Q: Who is responsible for repairing a retaining wall on a shared residential property line?
The properties are located in Massachusetts. The wall is on the property line. The properties are on a steep hill. There has been no recent excavation or building on either property. Both properties are over 60 years old and neither owner is original owner. Not sure who built the wall, but it is strictly there to hold up the uphill property as the downhill property is approximately 5-6 feet below the uphill property. Downhill neighbor demanding it be repaired immediately. All research I have done online has given mixed answers and city building department states it is a private matter and will not advise. The repairs are for normal corrosion. Any advice or direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
A: Here is the misleadingly short answer: the duty to repair a wall falls on the person who altered the grade of his land, and later owners of the same property. However, there are so many fact-bound variations on this concept that stating it this way may raise more issues than it resolves. Who is responsible for repairing the wall is tied to whether you or your predecessor (or some third party) erected the wall, the state of the topography before the wall was constructed, what, if anything was done to change the topography when the wall was built, and at whose behest, whether a prior owner assented to the change, in short, a recent history of the land before and after the wall was built, regardless of how long ago that was. I hope you are getting the picture that the answer to your questions is likely not at all straightforward. I do not like to say on these lawyer answer forums that you really should call a lawyer, but you should.
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