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Fight over 14ins of driveway boundary costs pensioner £80,000
Felix Allen12 May 2010
A pensioner whose dispute with her next-door neighbour over a 14-inch strip of drive ended in bitter defeat and a legal bill of £80,000 said today she feels she has been “robbed”.
Joy Huntley and her son Graham, a London solicitor, launched a five-year legal fight against Simon Armes over his plans to erect a fence on a slanting line across their shared drive.
Mrs Huntley, 75, complained it would leave her with 14ins less space to park her car and unable to open its doors.
But at the Court of Appeal yesterday, three senior judges ruled the fence can go up and ordered Mrs Huntley and her son — a partner at international law firm Hogan Lovells — to pay 70 per cent of Mr Armes's costs.
The first part of the costs is estimated at £30,000 and the final bill is expected to reach £80,000 — or £5,700 per inch of drive.
Mrs Huntley, a retired legal administrator, said today: “I'm stunned by the judgment. It's like mugging an old lady. You might as well snatch my handbag on the street.”
The court heard that the neighbours, of Claygate in Surrey, had been friendly for 20 years until 2005 and no one had minded the “moments of transient trespass” when Mrs Huntley got in and out of her car.
But the Huntleys claim Mr Armes suddenly accused them of “impediment” for walking on his part of the drive.
At Kingston county court last year, a judge ruled in Mr Armes's favour as he drew a kinked, diagonal line to mark the boundary.
The Huntleys appealed, insisting that when the houses were built in 1935 they were divided by a straight line that would have given them an extra five feet of garden at the widest point and 14 inches more space at the point where Mrs Huntley parks her hatchback.
The appeal judges ruled the County Court judge got the boundary wrong, but said Mr Armes can keep the disputed area because previous owners had possession of it for decades, giving them “squatters' rights”.
Mr Armes, 64, a retired salesman for Barclaycard, said: “The line is not equidistant, I have a bigger plot.
"But they suddenly decided that wasn't right and they wanted the boundary changed. It has been a huge ordeal and I'm pleased it has come to an agreeable end.”
He now hopes to sell his £525,000 home.
Reader views (2)
The point that comes out of theis case is nothing to do with either house, but the very high cost of going to court. Justice ought to be available and understood by all, and there should be a more economic way of getting disputes such as this without resorting to legal proffesionals.
- Jeremy E, Home Counties, 13/05/2010 13:33
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Looks like law: 1, justice: 0.
A friend and their neighbour have recently demolished a boundary wall between their drives by mutual consent and appropriate legal documentation. Now both can get in and out of their cars more easily using a strip of shared driveway. This will probably also enhance the value of their houses when they come to sell.
- Nigel, London, 12/05/2010 16:02
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