Retaining walls
Today, our Monday guy, Sam Schneiderman, Broker-owner of Greater Boston Home Team, discusses discusses retaining walls.
It's not uncommon to see brick or stone walls around the outside of homes. When the walls are holding up part of the yard, they are known as retaining walls.
I have seen all types and sizes of retaining walls. They range from low walls that create terraces for landscaping to the 20 foot tall by 130 foot wide stone wall that I saw last week. That one held up the entire back yard of the house (including a tall old tree.) That wall is the inspiration for this post.
When a retaining wall is located at the front of a house, it makes sense that the owner of the house owns the wall. It gets more interesting when a retaining wall is located at the side or back of the lot.
For buyers, ownership of the walls is important because one day someone will probably need to do maintenance work to the wall(s), and masonry work can be expensive. Not only does the work cost money, but the issue of accessing the wall to do the work must be considered. If the only sensible access to the retaining wall is over a neighbor's manicured lawn and landscaped yard, that could create a potentially interesting challenge and big expense.
On the other hand, what if you buy a house that has a retaining wall holding up your neighbor's property? What happens if that wall needs work or fails? You will probably notice the problem before your neighbor is even aware of it.
Since retaining walls hold up a portion of someone's land, typically, whoever owns the land that is supported by the wall also owns the wall. At least that is what I always assume until someone proves otherwise. (In 27 years, I have yet to be proven wrong.) With that in mind, it has always amazed me that when I ask who owns a retaining wall, the average seller claims to be clueless. That could be somewhat understandable when you consider that most homeowners have not done a survey of their lot. Even more significant is that in most cases the sellers claim that they have never done any maintenance work to the wall. The last assertion is usually verified when the wall is inspected and found to be in need of expensive repairs.
Did you or would you buy a home without knowing who owned a retaining wall and what condition it was in?
Do you have a retaining wall story to share with us?
