10-year boundary dispute leaves couple £30,000 in debt

10-year boundary dispute leaves couple £30,000 in debt

A six-inch plot of land between two gardens is the culprit for a 10-year-long boundary dispute that has left a couple £30,000 in debt. The couple, Philip New and his wife Denise (52 and 47), have remortgaged their property to cover the cost.

The dispute occurred in Benfleet, Essex. It arose when the couple’s neighbours suggested that their fence should be six inches further into the News’ garden.

The News say they have lived at the property for 16 years and replaced the fence panels 12 years ago, utilising cement posts that have been situated for 50 years, which the neighbours argued were part of the drainage system and not a suggestion of where the boundary was.

In 2015, the neighbours agreed to mediation and a surveyor was to determine the boundary. In 2018, the News received “a court summons for trespass, damages and the declaration of the boundary line”.

The News attended the hearing in February 2021 where the judge ruled in favour of the neighbours and found that the new line drawn by the surveyor was binding. They appealed the case in a High Court hearing, which they lost.

According to Philip, the neighbours have a “personal vendetta” against his family. The couple have been ordered to pay the cost of their neighbours’ legal fees and are now awaiting the final assessment. Philip said:

“We got suckered in because we thought we would win the case and then we didn’t, and we didn’t have any choice but to appeal. So far, it’s probably cost us in the region of about £25,000 to £30,000 and that’s without the final cost — if it goes really wrong it could be another £30,000 to £40,000.

It’s driven us nuts and taken over our lives. We don’t seem to talk about anything except this. It’s a nightmare, it doesn’t go away, we live and breathe it. They’re just selfish people who’ve gone through the whole process with nothing to lose, to gain something they’ve obviously never had on the property.

They just want to keep going and make us pay out more. It’s like they have a personal vendetta against us just because we have defended our land.”

The neighbours, who remain anonymous, said:

“We’ve had this for 11 years. They’ve lost and they don’t like it, they’re very bad losers. They’ve lost, they’ve got to get it into their heads, the pair of them. He’s lost the case and he won’t give us our land back. He’s not entitled to put a fence up. We want our fence put back. Six inches is a lot of land and equally he has no right to take it.”

Jamie Lennox, Editor, Today's Conveyancer

Editor of Today's Conveyancer, Today's Wills and Probate, and Today's Family Lawyer Contact LinkedIn Twitter Email

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