united-states real-estate massachusetts real-property
What to do about neighbor&#39;s dangerous retaining wall
<p>Several years ago, a neighbor built a retaining wall on the property line.  It is a really cheap retaining wall and made from wood.  The wood is now rotten and the wall is falling apart.  Worse, cars are parked on top of the retaining wall.</p>

<p>The neighbor just put his house up for sale.  I'd rather force the current owner to deal with it than the new owner.</p>

<p>The current owner is not a reasonable person so I don't expect him to do anything voluntarily.</p>

<p>Any suggestions for how to force the neighbor to fix the wall before sale?</p>

<p>One way to get what you want is to persuade prospective buyers make this be a condition of the sale. Whether or not this works would depend on getting the ultimate buyer to care about this wall, when they may not be aware that there is a problem. If you limit yourself to truthful non-libelous statements, you could post a sign on your property and hope that potential buyers might see the sign.</p>

<p>It is possible that the wall is in violation of <a href="https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2017/10/13/780%20CMR%20ninth%20edition%2C%20residential%20code%20amendments_0.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">state</a> or local building codes, for instance if the wall is over 4 ft tall, it requires a permit. If the wall was not permitted (where a permit is required), that does not mean that the city will require the wall to be removed – municipalities do not generally take sides in such squabbles, and you would have to relate your complaint to a compelling interest of the municipality, e.g. is there a palpable threat posed by the wall.</p>

<p>The wall being on the property line may be in violation of setback requirements. If it is actually <em>over</em> the line, you have a somewhat different problem, that the neighbor could now be in adverse possession of your land (depending on how long it has been up). A preliminary step in that regard would be to get a survey, since homeowners don't generally have authoritative knowledge of where their property legally is. </p>

<p>If you have actually been harmed by the decaying wall (it does not seem that you have but you can think about that), you might have a basis for suing the neighbor. Even if your suit would not ultimately prevail in court, involving your attorney could be sufficient motivation for him to remove the wall.</p>
