In 1943, Harriet Nakayiza of Bweyogerere bought four acres of land and set up her residential home.

Along the way, she sold part of her land to a one Hajji Kayongo, who built his home next to hers and built a wall around it.

Consequently, Nakayiza also built a vertical wall around her home and used Kayongo’s backside of the fence as her wall. The neighbours coexisted amicably until Mother Nature struck. Whenever it rains, water flows into Kayongo’s compound from the rear, because it was blocked on both sides.

Nakayiza is distressed because Kayongo’s family constantly accesses her compound, to check on the water levels in her compound that may be flowing into theirs. She cries of lack of privacy and says she lives in fear that the wall may soon cause her big trouble because it looks dump and weak, threatening to give way.

In 2013, Musisi Kepha's family took a bank loan, which they used to develop their family estate at Wakiso Kassengejje, because people had started encroaching on it. However, two years ago, one of their building was extensively damaged after an excavator brought down an illegal building with which it shared a wall.

The Musisis’ nightmare began in May 2017, when the owner of the ill-fated building next to theirs decided to put up additional floors to it. It originally comprised of single rooms on the ground floor which were operating as rental facilities in the community, but since the building’s foundation was not intended for a storeyed structure, it soon began leaning towards the Musisis’ family bungalow whose back side was used to construct a perimeter wall in the sides.

Musisi’s family and neighbouring tenants alerted the Wakiso district authorities who ordered all the tenants and neighbours to vacate the building so that it could be demolished.

Once proud homeowners, the Musisis’ now live in an open facility whose other part was scrapped off during the demolition which has caused a lot of insecurity to them for fear of getting harmed in the night.

“After building our house, I never imagined I would have to hustle for security again. Now we can’t even feed our family,” a grandchild laments.

Disputes surrounding boundary walls in residential and commercial areas are one of the most controversial topics facing homeowners in urban areas today.

Many such disputes relate to the location of the boundary between the two properties, or when trees or plants encroach on or overhang the other property, or when the wall causes trouble or a threat to the neighbouring land, people, or when the wall diverts the natural flow of water.

Isaac Twebaze, a civil/structural engineer at Seka Associates Consulting Engineers Limited says if one decides to build a wall or erect a fence on the boundary line, it should be on his or her side of the property. This includes the foundation that must be wider and longer than the wall itself.

Usually, however, many neighbours agree to share the costs of boundary walls, in which case ownership is also shared. In the absence of proof that a boundary wall is wholly shared on one or other property, ownership is usually presumed to be shared.

Luke Oluka, a construction engineer with Elpax Engineering Limited cautions landowners to avoid sharing walls with neighbours who agree to share the fence for selfish reasons.

“Before sharing a wall, involve a physical planner and sign agreements indicating how the two neighbours are going to look after the wall they share respectively and have witnesses sign the documents too for future reference in cases of death by one party and the children take over such property,” he advises.

Jethro Okubal, a construction expert with Etyang Property Consultants Limited warns against this building strategy, stressing that in case of fire, both buildings can be destroyed and there is no one to blame in such instances because the fire moves fast under the influence of electricity.

“Apart from security measures, there is no privacy at all when the shared wall acts as bedrooms on the opposite side. There is a way it does affect both occupants.”

Civil engineer, Eria Kibulwe, says it’s totally against the rules governing engineering to share walls of any sort. Each building must be independent of the other with enough space that can be used for expansion in future.

Use of unprofessional builders leads to the growth of such walls which pose danger to the neighbours in case of the collapse of one of the buildings or when one of the buildings is being demolished.

“I know it is a trend mostly in towns where buildings are mushrooming every day, but it is very dangerous since you cannot determine the other building's foundation's strength before using it. Besides that, people have different plans for such buildings which can be pulled down any time.”