12 foot stone wall slipping at the side of my house

callistogirl

Hi MSE - I wonder if anyone knows anything about land/rights. I own a house in Wales, in the Valleys. The house (a miners cottage, built in 1888) is made of stone. It was in a very bad way when I bought it. It's built into the side of the valley and there's probably only 2 to 3 feet at the back of the house and then the 'garden' is a good 50ft up. There are steps to get up to the garden. It's a very lovely view but the house has been pretty damp. I knew that when I bought it and I've tried to remedy some of the issues, so it's not too bad. I've owned the house for 14 years. It's a semi detached.

To the side (my side) there used to be another row of terraced houses but they must have fallen into disrepair years and years ago because now, where that long terrace of houses were, is a more gentle slope with trees and bushes, rhododendrons etc. It's pretty lovely, as far as birds and aesthetics go - however - I've just noticed that the side wall between myself and the council-owned side bank is starting to push the big stones of the stone wall outwards towards my ginnel. The height of the side wall is about 12ft up. It has some REALLY GIANT trees on it. There was an incident a few years ago where a car driver had one of these trees fall onto his car. He was uninjured and he just so happened to have a chainsaw in his boot. He managed to get the tree branches off his car. I don't know if he claimed for damage or not but the council are not ensuring the trees stay at a reasonable height. They're just growing and growing, and because they're in a valley, they are growing tall to reach upwards towards the sun. 

Perhaps the roots of the trees on that council-owned bank nearer to the wall are pushing outwards and eventually may push the wall further down. If they did, the land would slip. There's only a few feet width of the ginnel so it's possible the land would slip INTO my house. 

I'm panicking a little. I know nothing about who would be responsible for such an eventuality or whether I should alert the council *now* so that perhaps they could take some action. I have Aspergers and am not great dealing with people, either on the phone or in person. The council here in the Rhondda is pretty good but like all councils, they are stretched, funds wise. 

Has anyone had any experience of anything like this? or any thoughts about what I should do? 

thanks

daveyjp

If it is Council land your first port of call are your local Councillors who will pass on your concern to the relevant department.

Or report it direct to building control.

https://www.rctcbc.gov.uk/EN/Resident/PlanningandBuildingControl/BuildingControlInformation/DangerousStructuresandPublicSafety.aspx

Last year I reported a badly bulging wall adjacent to a bus stop (the wall was Council responsibility) and earlier this year the Council rebuilt it.

SiliconChip

Raising the issue with your councillor is probably the best option for you. In general councillors will have an email address listed on the council website so you would hopefully be able to email them rather than having to speak to them, which will probably be more comfortable for you. If your councillor is able to confirm that it is a council responsibility then if necessary you may be able to use a reporting route similar to the one that @daveyjp has suggested.