Claim on leaning firewall posing safety issues

Hi Can you please enlighten me?

Our house was built in the 80's and had a firewall/back fence before an empty lot. recently someone bought the lot and had it surveyed and built a house.

Our old wall is leaning over(part of it) over the neighbor's lot. They are claiming that the wall was over the property line and yet when we ask for proof (they wouldn't present it a geodetic survey) and change their stand that the wall poses a threat and we are "obligated" to have it fixed.

the question is, do they have the right to force us to have the wall removed or fixed if it isn't crossing over their property line? (which I believe they don't but wanted to be sure) and if it is still within our property if it poses a safety issue is it our responsibility to have it repaired?

I believe the Barangay Captain would agree with your neighbour (if it's a safety risk)
but the neighbour need to make a case of it, if you don't agree.

Hello,

What people usually do when a property line is in question is a complaint.

1. Personal complaint - they went to you, complained that your wall is on their property. Correctly you asked that a surveyor be hired to check the property boundaries. They did not do so. Your request was valid. No action was taken (especially since they could not prove that your wall was on their property).

2. Barangay mediation - if they go to the barangay, continue to request for a geodetic engineer to check out the property boundary. They may ask the barangay to ask you to split the fee, it's ok to agree with it.

3. If your wall is on their property, then they may ask you to remove it (which you will have to do, since your wall isn't on your property and you have benefited from the structure long enough). If it's on your property, it's still leaning and it's a structural hazard, please fix your wall nevertheless. They could still go to the LGU and complain about your leaning wall. A consequence is that you will be asked to present a fencing permit by the LGU and if you don't have that then it may cause additional problems for you.