I have no advice to give sorry. But I wanted to say that sounds appalling.

Yes it is totally appalling.. Also the stress this has caused me in dealing with the council and the worry of it all has been awful. I just never knew a council would ever allow a raised garden bed against someone’s house wall. Also it’s a heritage terrace and my wall is the boundary line.

The joke is the previous owners years back constructed a new front fence and it was pretty much like many of the front fences around here. Well council forced the new owners to take it down because it wasn’t in keeping with the heritage area! I thought it looked fine.

Yet here I have this terrible problem and council is just washing their hands of it.

I would see a solicitor. Some give you a first free half hour appt which gives you some options. Council may back down when faced with a solicitor letter.

I have already spoken to two solicitors on this and suggested this very thing. First one didn‘t think this would work. The second thinks they may take more notice and see that I am serious in this issue. Both are experts in this particular field. I am starting to feel it might be worth it to try it.

Both the engineer and the damp proofing people all said that because damp proofing only has a life the only way this should be done near someone’s house wall it to build a separate retaining wall away for the house and even damp proofing that both sides!

I find it extraordinary that council would even consider passing this outrage when they had built it illegally to begin with!

Councils do sometimes seem to make strange inconsistent decisions, and this does appear to fall into that scratching head, what were they thinking decisions?
Have you approached your local state and/or federal representative?
All the best, Louise.

The other day I did write to my local state member. And a while back I did ring my federal member but no help there. I did speak to a councillor from the council face to face and he was like....what the hell and said he would come to my place to look at the problem but never did.

One of my neighbours two streets away said some people in her street had a similar issue with their next door. They battled with the council over it and they are both lawyers and didn’t get anywhere. Also there was a case in Paddington last year where a heritage home owner changed all the windows illegally and the whole community were up in arms over it and went to the council. Council didn’t do a thing. Once to change heritage windows to modern was like three grand on the spot fine for each window!

And recently some neighbours wanted to get rid of a tree that is lifting up pavers and is dropping leaves all the time. Someone had a tree the same variety and council allowed them to remove it. But refused for these people!

Thye are very inconsistent! And in my case completely unfair. Who in their right minds would allow a raised garden bed to go against someone’s house! The soil is hard up against my house wall as well as my courtyard wall and their is tons an tons of soil in there.

Bith engineers said the walls are acting as a retaining wall for the soil and they were never built for that purpose. Yet none of my concerns are addressed by council.

I now hate being at home because the whole thing has caused me so much stress.

I'm sorry for what you're going through.

A few thoughts.

"I discovered it wasn’t in their DA. I contacted council over it And they told the owners to remove it. The owners then applied for a building certificate to ratify it. By that stage I was seeing signs of dampness coming through as the raised bed goes approx 41cm above my floor boards. Despite my objections on this the council passed it."

Have you asked them why they went back on their original action and insisted on a credible explanation of their change in view of the clear damage your property has suffered as a result of the illegal work?

"So armed with a civil engineers report as well as two reports froom damp proofing companies stating the probable cause of the damp wall is the resided be I presented this to council. Council came back and said they were satisfied that the owners had damp proofed my wall."

Where is their proof of damp-proofness if you have proof of damp? Obviously if there is damp it's not really damp-proof. I think you need to be a squeaky wheel about their illogical evasion.

"He also attached their side passage fence onto our house and attached their extension onto our house which I have been told is illegal. I was also told by their architect that they had to leave a gap between my house wall and their building."

Have you looked up the relevant regulations yourself or are you relying on verbal advice and hearsay. There have been times people were lazy about responding to problems I raised and sometimes I found it was effective to be able to quote the applicable official document. If you get the wrong sort of people and you sound like you have only a vague secondhand understanding of the matter they find it easy to contradict that to make their workday easier but if you can quote exact clauses that gives them less room for evasion.

"But they sacked him before they completed the work."

If it is illegal it is illegal, that is not dependent on the person advising it is illegal being in their employ.

"The other think I pointed out to Council is how could they know if my wall has been properly damp proofed when it has already been built."

Good question. I know sometimes they accept written documentation stating it was done, which is no more waterproof than the paper it's written on.

"Also I pointed out to council that it was bad practice to allow raised beds against someone house wall even if the damp proofing was good as all damp proofing only has a life. The havent address any of my concerns nor have they come out and looked at what is going on with my walls."

That's absolutely right. Are you putting it in writing, are you creating a paper trail that puts responsibility on them for inaction regarding damage to your property?

"I have spoken to many government depts including the ombudsman, building NSW, and Dept fair trade. They are all shocked that council have allowed this to happen but none can help. But I need to go back to the ombudsman."

I'm just shaking my head in frustration at that. Have you tried asking them who can help, or whether they are acknowledging the system is completely useless? Have you tried your local member of parliament?

I think you’re focusing on the wrong party being the Council. Accept the Council’s faults and move on. Rightly or wrongly they’ll cover their behinds and have lawyers and deeper pockets.

The current situation is that your property is being damaged by next door’s garden bed. This should be your legal focus. Ask a solicitor your options to have the situation rectified and repaired by the neighbour.