Who's responsible for this wall?

[AR2022]

Hi All,

I've been struggling to determine who is responsible for maintaining a wall.

Background:

• A housing estate was built by Redrow around 2003 on land that was previously a dam. Redrow purchased the land from the council and then built the houses.
• There is a 7ft high wall that originally bordered the dam, meant to prevent people from climbing into it. On the other side of the wall is a public park, which still exists today.
• The houses, including their gardens and driveways, were built right up against this wall. However, no reinforcement or reconstruction of the wall was done at the time, and it's roughly 100 years old and is in bad condition.
• The council inspected the wall and believes it should have been reinforced to handle the new load from the houses. They even suggested it may have needed full reconstruction, as the wall was never intended to be a retaining wall.

Current Situation:

• The land was always freehold, and I own it. The council claims that the wall is my responsibility, as Redrow sold the land (including the wall) with the houses, making it part of my boundary with the park.
• Redrow agrees with the council (of course), though my deeds say the wall isn’t my responsibility to maintain, as there is no inward-facing 'T' on the wall, which would indicate ownership.
• After investigating, I found land ownership documents from when the estate was divided. These suggest that Redrow still owns part of the boundary (marked in red), while individual homeowners own their properties (marked in green) and a black line in between indicating the wall.

My Question:

• Does Redrow still have responsibility for the wall since they appear to own part of the estate, particularly the boundary?
• The wall is between the red and green lines (with Redrow owning the red area and the homeowners owning the green).
• Additionally, there’s a covenant in the Redrow's Title Register that mentions the wall is a party wall, but it’s unclear who shares responsibility—me, the council, or Redrow?

The Conveyance from 5 February 1954 in the Charges Register includes this clause:
"The walls and fences dividing the plot from the adjoining lands of the Vendors shall be deemed party walls and fences and shall be maintained jointly and equally by the Vendors and the Purchaser."

Within my Land Transfer documents, there is the following clause:
"To keep in good repair any boundary walls or fences on the plot which are not party walls or fences (if any) marked with a letter 'T' inwards on the plan."

Any help in understanding this would be appreciated.

Thanks

[AR2022]

The wall

[atticus]

Does the wall (or did it on 5 February 1954) divide your land from adjoining land of the vendor? That question will determine whether it is deemed to be a party wall.

Is the plan in post 2 taken from the transfer to you?

[AR2022]

Does the wall (or did it on 5 February 1954) divide your land from adjoining land of the vendor? That question will determine whether it is deemed to be a party wall.

Is the plan in post 2 taken from the transfer to you?

The land where the houses are built was historically a reservoir, circa 2003 is when the houses were built and Redrow purchased the land (reservoir) from the council. I wouldn't have thought they would have purchased it in 1954.

The picture is from the title plan which is in Redrow's name. Our title plans and transfer deeds are under their own title numbers.

Here is an image from my transfer document.

[atticus]

You need to find out who sold the land in 1954 and what other adjoining land that seller owned at that time.

If your land is title no. GM928360, as the plan in post #2 suggests, the plan in post #4 does not cover it and so is of little help.