retaining wall responsibility california

walls and retaining walls supporting more than 6 feet (1.83 m) of backfill height due to design earthquake ground motions Due to the variability in soil properties throughout the County of Los Angeles, the design professional must take care in his or her analysis of basement and site retaining walls. I live in a cul-de-sac and the neighbor on the corner backyard fence backs into my front yard. We are planning on filling our in-ground pool and need a shared fence temporarily removed to allow for pool demolition equipment to enter the backyard. Hes going forward with it and we will get the framed side. My neighbor put up a wooded fence 6 inches from the property line on their side of the property. -Was the retaining wall initially required because the lower neighbor graded their property and therefore it was their responsibility to provide support to the uphill neighbor whose natural support they cut away during the grading and leveling of the property. You can require or exclude terms using + and -: big +blue drop will require a match on blue while big blue -drop will exclude results that contain drop. The fence is about 6 inside our side of the property line and is about 15 feet long, extending from our backyard gate towards the front yard/street. All the Best. There were 3 major mistakes on his part. Code 841, but my fear is that after having a letter certified to her, she will either ignore it or refuse after the 30 days. The development has remained pretty much the same over the years, and only a handful of people chose to put up decorative front yard fences. A day later, while I was out, the neighbor came and spoke to my wife in a very critical fashion. Today the homeowner is tearing down a portion of the fence and replacing it with no notice and said he is not replacing the whole fence as we agreed nor my gate. 2. My neighbors want the fence between our houses done. Joel I wish I could be of more help but this is a question outside my area of knowledge. Neighbor does not want half he wants full amount. This is due to your neighbor not following the required steps. I dont want to get taken to court over this, but my other concern is I am struggling as is, and can no way afford to give our neighbors $3,000 for a fence. Civ. If you are not satisfied with the final product or it isnt what you had agreed upon prior to it being built, then you should not pay! I contracted with a contractor to do the job this month and let the brother know 2 months ago I did this because he never responded with a quote and I can finance the fence with the contractor and the homeowner is not responding. Such a bizarre situation, youd think that any homeowner in their right mind would prefer a fixed fence over one that is collapsed. In short, the law says that the lower neighbor "owes" support to the upper/higher neighbor. We asked if we could pay for a gate to be put into the fence at our cost so we could have access to the area. ( Remember, we were never approached about this at all. The fence is old and grey but was being maintained with new planks when needed. The back part of the fence, in the backyard, fell and is neighboring half of the neighbors front yard. 2) If a retaining wall is attached to a building or if a building foundation is directly dependent upon the location and design of the retaining wall it is to be included in the building permit for the construction of the building. He came and did the job. RETAINING WALL Extreme II ELEVATION Extreme I Strength I Service I Q=1.00DC+1.00EV+1.00EH+1.00CT+Td Q=1.00DC+1.00EV+1.00EH+1.00EQD+1.00EQE+Td Q=aDC+BEV+1.50EH+1.75LS+Td Q=1.00DC+1.00EV+1.00EH+1.00LS+Td Anchor Design Load Vehicular Collision Force Soil inertia ignored for stem design Soil and Structure Components Inertia. If you have a retaining wall or are planning to build one, it is important to ensure the structural integrity of the wall. I dont think I see this covered: I share a fence with a neighbor, and they have six 2-story-tall trees (overgrown weeds, really) growing tightly next to each other, just on their side of the fence. As an example, two tiered retaining walls each with an exposed wall height of 3 feet, and level back fill that are horizontally offset by a distance of 2 feet would be treated as a single 6 foot tall wall and as a result, a building permit would be required. That being said I believe if you are set on getting a vinyl fence you have two options. Any thoughts not input would be greatly appreciated. First off, they cannot tell you not to touch the fence at all, the fence as long as it is on the property line is both your neighbor and your property and therefore you have just as much right to it as they do, whether or not they paid for it. : 2022121 california civil code 841 retaining wall 2022121 california civil code 841 retaining wall Neighbor and I share a panel/lattice on top fence for most of our shared fencing. Im in LA county and spoke with a small claims advisor they said that I could sue for half the cost of the job with quotes, but apparently a judge cant order for the consent of the job, but I figure at that point if youve already had to pay you might as well agree to the fix. We are buying land. Join for use: the attachment of another fence to the boundary fence You need to tell him he is harrasing you and you will not stand for it. If you are looking for a contractor in the San Francisco bay area to construct your retaining wall, be sure to contact Montclair Construction. We need to have some stucco repair to the side of our house in that area and would like to be able to get in there periodically to weed, etc. Nat, I am slightly confuseddo you mean none of the fence contractors are willing to take on the job without both homeowners consent? It sounds to me like your new neighbors are bullies and I wouldnt let them push you around. The fence needs to replace much of it because of the poor maintenance on my neighbors side. Do you need a French drain on your property? He would have had to get at least 3 bids from reputable companies and presented all these to you. Nat, yes you are correct. Gerald Hershenson Esq. We deal solely with fences and decks and not siding, etc. Now Im waiting for a response but Ive already put down a deposit and the contractor seems like a good guy so Im not completely worried that I cant get my money back. The fence is over 25 years old and the entire fence could stand to be replaced. Any tips on how to proceed? I paid for the whole thing and did not ask the neighbor for any help or money. However our back fence was not vinyl, but an older wooden fence, in some need of repair. This was attached to the existing sideyard fence that was part of the developments construction. My husband wants to put the planks on our side. All other retaining wall construction will require a separate Building Permit. We never had any retaining concrete wall, just the fence besides our plant bed that separates the two properties. We have a plant bed with a little two inch wooden retaining wall on our property to keep the soil in place. I understood and said whatever wood you do your fence we can get. Retaining walls can sometimes be complicated and your friend should likely speak with an attorney to be sure of all details. The fence is leaning and needs to be replaced. Some retaining walls are structurally necessary, others are purely for looks. It has to be built tough and allow drainage without giving way. He set the first two panels on the slope with good side facing him. Our property is the lower one and theirs is the higher one. (I believe youve already tried this approach and it failed?). We do not want, or have a need for this new fence. I enjoy what I see, therefore Ive decided to follow you. level backfill only) and the wall does not support a solid fence. Sheets of steel are driven pneumatically in to soft soil in the tight access or flood zones to create an area of excavation, Its Usually deigned by a Structural Engineers, some times including tie backs. The neighbor does not want to share the cost to fix it, and states it is my sole responsibility. I sent the neighbors a demand letter as they would not answer the door to us for several months of trying (nearly a dozen times). This is why I believe it is best in your situation to try and come to an agreement amicably with your neighbor! So now HOA is advising me to serve her with the 30 days notice and if she still refuses to then take her to small claims to have the judge order her to agree to the fence replacement and payment. This appears to be the pattern on our block. If they bear the cost, its probably not my business; but if we share the cost, is it reasonable for me to ask my neighbor to remove the trees before repairing (or replacing) the fence? It blocks NOTHING in only on their side, which is why they want it done. This has been on going for 3 years. I hope the business property has to clean up and replace it. Also during the raining season, we need to do the roof and siding work asap before the raining season. Once you get three estimates from reputable companies, present them to her, then decide on a fence contractor, and send your neighbor the 30-day notice. I was advised by the HOA board about Cal. My question how do I attach/extend to the existing fence (which the neighbor project managed/paid in his name)? There is a brick wall between me and my neighbor. Our back yard is 150 ft from the property perimeter and we maintain a privacy fence on it for our yard. Our neighbor wants to replace the fence with vinyl fence. Can she insist on a new fence and I have to pay for half? Except on the front portion which is in my front yard. If replacement is needed because of improperly planted bamboo and neglected maintenance of plants causing encroached on our property line and has warped and beoke pickets, posts and rails, is cost still split? The sides of our yard are 6 white vinyl. Although I was not informed in advance, not included in the planning, never saw a quote or even a final bill, I felt bullied, and paid him the $500. Still, we would have been happy to go 50/50 on a new fence but they did not inform us and did ask for us to help pay for a new fence. He should have sent the notice to you 30 days prior to the construction of the fence and should have sent it to you certified mail with the return receipt requested. text-align: center; Am I correct? -Lastly, and I believe the answer is yes to this but is the retaining wall on the boundary line separating you from your neighbors property? You must pay building, plan check, geotechnical, microfilm, and filing fees. modular concrete units stacked in a running bond pattern without mortar or reinforcement. HOA has tried working with her to explain the responsibility and has even gotten their legal counsel involved. 200 from either boundary. Entire enclosure: the property owners entire property is enclosed by the attachment of other fencing to the boundary fence what about security/privacy?) We could not afford to replace it so we said we did not want it removed, as it was enclosing our property. Now we are stuck and the cost is adding everyday to put home on market for sale. Having said this I do not believe what your neighbor has done is in any way illegal and I must warn you should you take this stance and they go about replacing the fence according to the steps necessary in the CA good neighbor law, then you would likely lose in court. margin-top: 10px; She has to get three separate estimates and then you two can agree as to which company to go with. They replaced it a couple of times, and eventually changed the style to a more traditional looking front yard fence. My neighboring fence completely collapsed during a storm. Then it will be for a judge to decide the matter! But did not want to go through our contractors. While you really cant fix the past, what I would do about the future is document the damage caused by the debris (showing the fence areas without trees and debris), and then ask them if theyd like to keep the fence cleaned off monthly, or would they prefer to split the cost of a lawn care service company to come and keep it cleaned off using a leaf blower. Our backyard back fence ( about 100 feet long) had a wooden fence built on our property. Not your property, not your fence. I have now recently discovered he placed video surveillance pointed /monitoring my front yard. It happens all the time. As I just stated I would be very hesitant to allow her to build the fence for two reasons. Neighbor wants to replace fallen fence due to construction on his property. I told him I would also throw my neighbor a bone. Does this mean both neighbors are responsible for the cost of the retaining concrete wall as well? Having said this I can see where he is coming from, many people are still on the fence as to whether they like the look of vinyl fence yet. I have a 5 acre property with no HOA or perimiter fence requirements. The fence is old and rotted and they have ivy growing on it which has helped to cause it to fall into my yard. First off, it might end up looking funny as often different fence companies use different grades of wood from different suppliers as well as have their own building techniques which may not match the other contractors. How do I keep the gap clear or how can I get my neighbor to allow a new fence on the property line (since he has 2 large dogs it cant come down without his participation)? We had a fence completely enclosing our backyard, with the back fence wall bordering 3 townhouses yards. The fence is attached on two sides to my neighbors existing fence. He did. Secondly, his dogs have broken through the panels multiple times and bit our dogs twice. upper soil grade). Period. Failure of your wall could lead to landslides or other unfortunate occurrences. They said that they would give us permission when we asked, to enter their backyard by their stairs on the other side of their house, which would then involve us or workers to have to cross their whole backyard, which is an artificial grass putting green! Make a demand to the neighbor for half of the costs. In fact once you file the small claims suit and he is served most people will end up paying then because they dont want the hassle of going to court and they realize they will likely lose anyway. According to the law, you do have the responsibility to pay for half of a shared fence. The Keystone Legacy Block (6 high x 16 wide x 10 deep) product is limited to 3 feet in height or six blocks in height total. As far as tearing down part of his fence. and defecate on them. Any time children, especially my own, sat on the fence, the homeowner would yell get off my fence. Is there anything I can do to stop neighbors from bullying me? It is entirely visible on their side. Would we lose in small claims court? Since from what youre saying he did none of the above, he has no legal backing to pursue any money from you. Do not do so! If he followed these steps then he could go after you in court and would likely win. He of course parks this car not in front of his house, but instead in front of my house, which hes done for over a year and I never cared or said a peep about it. If you dont agree to her doing the job, which I would be very wary of and personally would never allow, then she has no choice but to pay for it all herself or you guys use a different contractor. First point I made was that dont want a wooden fence due to the upkeep of it. If you dont approve of this my advice would be to split the cost equally in which you will probably have to agree to alternate panels or build a good neighbor fence. The other neighbor does not own but rents, so I contacted the rental company and informed them of my wishes to replace the fence. Neighbor wants to upgrade the whole new fence and pay for the whole project. Im 21 year old I have put a little more then 1,400 in this fence (redwood) I told him 800+ was material we can go half on that. Therefore you will need to pay 100% of the costs of replacement! The only issue that will come into play is the short notice period or your case would be a slam dunk.. But the legal issues can be as muddy as the mess in your backyard. ( However in our mind that project was 2 to 3 years away as we were already spending more on other priority projects) I noticed this work going on on the last day the contractor was finishing up. I reported to my insurance and they paid for half the replacement cost. Although I know this is now besides the point, I would actually always recommend a custom built fence to the prefabricated fence panels they carry at big box stores. If this sounds familiar then your in the right place and your problem is soon to be solved with The California Good Neighbor Law also referred to as California Civil Code 841 or The Good Neighbor Fence Act of 2013. Your neighbor did not follow the proper procedure in order to go after you under the CA Good Neighbor Law for half the costs. Each fence on our own respective properties. Especially since they are quite a bit more expensive and in theory will last a lifetime. I hope I am understanding your question here correctly?? Who is Legally Responsible for a Retaining Wall My question involves real estate located in the State of: CA (unincorporated Alameda County) I am the uphill homeowner, my neighbor is the downhill owner. Schedule one of the fence contractors, most likely youll want to choose RC Fences and Decks, due to their superb attention to detail along with their reasonable prices, but keep all of the bids so you can show that the price was reasonable. I will now finish the fence, pay 100%, block his view of my yard, and recapture my privacy. I am very concerned the wall could fall. A lot of people make the argument that since they dont care if their property has a fence or not, they arent benefiting from the fence. In this case, if a neighbor builds a fence, the fenceless owner doesnt have the pay for it. The fence is solely your responsibility. Your right, the Good Neighbor Law does not cover upgrades or replacing a fence just because it looks bad, yet I will not go into detail regarding this as this information is all clearly stated in the article which you would have known had you fully read it! I also gave him the link to the brochure from the manufacturer which has multiple darker wooden although they cost 40% more. We agreed. One side of my fence is 630ft of that side 220ft of the fence are a neighbors backyard privacy fence that the builder put in. level backfill only). that would force him to install another 3 foot rod iron fence on his property. Then he said he would come up and build the fence and also move my gate for which I would pay him for and 1/2 the neighbor fence. This definition also applies to freestanding pool walls. At the very least, even if your neighbor doesnt see your side of the issue and still believes both of you should split the costs evenly, hopefully, you can convey the importance of proper care and maintanence for the new fence in the future to prevent another similar issue down the road. Thats my fence, how could you do this, you are encroaching on my property, etc, quiet animated and critical. It seems we can not agree. I do not see why you wouldnt be able to do what youre proposing except for the fact that it could bring along with it a lot of issues. Two questions: What other option does a homeowner have if their fence is failing miserably and needs replacement immediately, yet their neighbor refuses to pay a dime? If there is a better option out there please let all our readers, as well as I, know! The law places responsibility on both parties because both benefit from the fence. Hi RC fencing! Do I have to pay for this to be fixed? I know personally, I would never get involved with such a situation! Someone that doesnt want to pay for the fence can prove by a preponderance of the evidence that imposing equal responsibility would be unjust. Unless the fenceless owner someday decides to fence in his own property benefitting from the already existing division fence. Hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions! It was always referred to as their fence, and nobody else could touch it. The main one being, that they dont benefit from the erection of said fence. I told him that this was not my fence, and explained the history. I was barely in escrow when they did fence as soon as I moved in they asked me to pay them 3,000 I told them that was not my responsibility because the house wasnt mine yet. Personally I dont think they look as close to real wood as they need to. So you are presented with the same predicament? First off, the biggest one is if everything you say is correct, there was not a valid reason to replace the fence in the first place. The fence does not enclose their front yard but is still a neighboring fence. 9. Plot Plan showing the location, extent, and height of the retaining wall in relation to any building structure, pool, property lines and public utility easements. Best to have a survey done. Wed be up for taking down the existing fence down and adding new planks to our side of the new fence but arent sure about it since its 4 inches away from the original fence. I have offered to help with the labor and split the cost 50/50. They have refused, saying that that dont want us to have free access to their property-we would literally only have to take 4-5 steps on their property to get to our our property under the stairs. The fence is horrible now because it does not match existing and neighbor says too bad, that I had agreed to the estimate, even though I had sent link to what I wanted. Construction Landing Page Pro Theme by: Rara Theme. First is to let the neighbor know if his legal responsibility to pay for half the fence. The next day, while I was gone, the neighbor came to my wife very agitated and critical, saying, how inconsiderate this was for us to do, how could we, and it was his fence and we were using it and encroaching on his property. We cant afford the cost for the fence that he wants($14k). In the broadest terms a wall on the property line might be shared. Thank you, we try and post informative blog articles as much as we can but with the workload lately, sometimes it just isnt possible. I would send them a letter certified mail with return receipt requested (for proof should you need it down the road) to immediately stop[ all harassment against you, state that you will not be paying them a dime as you were not the homeowner at the time of replacement, and should they wish to take you to court, go ahead! If the failure is due to encroachment by my neighbors trees, should they bear the full cost? The wall was apparently put up to create a level lot downhill from my property so another house could be built. Also a small child or animal could possibly get into his yard and get in his pool. Or can I break down the fence that only covers his backyard ( since his property line goes passed mine in the back yard) because if Im not getting paid for that extra 18-15ft can I re use the wood for a gate on my property. I wish I could help you, if you live around the Concord, CA. Since the water is now drawing towards my side of the property. Hello, My neighbor installed a 6 foot rod iron fence with brick pillars which is about 3 to 4 inches on my property The fence is only about 15 feet long and was installed years ago. Our situation is different then all the comments I have read. He has planted shrubs and now most of the water for those shrubs in between our shared fence and his retaining wall is over saturating my soil, the fence post and baseboards. The judge will side with you; you are in the right in this case! Do we still split it in half? I would then try once more to collect half the costs from your neighbor (although you dont have to do this) and if she continues to refuse you will proceed with filing the lawsuit. Ninety-five percent of Californians live in urban areas. What recourse do I have? I wish they would have just talked to us about going in 50/50 on a new fence. Thanks! He asked us to help pay for the leaning retaining wall between our properties. There better be good reasons other than make my yard look better. Once your neighbor sees that you are suing him for considerably more than half the cost of the fence that you initially requested he will likely want to pay you the initial amount immediately. All dogs get out. Anyway, can they sue me for 1/2 the cost of this ? My relationship with this neighbor is not good. Are we under any legal obligation to pay him a penny? The neighbor also has a pool. Does this remove us from mutual benefit responsibilities and paying half of the replacement? The neighbor paying (if you are not splitting the cost) would have the right to insist that the good side be pointed towards his yard. To keep the peace, we planted shrubs that created a barrier between our lawn and THEIR fence, so nobody can get to their fence from our side. This is very true OriginalWally, thank you very much for the information! They said that would be a civil dispute amongst neighbors. Also, I think you lucked out not having your neighbor or his family members build the fence themselves, they sound like a bunch of flakes. #gallery-1 img { 8 years ago I was worried that my dog would get injured by the new neighbors aggressive bulldog so I suggested we put up a new fence, he said sure as long as I replaced with heavy duty commercial chain link with slats (original is a leaning 42 yr old commercial chain link with broken and missing wood slats). In order for the walls to be treated as separate retaining walls, a general rule of thumb is that the tiered walls be horizontally offset by a minimum distance of two times the exposed wall height of the lower wall. My neighbor fence between the driveways in California needs to be replaced from wind damage last December. Consequently, when a fence needs repair, both property owners must share the cost. Wood retaining walls (with or without a fence) with an exposed wall height of two feet or less, where the retained soil does not support a surcharge (i.e. In order to do so, he has to place a retaining wall to hold the dirt in place. A week later, I came home to find a for sale sign in his lawn. The new question that arises is if the fence is directly on the property line or on his side what approach do I take to this? Labor to build a retaining wall costs from $50 to $75 per hour. T 604-864-5510 E planning-info@abbotsford.ca Building Permits & Licences 1st Floor, 32315 South Fraser Way, Abbotsford, BC T 604-864-5525 E building-info@abbotsford.ca . The lagging effectively resists the load of the retained soil and transfers it to the piles. Fine. This was not a tornado , ir hurricane , and there was no other wind damage in the neighborhood . There were no fences and the neighborhood kids played freely in the yards from house to house. Exposed Wall Height is the vertical distance measured from the finish grade at the bottom of the wall (i.e. Melissa, very good question. Still proceed to have the fence repaired and then take her to small claims? } Some years back, with consent from the prior owner of the neighboring house, my husband paid for and built a fence in our FRONT yard between our driveway and neighbors side yard for growing plants on (decorative). } Do owners of homes with pools fall under a different set of rules. Pics and docs of the current properties fencing this information even though informative it only benefit the contractor. Note that I dont believe good neighbor fence laws cover someone wanting to upgrade or replace for the heck of it. The property line shows that the easement belongs to my neighbors parcel. Our neighbor, without talking to us, tore his fence down and had a vinyl fence put up.
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