Whose land is this wall on?

Apodemus

From what you've posted it looks like the wall to the private property and hence a private responsibility.  The position of the upright slab has no significance whatsoever.

Doozergirl

Apodemus said:

From what you've posted it looks like the wall to the private property and hence a private responsibility.  The position of the upright slab has no significance whatsoever.

Agreed. 

Councils don't build walls for no good reason.  

The position of the slab is just where the person put it, it can't be used to guess the boundary line.  Equally, the boundary line does not dictate who owns a feature placed near to it.  It is owned by the party that put it there.  

A lot of bushes and trees are also self-seeders.  

I think that wall is the responsibility of the car park owners.  The cost of remediation is going to be less than any costs trying to get the council to take responsibility for it. 

If it's condemned, take it down and replace with landscaping of a different kind.  Fence, bush, flower bed.  

HampshireH

Thanks for the responses. It all went up in the 80s and all at the same time I believe.

Those who benefit from the shared carpark (four owners) don't have a problem with chipping in to sort it out despite it not being in any deeds if ours. But we have been concerned about doing so without confirming it's not owned by others. Council would also need to sort their area out (no dispute over ownership there they occasionally cut it back).

The wall isn't condemned we don't want it to get that far. And there is already bush on the council land. It wouldn't be enough. It will need to be a wall.

The developer is long gone so I can't find any further historical info.

Barny1979

The wall doesn't appear to be a retaining wall, so unlikely the council would build this, is it a remnant of a historical building pre-dating the car park?

HampshireH

Barny1979 said:

The wall doesn't appear to be a retaining wall, so unlikely the council would build this, is it a remnant of a historical building pre-dating the car park?

Council adopted land/roads after the development I presume. I don't believe the council built it that would have been the developers though I have no evidence of this so just an assumtion. More as to whether it was on their land.

No-one round here seems to have been here long enough to know.

HampshireH

They need to cut the hedge etc anyway as it's blocking visibility further down and the path. Will see what they say but won't hold my breath.

greatcrested

A totally different track:

HampshireH said:.......................

There are trees on council land which have cracked the wall and roots are starting to come up through the carpark.

The council's trees are causing damage to private property.

At the very least they should remove the trees.Contact either your councillor, and/or the council's arborist/tree officer.

You could also claim for the cost of repairs to your car park, and 'your' wall',since the council has caused the damage.

Apodemus

You seem to be jumping the the conclusion that the trees "belong" to the Council.  That may or may not be the case.  The Council will quite likely have adopted the roads, but not necessarily any car parks or verges. This gives them certain rights and responsibilities but that doesn't necessarily imply ownership of the solum of the road or responsibility for the adjacent land.  They may undertake minor maintenance of adjacent ground without any legal right or responsibility to do so.  It's not uncommon for such minor maintenance on property owned by others to cease when Council budgets get tighter or when the work required is beyond the routine.  All this extends to hedges causing obstruction (to pavements or lines of sight) or roadside trees, where ultimate responsibility is with the landowner, albeit that at times Councils may take on the responsibility and bear the cost.  It is nowhere near as clear-cut as many posters would like to think.

HampshireH

Apodemus said:

You seem to be jumping the the conclusion that the trees "belong" to the Council.  That may or may not be the case.  The Council will quite likely have adopted the roads, but not necessarily any car parks or verges. This gives them certain rights and responsibilities but that doesn't necessarily imply ownership of the solum of the road or responsibility for the adjacent land.  They may undertake minor maintenance of adjacent ground without any legal right or responsibility to do so.  It's not uncommon for such minor maintenance on property owned by others to cease when Council budgets get tighter or when the work required is beyond the routine.  All this extends to hedges causing obstruction (to pavements or lines of sight) or roadside trees, where ultimate responsibility is with the landowner, albeit that at times Councils may take on the responsibility and bear the cost.  It is nowhere near as clear-cut as many posters would like to think.

Hi they have previously confirmed they have responsibility for them and on their land so I've not jumped to that conclusion.

HampshireH

Thought I would update this 

I went throught the council and it's only taken 4 months but they have today, after going through their legal team,  confirmed full ownership and responsibility of the wall. They are cutting bushes back today, assessing the trees and coming out next week to take photos with a view to repairing the wall.