neighbors footing is half on my property, above ground (accept, insurance, agreements)

[CAbbottMD]

neighbors footings are on my brothers property


My brothers neighbor put in a pool which required a retaining wall holding 3 feet of backfill. The pool is 5' from the property line which meets local code. They tore down the old chain link fence and then put a 3' block wall with wood fencing on top of that. They put the middle of the blocks on the property line. Contractor poured a 4' wide footing, 2' of which in on my brothers property. The top of the footing is exposed and 6" higher than the foundation of my brothers house which is 5.5 feet from the footing/7' from the fence. Retroactively the contractor put some dirt on the footing to barely cover it. This created a slope from the retaining wall toward my brothers house, so that water or soil will move toward the house. Before they poured the cement my brother told them it would create this problem and that they had to bury the footing deep enough that there would be 12' soil above the footing that was still no higher than the house foundation. Despite the verbal conversation with the owner and the contractor, they proceeded to pour the foundation as I described.

He immediately told them that they created this problem that he had warned them about, and they said they were sorry but would not remove the wall and put it deeper or entirely on their property. He waited one week and they started building the wooden fence on top clearly not planning to move or modify the high, exposed retaining wall/footing. Against my advice, my brother rented a jack hammer and removed one foot of the fence blocks and "made the statement that the wall was not staying on his property". Can and how can he make them move/remove the footings off of his property?

I have offered to mediate between the two. Any advice is appreciated. Of course, you're going to give me an earful about the Jackhammer bit. I accept all that criticism, but also would like to know if he can force them to move the wall.

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by CAbbottMD

[b]

I have offered to mediate between the two. Any advice is appreciated. Of course, you're going to give me an earful about the Jackhammer bit. I accept all that criticism, but also would like to know if he can force them to move the wall.

With all due respect, if my brother needed brain surgery, I wouldn't sharpen my scalpel and ask strangers on the internet where to make the first cut.

Sometimes the best advice you can offer a family member is to tell them to contact to the proper professional, which in this case would be an attorney with experience in real estate law.

[Ruth4Truth]

Call a Real Estate attorney, OP. Often, an initial consultation is free.

Start a paper trail. Photograph everything; the footings, the dirt/mud sloping toward the house, everything. Start a file.Date the photographs. If your brother recalls the time and date of the conversation he had, warning the neighbor & contractor not to proceed as planned, make a note of that. Start a timeline of events, for the file.

When they went ahead and poured the cement for the footings, after being warned not to, was your brother present for that, or was he at work? I'm thinking, that if he was present, he should have called police. That also would have started a paper trail, and would have been something equivalent to initiating a cease-and-desist order.(Police do respond to neighbor disputes, and for recurring/persistent disputes, they start their own file.) Now, it's a done deal, which is trickier to deal with. Oh well; a good RE lawyer can advise you and your brother.

Good luck! Let us know what the upshot is.


P.S. Really, it's deliberate encroachment. The contractor could have designed the pool a few inches shorter, or cut space elsewhere, but somehow, the contractor, apparently with the neighbor's approval, took for granted that he could allow the project to spill over into your brother's property. That's very weird.

[cruitr]

In real estate, verbal warnings, conversations, agreements etc. mean nothing. The moment your brother noticed the encroachment on his property, he needed to take formal legal action ie. hire a real estate lawyer.

Since your brother took no immediate legal action, he in essence gave consent to the encroachment.

Also, now that the encroachment is complete, your brother could face legal action for damaging the neighbor's wall.

Even if your brother takes legal action tomorrow, the neighbor could easily say "He should have told me about it when he first saw the problem." People do lie.

I'm not a lawyer. My comments are purely for entertainment.

[broncosilly]

I've been doing houses for over forty years. I get the P/L shot by the Pros then always stay one foot back with the final wall/fence. Footings never go over the P/L. If I need to hire an Engineer then so be it.
I do this for peace of mind. But that's me. And yes.......everything in writing.

[Axxlrod]

Pools require city permits and inspections. If the plans submitted showed the footing over the property line, then the city plan checker should have caught it, as well as the inspector.

What do the plans/permits show? Was the pool inspected?

You might call the city planning dept and make a complaint about the issue. If the city approved the plans with the neighbor's new wall encroaching onto your property, that will be a problem for the city.

You need an attorney.

[sprez33]

Originally Posted by RosieSD

With all due respect, if my brother needed brain surgery, I wouldn't sharpen my scalpel and ask strangers on the internet where to make the first cut.

Sometimes the best advice you can offer a family member is to tell them to contact to the proper professional, which in this case would be an attorney with experience in real estate law.

The sage of City-Data San Diego has spoken..................

[CAbbottMD]

Thank you all for all your comments. They totally make sense. I am calling him to consult an Real Estate attorney now, and to write down the dates and times of all conversations past and present.

[newgensandiego]

Originally Posted by cruitr

In real estate, verbal warnings, conversations, agreements etc. mean nothing. The moment your brother noticed the encroachment on his property, he needed to take formal legal action ie. hire a real estate lawyer.

Since your brother took no immediate legal action, he in essence gave consent to the encroachment.

Maybe I missed it, but I don't remember the OP mentioning a timeline. This could have all happened last week. Either way, a lawyer needed to be hired yesterday.

Even if your brother takes legal action tomorrow, the neighbor could easily say "He should have told me about it when he first saw the problem." People do lie.

The contractor is negligent, not the homeowners. This should have never happened to begin with. It may be best for future neighborhood peace to go after the contractor to resolve this.

*another non-lawyer opinion*

[cruitr]

This thread should not have been moved to the General Real Estate section. Like Insurance law, Real Estate law varies a lot from state to state.