My neighbor acts like a nice guy. A real charmer. He’s been stringing me along. Anyway. He just moved last year 8 months before I did. He built this janky ass 3 foot retaining wall and fence that he has no access to , only from his window, on the property line, before I moved in. When it rains, it pools because the property is supposed to swale in between, then drain downward but he changed the lay of the land and in the front yard he added soil to the front also and created 1 yard to look like a lawn. It looks like its all his. I found out the last homeowner didnt approve any of that but thats why she moved. She was tired of his shit. I found out he is flooding the neighbor on his other side too due to him extending the driveway without hoa permission mind you. He does all his projects himself in a screwed up manner. Anyway we are on friendly terms but Im tired of him lying and taking advantage of me. I’ll spare you of details. The last straw for me was he put his business sign on our shared lawn the other day. I have had it. I want to tell the HOA and so does the neighbor on the other side of him but if we tell, they will force him to change everything back before he screwed it up. That will cost him time and money. I just dont want drama because I’m pregnant. He will know I reported him because I was about to hire a landscaper this week and told him I am enforcing the property line but then it started raining and I found out from google that even if my property swales properly, if his side is not draining he can cause issues under the surface to my foundation through time. I already had to pay for an extra survey because he put a line in my property that confused me as to where my property line was and that was $300. Then i got a foundation engineer for $700 because i was concerned. He said everything was ok for now but recommends proper drainage. I dont want to keep hiring people just to undo what he should have never done. Photo attached of how the property is supposed to drain. What should I do? Tell the HOA. Become enemies, start a war?
by Calm-Rutabaga8102
6 Comments
Tell the HOA and city/county
Call the permit office and see if he got one for the retaining wall and fence.
He may have needed a zoning permit to alter the grade/drainage that drastically though. Hard to say without the specific city code, but blocking drainage for neighbors is a big issue with every city I’ve worked in.
If you have or will suffer damages, obtain proof, and sue.
So this is a city issue, the HOA won’t be able to do anything.
Per code, stormwater falling on one’s property must be contained on the property until discharged into the right of way. From what it sounds, he built a retaining wall on your property, which prevents the storm water from reaching the designed swale?
This is complex, and who is at fault depends on a lot. Did the neighbor build the wall before or after you purchased the property? Do you have any evidence that he built the wall?
If the answer is he built it before you purchased the property and you cannot definitively prove he built the wall, it may actually fall on you to remove it/rectify the drainage. Basically, when you buy a property you inherit all of the illegal and improper shit done to it.
If its on his property, I’m not sure why it would be impacting your drainage.
Edit: Okay I reread it. It sounds like the wall actually didnt do anything, it is the dirt added that prevents discharge of the swale. Here’s what to do – find the land development firm/engineer that stamped the plan, reach out to them and tell them you have drainage issues. They will come out and check the lots, and file with the city that the homeowner changed the drainage pattern illegally, because this is a liability against them – they will protect their ass.
You still need to be able to provide SOME sort of documentation to prove that you didn’t do this, or else the financial burden may still fall on you.
Call the DEQ!