Neighbour redrawn their boundary

fackers_2

Hello,

It appears that the neighbour of which we share a boundary with has ‘carefully’ positioned their end of wall and paint work to coincide with where they think their boundary is. Fair enough… BUT On further inspection and highlighted by a workman that there are cracks in the house wall close to the boundary between the houses. Now I’m not suggesting anything but from what it appears to have happened is that the neighbour seems to have drawn their line excluding this large crack which now in their eyes falls to our ownership. Reason why I’m querying what to do is because we want to put a fence up which will incl end of wall brick post wall(?) of which the fence would attach to, incl do some work to the front garden. We just don’t want to fall foul of building on someone else’s land etc. I’m also worried that our previous owners have also built the front wall up to the neighbours self-assumed boundary which may also be a problem, should we remove and build back?

I’m thinking the best thing to do is to get a surveyor out to confirm where the boundary is to put our minds at rest and also to address the odd looking front wall. Personally, on inspection, it appears that the cracks are on their house. Simply by following down from the centre of the chimney and drainage which seems to run symmetrically down the centre… what do you think? The brick post is almost 2 foot to the left of where it should be. 

What are your thoughts? should we reestablish the correct boundary line?

FreeBear

The down pipe is a clear indicator of where the "real" boundary is. It lines up nicely with the centre of the chimney and the render. Regardless of which side of the wall the crack is, it is not your problem - That said, it will be a source of damp for both of you when it rains hard. It needs fixing. Repointing is not sufficient as some of the bricks have cracks going right through them. Possibly indicating movement in your neighbour's foundations..

Aside from the boundary and crack, the chimney stack is in need of some urgent attention. The flaunching has gone (presumably after the pots had been removed). Large chunks of mortar is missing from the bricks around the top, and there is a good crop of weeds growing. There is a risk that bricks will be dislodged during spells of high winds. Falling from that height, you can expect damage to anything below including the slates.

Time for a chat with the neighbour.

swingaloo2

I would say that the crack in the brickwork is one the neighbours side, however your front garden wall has been built over the neighbours boundary.  Definately need to get that chimney sorted asap and thats a joint job witht he neighbour.
If it were me I would mention the chimney to them and ask at the same time what they intend to do about the crack in the wall. 
When did they paint the wall white? that shows they do not accept the crack as thiers.

jimbog

Get a masonry drill and drive a series of holes a few millimetres to the right of their paintwork. When they see them appear in their living room they may decide to reconsider where the boundary is

Countrysider

The neighbour did paint two white stripes finishing at the downpipe above their bay window and under the guttering, and going past the line of the wall lower down. These stripes look to have been painted at the same time as the lower part. For this reason, it doesn't look to me that they are marking the boundary up to the wall but rather that they painted to the middle of the previous owner of your house build the wall out of courtesy.

What should they have done? The alternative would be for them to paint past your wall and completely ignore it, which might be viewed as an aggressive land grab. I would talk to them about re-establishing the boundary. The painted lines above suggest they know perfectly well where it is and the wall may be a minor annoyance to them that they'd actually prefer was put right. 

flea72

I think the brick pillar and boundary wall are just offset, because it looks like the downpipe discharges through your front wall, onto the pavement.  If they had built the wall/pillar on the boundary, then you would need to have moved this, or diverted the downpipe

Section62

fackers_2 said:

It appears that the neighbour of which we share a boundary with has ‘carefully’ positioned their end of wall and paint work to coincide with where they think their boundary is. Fair enough… BUT On further inspection and highlighted by a workman that there are cracks in the house wall close to the boundary between the houses. Now I’m not suggesting anything but from what it appears to have happened is that the neighbour seems to have drawn their line excluding this large crack which now in their eyes falls to our ownership. Reason why I’m querying what to do is because we want to put a fence up which will incl end of wall brick post wall(?) of which the fence would attach to, incl do some work to the front garden. We just don’t want to fall foul of building on someone else’s land etc. I’m also worried that our previous owners have also built the front wall up to the neighbours self-assumed boundary which may also be a problem, should we remove and build back?

I’m thinking the best thing to do is to get a surveyor out to confirm where the boundary is to put our minds at rest and also to address the odd looking front wall. Personally, on inspection, it appears that the cracks are on their house. Simply by following down from the centre of the chimney and drainage which seems to run symmetrically down the centre… what do you think? The brick post is almost 2 foot to the left of where it should be. 

What are your thoughts? should we reestablish the correct boundary line?

It looks to me like the rainwater downpipe is on the boundary, and when it reaches ground level there is probably an elbow (or gulley) with a discharge pipe running towards - and then through - the front wall so the water flows out onto the footway immediately in front of the camera position. At least I'm assuming that's what the round thing in the wall is one brick to the right of the pillar and on the second visible course from the bottom of the picture.

If so, then it wouldn't be possible to put a wall/fence on the boundary because the pipe is in the way, so someone has done the logical (to them) thing of building the wall to one side of the pipe. The alternative would have been to move the downpipe/discharge pipe, which (unlike a wall) needs periodic maintenance and could therefore result in disagreements if moving it implied one neighbour or the other had become wholly responsible for it.

Then the neighbour has painted the lower stripe, stopping it where the 'boundary' wall is because it would look silly if it went further.

I don't think there was any sinister motivation - just dealing with the practicalities of having a downpipe and drain positioned on the actual boundary line.

As for the cracks, it wouldn't surprise me if there were similar cracks hidden under your pebbledash. Attempting to redefine the boundary slightly makes no difference to the fact they (and possibly you as well) will need to get professional advice on what has caused them and what remediation is necessary.  Is mining subsidence a possibility?

Norman_Castle

Start by talking to your neighbours. Its not clear why the brick pillar is offset but there's no reason to assume the neighbour is wrong or ignorant about where the boundary is. A sensible conversation will be cheaper than a surveyor.

BikingBud

Section62 said:

As for the cracks, it wouldn't surprise me if there were similar cracks hidden under your pebbledash. Attempting to redefine the boundary slightly makes no difference to the fact they (and possibly you as well) will need to get professional advice on what has caused them and what remediation is necessary.  Is mining subsidence a possibility?

This would be my main concern what's going on with the bits you cannot see. Time for a friendly chat so all parties understand the extent of damage and the risk/urgency to ensure it doesn't get any worse.

Dadto3Boys

I agree with others, the pipe is the boundary indicator.
They have painted up to the wall, probably as an aesthetic thing or that it'd seem odd going over the wall. The wall is offset due to the pipe.
I know my neighbours and would feel very comfortable discussing those cracks, it is no biggie - not like you have caused it. 

robatwork

He's painted all the way to the "boundary" at the top but then obviously thought better of it at the bottom!

Seems like you're going to have problems with this chancer, but either way you need to give urgent attention to your chimney which doesn't look very safe. And that is joint so you need to open a dialogue anyway, perhaps a builder can fix both at the same time.