Retaining wall collapsed whilst viewing!

RelievedSheff

Tell the landlord to claim on his insurance. Leave the conversation with the estate agent at that.

You certainly shouldn't be paying for the repair.

SallyDucati

The vendor should be grateful you caused it to fall with a gentle wobble before it did fall on an unsuspecting person and injured them!  If they live overseas and have been renting it out for a while they may not have known what state it was in, but still no excuse to try to charge you.

jen_79

Greatgimp said:

jen_79 said:

It's about 4 metres wide, maybe 3 courses tall but it was on top of a concrete slab that was head height.

These measurements look wrong - 4 metres thick x 200mm high?

Sorry I'm not great with measurements, it spans half the width of the back of the house and from memory it was roughly 3 courses tall with a triangle shaped brick/tile on top but it was only one, maybe two courses in "depth".

ChewyyBacca

powerful_Rogue said:

ChewyyBacca said:

woah!! 
During viewing, its normal to open kitchen cupboards, windows, closet doors, built in wardrobes etc. If the door comes off in your hand, are you liable to pay for it? This is ridiculous!

Is it?

Sounds like it, but the world is something else. So what's the best way to check, when you are out and about at a viewing, so that you protect yourself from any liability but also have a decent lookaround.
Should the EA be asked to assist, certainly they wont budge? I am offcourse referring to a simple use case, where inspection is gentle and not done in a way to see the breakpoint. 

jen_79

greatcrested said:

Retaining which way? Did it fall towards(onto) you, or away from you?

If towards, that bruising on your leg and foot has meant you can't work so you'll naturally be claiming for lost wages caused by this dangerous and poorly maintained structure......

Even if away, some debris could easily have landed on/crushed your toes....

Even if you were liable (which I strongly doubt) I imagine the concept of 'betterment' would apply. The owner is not entitled to have you replace a cr*ppy old derelict wall with a nice strong brand new one. The most you'd have to do is pile up the bricks to replicate the wobbly structure that was there before.

I was standing on grass (weeds) and bent down and give it the mildest of wobbles because, having walked up the stairs at the patio it was above, I could see cracks in the mortar and the tilt. I'm not a building expert so didn't think much of it until I gave it a wobble (and I really mean the mildest of wobbles) and it fell away from me, down the stairs and on to the patio beneath. 
I'm probably not describing the layout very well sorry, the garden is a mess and the house is built into an embankment so it's all a very weird setup.

davidmcn

But are you interested in buying the property?!

Scotbot

powerful_Rogue said:

ChewyyBacca said:

woah!! 
During viewing, its normal to open kitchen cupboards, windows, closet doors, built in wardrobes etc. If the door comes off in your hand, are you liable to pay for it? This is ridiculous!

Is it?

Yes absolutely although if the vendor is there it is polite to ask first. If I am paying several hundred thousand pounds for a house I want to check out the storage space

AW618

jen_79 said:

It was tilting like the leaning tower of pisa and not thinking straight, I placed my hand on it to give it a wobble and of course it immediately collapsed. 

If you do go to court then do not, under any circumstances, say this.  You are basically admitting you acted foolishly.

SallyDucati

Scotbot said:

powerful_Rogue said:

ChewyyBacca said:

woah!! 
During viewing, its normal to open kitchen cupboards, windows, closet doors, built in wardrobes etc. If the door comes off in your hand, are you liable to pay for it? This is ridiculous!

Is it?

Yes absolutely although if the vendor is there it is polite to ask first. If I am paying several hundred thousand pounds for a house I want to check out the storage space

When I was selling my flat the guy who did buy it gave the kitchen wall cupboards a good check to make sure they weren't falling off.  He commented that they were solidly held in place  .  Another flat he was going to buy, the survey came back that the wall cupboards were about to fall off so he wanted to check.  
If it had come off I would have been mortified!  No way would I have considered charging him.

princeofpounds

This is very straightforward. You are only responsible if you are negligent, and you were not. Gently leaning on a wall is not an unreasonable activity. They are lucky that it didn't fall on you, as the negligence would have been theirs. 

Best not to go into the stuff about 'seeing cracks'.