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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Posts
    2

    Default When Must a Property Owner Send a Party Wall Notice

    Do builders need to serve party wall notice if they are going to touch a boundary line. A well know company on a building site behind me decided to take my garden fence down between my garden and a field which has been my boundary for 20 years, get a JCB and dig big holes in my garden and fill them with concrete and stick fence posts in. I complained, the posts were eventually removed and the holes refilled with rubble! then 2 months later they do it again! They are clearly in my garden and through my soakaway.
    They have also put other fences up with concrete panels to retain land, however they are already breaking and surely should have a more substantial retaining wall built?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Posts
    19,901

    Default Re: Party Wall Act - Trespass Damage

    You need to tell us what state this is in.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Posts
    629

    Default Re: Party Wall Act - Trespass Damage

    where is the property line in relation to your garden and where they are putting these fences? You do have a current survey to show where the property line is right?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    El Dorado County, CA
    Posts
    395

    Default Re: Party Wall Act - Trespass Damage

    First step is to check with the local building department to see if they have permits for grading and to build retaining walls. If so, there should be design drawings on file. Check to see if the design was signed and stamped by a licensed civil engineer. Also check to see if they had a boundary survey performed and if they are building within the boundaries indicated by the survey.

    I have seen many, many instances where a large parcel which remained vacant for several years alongside developed parcels was slowly encroached upon by several of the adjoining smaller developed parcels. Most commonly, these encroachments consist of expanded lawn area, small, semi-portable outbuildings, stacks or piles of firewood, building materials, or junk, and very often, gardens that have gradually expanded out of their owners' parcels over the years. Sometimes, the homeowners bought the property in that condition and assumed that all of the yard, garden, improvements, and other visibly used area was properly on the parcel they were purchasing. One of dozens of forms a homebuyer signs at closing (at least in CA) is that the seller showed the buyer all of the property corners. The usual response to that news is "I don't recall signing anything like that". With the number and speed at which the title officer is passing forms to the buyer to sign, it's a wonder we remember any specific form. Although the buyers usually sign off on that, the closest to actual compliance that most get from the seller is that either the seller or the real estate agent vaguely pointed to a fence, an edge of lawn or garden, a tree, or a utility pole indicating that "the line starts right near that pole, then goes down that fence to near the back corner of the garden, then comes up near that line of trees on the other side and back to the road", without showing the buyer any of the actual survey monuments at any of the corners.

    It's a very good possibility, that unless you knew where the metal survey markers were at the back of your lot, that part of your garden was actually on the neighboring vacant parcel until the contractor came and tore it up. It is possible that you may have developed a valid title claim based on possession after several years of use, but unless you perfected that title through legal action prior to the adjoining landowner removing the encroaching portions of your use and belongings, that ship has sailed. In all likelihood, even if your garden use would have been sufficient basis for a claim of title by adverse possession, the cost of the action to perfect that tile would have been several times what the small strip of land would have been worth.

    However, the neighboring landowner should have notified you prior to removing the portion of your garden and any related improvements. If you find that the construction is pursuant to a valid permit and in accordance with a proper boundary survey, you still may be entitled to payment for any actual damage that you can document (irrigation materials, fence materials, the cost of destroyed fruits or vegetables, etc.). If the retaining walls are already showing signs of failure, you should bring that to the attention of the building department as well. That may not get your lost garden area back, but it might stop work on the grading until the walls can be redesigned and replaced or repaired.

    If they are not developing pursuant to a valid permit and are not placing the new fences or walls according to a properly performed boundary survey, hire your own surveyor. If that survey shows that the improvements placed by the developer, and the garden and related property that was damaged or destroyed by development activities are/were fully on your lot, then you may be able to recoup the cost of having to defend your title - see a local attorney about that.

    Whatever the background circumstances, I hope it ends up well for you.

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