tone from last night and begin to reason like a normal human being. 

You actually know him, so you can judge whether that's likely or not.

TBH, I suspect that if he was going to do it, he wouldn't forewarn you with all his bluster and bullying first. He'd just do it, then feign ignorance of the issue.

carefullycautious

Was the space between the garage and wall filled in by him or you? I would have thought it would have been best left empty to allow air to circulate plus if he had put air bricks into the side wall of garage no problems would have occurred surely 

vitaweat

carefullycautious said:

Was the space between the garage and wall filled in by him or you? I would have thought it would have been best left empty to allow air to circulate plus if he had put air bricks into the side wall of garage no problems would have occurred surely 

carefullycautious said:

Was the space between the garage and wall filled in by him or you? I would have thought it would have been best left empty to allow air to circulate plus if he had put air bricks into the side wall of garage no problems would have occurred surely 

Surely it doesn't matter either way.  What the neighbour does on his side of the fence and what the OP does on hers is their own business.  

If the neighbour doesn't want soil next to their garage wall then they need to build inside the boundary line in order to ensure that.  They can't just take a foot from next door in order to remediate their mistakes on the cheap!

Anything the neighbour builds on the OP's property, including overhanging it, can be removed and returned to the neighbour AIUI.  Something built on the OP's property doesn't become the OP's property but it can be taken out and returned.  If neighbour thinks that they have a claim to property that the OP also claims that's for the courts to decide upon.

AlexMac

carefullycautious said:

Was the space between the garage and wall filled in by him or you? I would have thought it would have been best left empty to allow air to circulate plus if he had put air bricks into the side wall of garage no problems would have occurred surely 

Maybe I'm reading your posts wrongly, and interpreting the photos wrongly, but I'm wondering if your neighbour has a point? And whether a more neighbourly solution would be
- for you (or him, or both of you) to empty out the gap between your wall and his garage so that his garage wall isn't constantly damp and
- for you to grow stuff in window boxes hung on your side? Especially if, as I think you say

This assumes...
 - there is a narrow strip of land which you own, outside the wall surrounding your yard?
- Your neighbour or a predecessor built a garage on his own land, right up to his boundary, not encroaching on your land, but respecting your property by stopping a foot or so short of your wall? 
- he (or a predeessor) demolished a wooden fence which used to rise above your wall, either with your permission or without you objecting, so that he could decorate the garage wall facing you.  You didn't object as the garage wall looks better than the old fence?
- you (or he? or someone?) subsequently filled in the narrow gap between your wall and his garage with ballast or similar, then topped it with a shallow layer of soil, presumably without realising that this would inevitably cause damp penetration through his garage wall? 
- you grow plants in this soil, and, presumably, whether these are watered by rain, or by you, this aggravates the problem of damp penetration into his garage? 

If I was your neighbour I'd be fairly upset, although I'd tackle it by negotiation or (to quote the regular contributor called "greatcrested")  with tea and cake, rather than by threatening trespass or criminal damage as you say he has?

Or have I got this all wrong?

Simon20203

AlexMac said:

carefullycautious said:

Was the space between the garage and wall filled in by him or you? I would have thought it would have been best left empty to allow air to circulate plus if he had put air bricks into the side wall of garage no problems would have occurred surely 

Maybe I'm reading your posts wrongly, and interpreting the photos wrongly, but I'm wondering if your neighbour has a point? And whether a more neighbourly solution would be
- for you (or him, or both of you) to empty out the gap between your wall and his garage so that his garage wall isn't constantly damp and
- for you to grow stuff in window boxes hung on your side? Especially if, as I think you say

This assumes...
 - there is a narrow strip of land which you own, outside the wall surrounding your yard?
- Your neighbour or a predecessor built a garage on his own land, right up to his boundary, not encroaching on your land, but respecting your property by stopping a foot or so short of your wall? 
- he (or a predeessor) demolished a wooden fence which used to rise above your wall, either with your permission or without you objecting, so that he could decorate the garage wall facing you.  You didn't object as the garage wall looks better than the old fence?
- you (or he? or someone?) subsequently filled in the narrow gap between your wall and his garage with ballast or similar, then topped it with a shallow layer of soil, presumably without realising that this would inevitably cause damp penetration through his garage wall? 
- you grow plants in this soil, and, presumably, whether these are watered by rain, or by you, this aggravates the problem of damp penetration into his garage? 

If I was your neighbour I'd be fairly upset, although I'd tackle it by negotiation or (to quote the regular contributor called "greatcrested")  with tea and cake, rather than by threatening trespass or criminal damage as you say he has?

Or have I got this all wrong?

You are correct on several issues. If you are at the front of our properties, I have a small 3ft wall that runs up and is essentially attached to my thicker wall at the rear. The thick wall steps in a little and the little wall continues on into this space. He has constructed his wall right against this small wall that runs through this space. At the lower end of my stepped rear wall I can easily find the little wall by hand and it continues on into the space. It would be, I don't want to say impossible to remove this little wall as it was constructed at the same time as the rear wall but it seems to be connected and I can't imaging how we could get it out. Over time further stones and ruble has gathered in the area, specifically where the wall steps up higher and I can't  locate the lower wall as easily. When plastering and pebble dashing his wall he also dropped lots of whatever the coating you attached the pebble dash to in this space and also lots of the little white stones as well, alot of the general stones and ruble also came from his build. 

A little bit could be cleared away but the ground from above also has traveled into this space and naturally slopes into it and without putting in something to retain this soil as well my oil tank would end up slanting /sloping down towards the cleared area if this ground was removed. 

Two family members who are builders and familiar with the lay of my land are sure the only thing he will achieve by filling the space with concrete and slabs is diverting the water into my yard and/or behind my retaining wall. They do not belive he will solve his damp issues this way and think the best course for him is to build a cavity wall inside his garage or to add a fibreglass membrane inside.

I can build a little wooden planter into the space and line it with a waterproof membrane so he can't say this layer of soil is the cause of his damp but the wall below it will have to remain as removing it may actually damage and weaken my retaining wall. This will also keep my claim on this space, as my other concern is that he wants to claim this strip as his own along with the lower small wall that seperates the drives. 

And yes the way he has spoken to us and his mannerism have annoyed and intimidated me greatly and I find it very hard to converse with someone like this. We can't talk to him with the children in the yard as he seems happy to get irate in front of them and we can't leave them in the house by themselves as they are small, hence our request he put something in writing - also in the hope he will give more detail and illistrate more reason. 

If you can think of any other suggestions I would be grateful for any input.