Retired couple face losing savings over neighbour dispute | UK | News

A retired couple said they spent their life savings in a violent legal dispute with their former neighbour over a fence erected on their shared driveway.

Graham and Katherine Bateson said they have spent £45,000 on legal fees since their late neighbour Wendy Leedham put up the fence alongside their bungalow.

The couple sought an injunction to have it removed, claiming it was obstructing the driveway entrance to their property after it was installed in 2019.

Mr and Mrs Bateson claimed that when they bought their two-bedroom house for £29,500 in 1987, they were told it shared a driveway with their neighbour.

They said they were told there was a marked flat boundary between the two properties that should not be built on.

But their neighbour has obtained legal advice saying she can erect a fence between the properties in Snettisham, Norfolk.

Mrs Bateson, 73, said: “We have lived here for 32 years without any problems with the previous neighbours, they all agreed it was a shared driveway.

“We bought it as a shared drive, that’s how it was explained and sold to us. I don’t understand how you can do all the checks legally and 30 years later it comes back to haunt you.”

“Having all your savings taken away like this, when you already knew you were right.”

The dispute lasted three years, until November 2021, when the case was submitted to a mediation hearing.

The hearing decided that a new deed should be drawn up showing the boundary between the two properties aligned with the fence, meaning it could remain in place.

Wendy Leedham did not live to see the outcome. She died a few months before the hearing in May 2021, at the age of 74.

Mrs Leedham’s former three-bedroom home is now on the market for £375,000 with agents Sowerbys.

Sowerbys’ 12-page brochure makes no mention of the fence or boundary dispute and the Batesons fear a new owner will replace it.

Ms Bateson, a retired factory supervisor, said: “We always live in fear that they will put up another fence when there shouldn’t have been one in the first place.”

The Batesons claim that the shared driveway and open boundary were later confirmed by a surveyor’s report after the mediation hearing.

Mr Bateson, a 75-year-old retired window cleaner, took up the law in September 2022.

He said: “I took down the fence and was arrested for criminal damage.”

“They locked me up for 12 hours on a Sunday without food until midnight.”

Last December, the charge was dropped because the Crown Prosecution Service considered it was not in the public interest to prosecute.

Mr Bateson said that at that point the couple could no longer continue their legal fight because they could no longer afford to, having already spent £45,000.

He said: “We saved and worked hard. It’s all lost now.”

Both parties paid their own legal fees.

The fence was not rebuilt, while the Land Registry rejected the revised deed because it was not satisfied with the way the Batesons’ signatures were authenticated.

The family of Sowerby and Ms Leedham have been contacted for comment.