All Forum Posts by: Tamara R.

Hello! Just noticed this as I am in Vienna also. Welcome. Where did you buy your rental property?

Thanks, @J Scott, for the suggestion to call the permit office. I did and they are going to send an inspector over to take a look at it. We will see what happens.

Thanks for all your replies. The retaining wall is on my property and unfortunately I don't have any before pictures. I am pretty sure they will be closing today or tommorrow, so it seems there is no way to prevent the closing. SOunds like I am just SOL?

To answer the question, I would say it is leaning about 15-20 degrees. . .

At its highest point, it is about 4 feet tall (with a 6 foot privacy fence on top) and then it goes down to about a foot at it lowest point. The wall is about 20 feeet long. Yes, he certainly could (and should) have fixed it when he was on site. He had them grade and re-grade the yard at least 10 times because he was not pleased with it. All that heavy equipment took a toll on our retaining wall. Now I know he won't do it because they pretty much finished up the yard yesterday and laid sod. He is just starting the other house (on the adjoining lot).

Also, when it is fixed, the yard with the new home will have to be torn up to fix it and I don't think they will be pleased with that. Then I imagine they will expect us to fix their yard back, when it was the building of their house that caused the problem in the first place.

No, I haven't gotten as far as having someone evaluate it. I just think he should fix it since he caused its condition. Not terribly concerned with how it looks, but I was planning on planting some trees next to it for privacy and not sure if I should in case it caves in. Also, I do have small kids and it seems like a safety issue (if not now, then probably in the future.

I wasn't sure where to post this, so am posting it here.

A builder bought the property next to mine and tore down the existing structure to build 2 houses. There is a retaining wall and fence separating our properties, which is now leaning quite a bit after all the heavy equipment they brought onto the lot and the general re-grading they did to flatten the lot. We spoke to the builder about fixing the wall and our fence. They did straighten the fence, but did nothing with the retaining wall and it is my understanding the new buyers are closing on the property emminently. Its looking like nothing will be done with the retaining wall. I am concerned about the safety issue of leaving it as is and what happens once they have sold the property. Would we have to pay to fix it, then sue them in small claims court? Or would the new owners of the home be ultimately responsible? Any input on how to proceed would be appreciated.

@Jeff Bridges my husband has been to the property several times for inspections/maintenance but never mentioned anything amiss in the back yard. Of course with Townhouses you have to walk around several to get to the backyard and unless the blinds are up in the home you may not actually see it.

Thanks all! This was a property I bought when I began my investing career, and there are lots of things I did with that house (and another I bought at the time) that I would not do today. The last couple of purchases we did nothing with the landscaping--and the tenants actually fixed it up themselves. Go figure.

@Mike Franco yes $200 for the bushes--I actually didn't think that price was too bad. That did not include the 12 hours I spent working on the yard.