A pensioner claims she has spent £25,000 on legal fees in a bitter row with her neighbour over a small patch of land in her back garden.
Nora Boyle, 83, lives in Selston, Nottinghamshire, in a bungalow on farmland which she claims her family has owned for 89 years.
But when a new house was built behind hers in 2014, an argument ensued with her neighbour over where their boundaries were.
The disagreement then exploded as both neighbours hired workmen to change the boundaries of the garden.
Nora claimed: ‘We’ve had hell from them. I’m frightened to death. I’m on tablets for my nerves – I’ve never had them in my life before. You could write a book about this. We just don’t want this to happen to anyone else.’
Nora Boyle, 83, lives in Selston, Nottinghamshire, in a bungalow on farmland which she claims her family has owned for 89 years
When a new house was built behind hers in 2014, an argument ensued with her neighbour over where their boundaries were
The land at Selston has belonged to the Boyle family since the 1930s, claims Nora, and was once a pony paddock before being converted into a habitable property
The land at Selston has belonged to the Boyle family since the 1930s, claims Nora, and was once a pony paddock before being converted into a habitable property.
The property behind Nora’s was built ten years ago and relations with the neighbours did not get off to the best start, with a dispute over a lean-to shed in the next garden, close to the fence.
It soured when Nora claims she tried to inform the neighbour of a loose roof tile on their home, which was met with an angry response.
Then, one day in 2016, the family received a phone call while they were on holiday in Ireland. They returned home to find their hedge, fence and trees had gone, and a new fence had been erected in its place.
It encroached into what Nora believed was her garden by a yard and a half. One tree had been left.
Nora claimed: ‘My daughter saw it and threw up. I was just stunned. Heartbroken. We’d only just lost my husband. I couldn’t believe it.’
The police were called and a solicitor’s advice was sought. The family even got surveyors to try and measure out the land based on land registry documents.
But the Land Registry’s official guidance is that in England or Wales, there’s usually no record of the exact boundary between two properties, nor who owns the hedge, wall, tree or fence between two properties.
The neighbours continued to be in dispute for the next eight years.
The story took another turn when the neighbours listed the house for sale – with the land that the Boyles claim is theirs included
The story took another turn when the neighbours listed the house for sale – with the land that the Boyles claim is theirs included.
On April 11 this year, the Boyles reclaimed the land, having wanted to do it ‘for a while’. They informed the neighbours in advance.
The family hired a gardener to remove the fence the neighbours had installed and put a new fence in for Ms Boyle. But the neighbours turned up while the installation was taking place. The whole incident was caught on camera, with an argument ensuing.
The neighbour involved in the dispute has declined to comment.
They had previously said: ‘This is a complex social story which is likely to finish up in court. We have a multitude of evidence which will be used to support our case via our solicitors.’