Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

I own a piece of commercial real estate in Ma. There is a 4 foot high retaining wall that divides my neighbor�s property from mine since his property is higher. This wall supports his parking lot and a few years back the wall was leaning a bit towards my property so my neighbor decided to rebuild this wall and hired someone to do the job. I was away at the time and a new wall was constructed on my property about a foot behind the old wall. When I returned from being away I approached my neighbor to explain his wall was constructed on my property but he insisted it wasn't. I have owned this property since the 70's and had this surveyed years ago and was sure that the original wall was the property line. After hiring a surveyer, he remarked the property line and indeed the new wall was built on my property. What legal recourse do I have? Now a few years have passed and this same neighbor's parking lot has settled quite a bit in the area where the new wall was built so all the water from his parking lot is running in the direction of the new wall and at times of heavy rain the flow of water over this wall is overwhelming. I have an existing building about 10 feet from this line and major damage is happening from this water flow. In the past couple of years this side of my building has settled and major cracks are showing up in the concrete floor. The building's slab is flooded with water from heavy rain storms. Is my neighbor responsible for his water flow onto my property? His parking lot is 4 feet higher than mine and only 10 feet away. The rear of his commercial shop is also approx. 10 feet from this same building and all the water from his roofs flow off his building and onto my property and down the 10' slope into my building. There are no gutters or downspouts on his building. I'm having major foundation issues at this time. What can I do about this? Thanks you.


Asked on 11/29/11, 4:19 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Joseph Murray Joseph M. Murray, Esq.

Retain an attorney to review the matter and explain your rights to bring suit for damages and seeking an injunction to abate the continuing trespass on your property , Good luck!

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Answered on 11/29/11, 5:51 am

There are too many issues to answer your question properly here. You need to retain an attorney to deal with the encroachment and nuisance issues you have raised here.

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Answered on 11/29/11, 8:52 am


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