Help! Garden with subsidence

Lea3484

Hello there, I really need some help please
were wanting to sell our house to move closer to family but have come up with an issue
we’re the corner house on a hill and have 3 gardens
the garden at the back is very small , we have a fence up and beneath the fence is a 2 meter drop, held up with sleepers which is the back of my neighbours garden
the thing is the land is sinking underneath the fence and looking at the the deeds, it does look like its our responsibility 
we’ve been quoted around 16,000 to get it fixed!!
apparantly I can claim on my home insurance. The land is sinking, hasn’t affected the house (yet!) but tht would be classed as subsidence??
if it does and we claim on insurance, it’s going to be hard for us/new buyers to get insurance and could put people off buying n bring the price right down
i want to get it fixed but not sure what to do, who to turn to etc
its hard to even explain the problem but I’m so stressed with it n need a bit of guidance pls. Thanks in advance 

grumbler

It's called a 'retaining wall'

2 meters drop is huge, especially for a wall built from slippers.

However, I don't understand, what exactly "the land is sinking underneath the fence" means. Are there any problems with the retaining wall?

stuart45

It's more likely to be called landslip, but too much movement away from under the foundations can cause a problem.

Woolsery

Lea3484 said:

we’ve been quoted around 16,000 to get it fixed!!
apparantly I can claim on my home insurance.

You need to get more than one quote. Whatever is specified needs to hold up for a reasonable time, not for ever. Huge butresses etc may not be necessary. What you put there will impact the neighbour, and you'll require access, so liaison  will be important. They might even contribute if a visually attractive or stronger solution costs more, but that's a long shot!

I wouldn't call this subsidence in the traditional sense; it's a retaining structure failing, probably through age, so I'm not sure an insurer would be sympathetic. I think it's wise to avoid the insrance route anyway.

Bendy_House

If your insurance will pay for this, bite their hand off - I mean, £16k?!

Once sorted, the new owners should have nothing to worry about, and the house is not subsiding. Be completely upfront about the work that's been done - let's face it, they'll be aware that 'their' garden has a 2m drop into a neighbouring one when viewing, so what they'll WANT to know is that it IS being retained, and HAS been done properly (I'd hope any contractor would provide a guarantee).

(I'm surprised insurance will pay for this, tho', as it isn't 'subsidence' as such, and I'd have thought a retaining wall is surely the responsibility of the homeowner, and will require maintenance/repair/replacement at times. But perhaps they are looking at the bigger picture; this isn't so much about preventing a bit of soil falling on top of your neighb's hydrangea, but could possibly have larger consequences as Stuart suggests. I don't know.

Section62

Woolsery said:

I wouldn't call this subsidence in the traditional sense; it's a retaining structure failing, probably through age, so I'm not sure an insurer would be sympathetic. I think it's wise to avoid the insrance route anyway.

Almost certainly it is failing because a 2 metre stack of railway sleepers isn't a retaining wall, and isn't suitable for retaining that height difference. (allowing for the possibility the sleepers are just cosmetic and placed immediately in front of a RC wall)

An insurer's loss adjuster might argue the structure was never fit for purpose....