A COUPLE who sued their neighbour over a fence are locked in a court battle after a judge found their patio trespassed on next door’s land.
Helen Faber and her partner Dominic Miles claimed the new fence interfered with back garden picnics.
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But the couple have now been ordered to rip out the central heating system and patio from their £375,000 cottage after trying to sue the neighbour backfired.
Helen and Dominic returned to their country cottage in Oxfordshire in 2021 after living in France.
They were furious to discover that their neighbours Richard and Katherine Reid and installed a fence, “narrowing” a path leading to part of their back garden by 40cm.
The couple complained the fence was a “nuisance” because any narrowing of the four-foot wide path would make it difficult for them to carry a “large picnic tray laden with food and drinks…without spilling the drinks” to their patio and second garden area at the end.
After angry scenes, including an incident in November 2021, “during which Mr Miles was very aggressive towards Mrs Reid,” they sued their neighbours.
They asked Judge Melissa Clarke at Oxford County Court to rule that the new fence created a “substantial interference” with their use of the shared right of way.
The judge ruled that there was no “nuisance” caused by the fence.
Not only this, but she ordered them to rip up their back patio and remove an oil pipe feeding their central heating system – rendering it useless – after finding that both constituted “trespasses” on the Reids’ property.
The two couples are now facing off in London’s High Court.
Helen and Dominic are appealing, arguing that it was wrong for the judge to order them to remove the pipe – leaving them with no heating and hot water system – and the patio, as well as continuing to insist the fence is moved.
But Mr and Mrs Reid say the county court judge got it right when ordering their neighbours to scrap their patio and heating system and dismissing their gripes about the fence.
High Court judge Mr Justice Richard Smith last week heard that Mr and Mrs Reid’s home, Forge Cottage, in Wardington, Oxfordshire, adjoins Ms Faber and Mr Miles’ house, Pear Tree Cottage next door, which online sources estimate to be worth £375,000.
The fence which sparked the row lies alongside part of a path which runs up the side of Pear Tree Cottage, before turning and running along the back of both neighbours’ main back gardens and ending at the second garden belonging to Pear Tree Cottage.
The path itself belongs to the owners of Forge Cottage, but both sets of neighbours have a right of way over it.
Ms Faber and Mr Miles complained that because of the “narrowing” of the shared right of way they were unable to “conveniently” use the path whilst carrying “a large picnic tray laden with food and drinks” to their second garden.
At the end of the Oxford County Court trial, Judge Melissa Clarke, while noting that “Mr Miles was very aggressive towards Mrs Reid” at one point during the row, ruled that the new fence “did not substantially interfere with the right of way”.
Going on to order them to take out the oil pipe, disabling their heating system, she said: “An oil line running from an oil tank in the Pear Tree Cottage second garden is on, over and under parts of the right of way.
“The claimants now accept that the right of way is owned by Forge Cottage. The installation by the claimants of an oil line over the right of way is a trespass on the land of Forge Cottage and the defendants are entitled to an injunction requiring the claimants to remove it.”
She said the pipeline is “susceptible to damage” and that, if damaged, any oil leaks would contaminate the Reids’ land, which is a risk they “should not have to tolerate from trespass.”
Dominic and Helen said that they had informed their previous neighbours at Forge Cottage before installing the heating system and they had not objected.
They insisted that means their current neighbours cannot now demand its removal.
The court heard that there is no gas supply in the village and that Mr Miles and Ms Faber claim “modern” heating systems like heatpumps are “not suitable for use in a stone-built property more than three centuries old.”
Mr Justice Smith has now reserved his ruling on the case, to be given at a later date.
The Top Five Reasons Neighbours Squabble
One study by Compare the Market revealed the top reason British neighbour’s argue
- Broken fences – top of the board was broken fences and whose responsibility it was to fix it
- Parking: one of the leading drivers of neighbour disputes, with 54.1 per cent of people having issues with people parking in front of their house, parking bay or driveway
- Trees – complaints about a neighbour’s tree cracking your garden path was also common with nearly half of participants finding it frustrating
- Bin wars – outdoor bin etiquette continues to ignite the most furious debates between neighbours
- Nosy Neighbours – some people have their eyes and ears at the ready to have a peek causing problems for others
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