Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Who pays for retaining wall

Our neighbor's property is 2 feet higher than ours. Part of the retaining wall & fence is old,falling apart. She is willing to share the cost of replacing the fence but not the retaining wall. She is anxious since her dirt is eroding & erosion is near her pool. She consulted a lawyer & was advised that because we are on the ''downside,'' that we are responsible for the retaining wall, but he assumed wall was on our property. In fact, the retaining wall/fence is on both our property lines & this was established by a third party Engineering consultant who came with our Insurance company to inspect the fence and retaining wall. We also looked up ''Lateral and Subjacent Support'' in Miller and Starr's CA Real Estate Law reference but there was no reference on who is responsible for maintaining or replacing retaining walls. Who is the responsible party for maintaining or replacing the retaining wall? Can someone cite a similar case so we can refer to it? How can we get a hold of this case and make copies so we can show it to our neighbor? We don't want to go into litigation as we are not financially stable and would like to discourage our neighbor from going into the litigation route. Help!!


Asked on 2/19/06, 9:51 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Michael Olden Law Offices of Michael A. Olden

Re: Who pays for retaining wall

once having worked for miller, starr and regalia more than 30 years ago neither i nor any other attorney would risk their touche by answering this question without looking at all of the paper work and interviewing the Engineering firm and knowing their history or reputation -- hire a good real estate lawyer to help you with this problem

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Answered on 3/02/06, 11:32 pm


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