As far as the CA Good Neighbor Law is concerned you ARE NOT liable for half the fence. I want to replace our fence and sent multiple notices to our neighbor south of us. Although I know this is now besides the point, I would actually always recommend a custom built fence to the prefabricated fence panels they carry at big box stores. "At the basic level, a retaining wall is a structure that holds or retains . The neighbor does not want to share the cost to fix it, and states it is my sole responsibility. Actually, under the law, any maintenance to keep the debris from the trees off the the fence could be billed half to the neighbor. I had contacted my neighbor twice that we need to get the fence fix. Whatever their purpose, retaining walls come in infinite shapes, sizes and styles. I have now recently discovered he placed video surveillance pointed /monitoring my front yard. Would have to agree with Potential Customer partly. I would imagine it will not be built as well as a professional could do, therefore down the road, it will likely fail much sooner! Putting up walls can be a good thing. If he still refuses now you will need to go down to the courthouse and file a small claims suit against your neighbor and pay the small fee. That 32 of fence is behind a large hedge and is not even visible from my property. As far as tearing down part of his fence. The lagging effectively resists the load of the retained soil and transfers it to the piles. Shouldnt they have to replace the fence since they removed it? For example, Keystone limits their Garden Wall (4 high x 12 wide x 9 deep) product to 2 feet in height or six blocks in height total. Rotting, Warping, Splitting and Twisting Wood and How to Prevent it! I am on disability and cannot afford to even split the cost really. The wood fence is failing and needs repair or replace but we have zero need for that privacy fence meeting their HOA requirements. Yet, since you werent even the homeowner at the time of replacement, I would say in my best judgment that they have no legal standing against you. That is, if you're talking about retaining wall ideas in your landscape design. We had no say in the decorative fence. Am I responsible for half of 75 of fence on the property line, or only half of 43 of fence that serves me? If the failure is due to encroachment by my neighbors trees, should they bear the full cost? Im confident if I contracted any work on the wall he would not allow workers on his property.