Row over garden fence may force teacher to sell her home

Carole Anne Green a 58-year-old teacher from Malvern, has lost a court battle with her neighbours over a garden fence. She has been told she has to foot the £50,000 legal bill, and says she will have to sell up to pay the fees.

The Daily Express reported that it all started when Green moved into an exclusive development, and got planning permission to build a holiday property in the back garden. She and her neighbours fell out over the width of the drive that visitors would have to use to get to the property. Her neighbours put a line of wooden batons in the ground saying that they represented the border between the two properties. Green disagreed and erected the fence where she felt it belonged.

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They launched legal action in 2012, and the judge ruled the fence was 15 inches too far into their garden. Instead of demanding it should be pulled down, he awarded the couple damages of £2,866.

This left Green with a bill for £50,000 in legal costs - far in excess of the compensation - so she went to the Appeal Court. The judge sympathised, but pointed out she hadn't lodged complaints within the proper time. He added: "I'm sorry to say that none of her arguments would enable Mrs Green to appeal successfully, and these applications are refused."

This means Green has lost everything. She told the Daily Mail: "This lawyers' bill is going to kill me. It's wiped out 40 years of full time work. I'll be 60 next year and I've got no savings."

Fence row

It's shocking that a row over a fence could have got so out of hand, and it's even more shocking that it happens so often.

In 2011, a couple from Paignton faced a £20,000 legal bill, and were forced to pull their fence down. They had removed a small fence and put in a much taller one while their neighbours were on holiday. However, the court found that the smaller fence was actually on the neighbour's land, and had been put up with his permission. Without his agreement, the taller fence had to go.

In 2009 in Sale, Greater Manchester, a row over a fence took turn that will feel very familiar to Green. Two neighbours got into a dispute after both families extended their properties and one put up a new fence. While they were on holiday, their neighbours took the fence down, and the case went to court. One family spent so much on the case and a subsequent appeal that they were forced to sell up to pay their legal bills.

There are times when things get even more heated. In August last year in New York, an 82-year-old retired art collector was arrested over a fence-related row. Her neighbour built a fence on what she considered to be her yard, so she spray-painted her address on the fence. In court the judge agreed that if she could stay out of trouble for six months, the case would be dropped.