Shared garage with issues

[Susan Lisman]

Hi Everyone, 

This is my first post  and I hope someone can help me.

I am looking at a foreclosure with manageable repairs in a Philadelphia suburb.  I have had the property inspected and I know that the issues in the house, aside from knob and tube which obviously has to be immediately replaced, can be fixed.  Unfortunately, the real issue with the property seems to be the shared garage.  I had it inspected as well and basically the structure is unstable.  Demoing the garage would not be the biggest deal, but as I said it is shared.  It shares a roof line and and interior wall with the next door property.  While I am not sure that their side is in a similar state of disrepair - I presume that it is also pretty bad and stabilizing their side may be nearly impossible.  Tearing down my side will likely damage theirs and even if it doesn't, it would be a poor and unstable structure next to my newly paved drive way or new garage.

Starting a first time project with a possible legal entanglement is less then appealing.  Has anyone dealt with a similar issue?