Fight over fence costs £100,000

A mother was left facing a near-£100,000 legal bill after a two-year battle with neighbours over a few inches of land.

Marie Claire Dunne wanted to extend her home close to an extension previously built by Stephen and Barbara Kupfer.

But when Mrs Dunne's builders began to remove fence panels she claimed were in the wrong place, her neighbours won a court order stopping them.

A judge at Willesden County Court reversed this decision after a four-day trial, and awarded Mrs Dunne £20,000 damages for inconvenience.

But Judge Peter Latham's ruling has now been overturned by the Appeal Court, leaving Mrs Dunne with no damages, a bill to restore the fence line and her share of an estimated £150,000 in legal fees.

Lord Justice Pill said: "I remain incredulous as to how a dispute which ought to have been capable of prompt resolution escalated in the way it did."

He added: "It is extremely unfortunate that so much cost and effort has been expended in determining whether the boundary is 150mm north of the extension or 300mm."

But the three appeal judges ruled that Mrs Dunne must pay her own costs, plus 30 per cent of the Kupfers' county court costs and 60 per cent of their appeal costs.