Neighbour Wants to Reduce the Height of the Wall That Separates our Garden and Theirs

Question

Our neighbour wants to reduce the height of the wall that separates our garden and theirs. The buttresses of the wall are on their side.

Does this mean that they own the wall and can do what they like? Do we have any say? The wall has been there for more than a hundred years.

If you could shed any light on the situation I’d be really grateful – I’ve told them that we’re not happy about their plans but I don’t know if we have any more rights in this situation.

Answer

You will only have rights over the wall if it is yours or a party fence wall i.e. in shared ownership. You would need to check the deeds to establish where the boundary is – the fact that the buttresses are on one side is not definative.

If it turns out to be a party fence wall your neighbour would need your consent to reduce it to a height of less than 2 metres.