Rear Extension on Boundary

My neighbour is building an extension which involves a new retaining wall on our boundary. I was happy with the proposals at first and it seems they have gone about it the right way but I am now concerned about whether I’ll be responsible and stuck  with a huge bill, even though they are building a wall on my land. Who do I need to speak to about this?

I am not sure whether the wall is retaining their side or yours and my answer would be the same anyway. A generally quoted rule is that the person who is supporting the other takes responsibility but you should always check your deeds for any interesting anomality’s and this is certainly a case where I would advise you get a legal and technical input. A lawyer can put together a deed of agreement which will specify provisions such as responsibility for ongoing maintenance defects, rights/provisions for the use of the wall later (what if they want to extend over it again?) Whilst this might not be a cheap exercise, it probably represents good value in terms of avoiding dispute issues later on. You would be surprised how many times a new neighbour comes along and seeks to overrule what agreed by the previous owner. Also, if there is any query, you can be sure that this will be flagged at an awkward moment during the sale process which could even thwart a sale if purchasers were scared off by a potential dispute.

My neighbour wants to buy a small patch of land which is useful as a parking space from me. The issue is that only he or we could access it. We agreed to stand by a Surveyor’s valuation of it but the value has come back considerably less than I expected, in fact he said it’s virtually worthless! This is because it is only useful as a parking space to one or the other plots and we both have plenty of parking anyway. Am I flogging a dead horse?

It sounds like you might be. The bit of land doesn’t sound like it has a “true” open market value i.e. that it would appeal to people if you were to sell it, such as through an agent. I might also question what either of you has to lose or gain from it, perhaps its value to one of the parties could be worked out that way.

Either way, it is very hard to give a realistic calculation of value and I suppose the only real tangible influences are is what you would be willing to part with it for and how much the other party is willing to pay.