Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

My wife and I purchased our current home 2 years ago. We recently renovated our lanscaping which inclued removal of a vine from a common boundary wall that was planted by a previous owner over 20 years ago. Prior to doing this I had all my immediate neighbors sign a neighborhood awareness form atesting that I explained to them the extent of my planned renovations. I explained to each one that I planned on removing the vine from the wall and that may result in parts of the vine dying on their side of the wall as all of them had let it grow on their respective sides. All signed in agreement of my plans.

After removal of the vine by my contractor I photographed the wall showing that there was no damage or other needs for repair. Afterwards, one of my neighbors decied pull part of the vine off his side of the wall (large sections of the vine are still growing on his property). He claims that my contractor damaged a block in the masonary wall on his side and expected me to repair it. I told him that I saw no damage on my side of the wall and my contractor claimed they never went on his side of the wall during vine removal. My neighbor then decided to cut a hole in the wall where the claimed damage block was claiming the vine that we remodved was damaging the wall and expected me to pay for all the repairs. He never gave me any previous notice that he wanted to do this as required by California law and I have photographic evidence that there was no damage to the wall after my contractor removed the vine. My belief is that either the block on his side was damaged long ago by some other event or recently when he removed the vine from his side of the wall. In either case, since my neighbor let the vine grow on his side of the property for over 20 years before I purchased our property does his use of the vine as a landscape element constitue acceptance of the vine as his property? As such, is he responsible for any damage it may have caused? My belief is he just wants free repairs to cracks on his side of the wall at my expense and my contractor wants $500 for this repair. Also, is he responsible for all the repairs as he did not give me any notice of his plans nor did he give any evidence of the need for repair? He just cut a hole open in the wall and said he was being a good neighbor by fixing the my vine problem and that I am responsible to pay. I want to know my legal rights before pursuing this any further.

Thank you.


Asked on 8/28/22, 4:59 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

The cost of repairs to boundary walls and fences by law is to be shared by the owners of the two properties, regardless of which side the damage may be on. So unless you can prove he damaged the wall when he removed the vine on his side, you each owe half the repair cost.

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Answered on 8/29/22, 9:39 am


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