My neighbours ‘used their daughter’s drumming as a WEAPON’ in £150k battle over inches of guttering – but they deny it
A WOMAN claims her neighbours used their daughter’s drumming as a weapon in a £150,000 battle over inches of guttering – but they deny it.
Robert Flach and his wife Helena are fighting their neighbour Celia Tan after she ripped out their guttering in a bitter boundary row.
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Ms Tan tore down the guttering in 2019 – claiming it overhung the border between their properties in Ruislip, west London “by inches”.
She added that the Flachs’ drains were leaking water onto her property.
But the Flachs said the boundary line is five inches beyond the wall between their houses – so the guttering was on their land.
The couple are now suing Ms Tan for trespass and the £1,880 cost of replacing the lost guttering.
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Ms Tan is countersuing – alleging that Helena Flach encouraged her daughter to play the drums at a “deafening” volume.
A judge has warned the warring neighbours that the loser faces “pouring £150,000 down the drain”.
Ms Tan and her daughter moved into a £700,000 two-bed house next door to the Flachs’ £1.2million home in October 2009.
She claimed the guttering ran through the middle of the Flachs’ garage extension wall – dripping water on her land.
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But the Flachs said the boundary is five inches beyond the extension’s wall.
The neighbours are also feuding over their front and rear garden fences.
Ms Tan has “gradually moved” her front and back boundaries into the Flachs’ property, the couple’s lawyer Adam Swirsky said.
She denies the claims and is countersuing the Flachs for £85,000 in damages.
The sum would compensate for an alleged reduction in value of her home caused by trespass, encroachment and damage, Ms Tan said.
She is also seeking an injunction barring the Flachs from putting up what she claims is intrusive CCTV near her home.
‘DEAFENING’
Ms Tan also alleges intrusive acts including trespass and damage to fence panels, a mature tree and a garden wall.
She also accuses the Flachs of stealing number plates from a fence and filming her family in her back garden with CCTV and cameras.
On top of that, Ms Tan said Helena Flach has encouraged her daughter to play the drums at a “deafening” volume.
Ms Tan’s daughter Rebecca Edge said the Flachs would leave their daughter at home when they went to church on Sunday mornings.
The Flachs’ daughter Maria would then allegedly “play for 40 minutes per day on average” while her parents were out.
Mrs Flach was told in the witness box that she was accused of harassing Ms Tan by encouraging her daughter to play the drums.
She replied: “Maria was at the local school where she was playing drums.
“She was sitting her grade five exams and needed practice time.”
Mrs Flach added that Maria usually never played more than once a week on her “dampened” drums.
What are my rights in this situation?
BOUNDARY disputes are a common reason for neighbours to fall out.
We explain how to resolve a boundary dispute with your neighbour.
Check the boundary
You can check the boundary by looking at the the deeds to a property.
If you haven’t already got these, you can purchase them from the Land Registry on the government’s website for £3.
This will show the layout and boundaries of the land you own.
Note that you can also purchase a neighbour’s title deeds to see whether any extra property boundaries are outlined in theirs that aren’t in yours.
Sometimes, a T will be marked on a property line to denote responsibility for the boundary.
If you’re in a dispute with a neighbour about property boundaries, you can get the Land Registry to step in.
It will be able to define a boundary that everyone agrees on and will prevent future arguments.
However, this can be difficult as the Land Registry has strict requirements and needs detailed plans.
Try a mediation service
It’s best to keep tensions low by talking things through if possible and avoid making the situation worse.
If you really can’t come to an agreement, mediation services could be a good place to go as they’re cheaper than court costs.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors offers a service to help neighbours resolve rows about boundary lines and related issues.
It was claimed that Ms Tan banged on the walls with “spades and other implements” before the Flachs binned their daughter’s drums.
Ms Tan and her daughters denied the banging claims in a hearing at Central London County Court.
Her barrister told the court: “Her position is that the guttering was a trespass.
“Moreover, the guttering leaked and was causing damage to her property.
“Her position is that the claimants configured their house so all the rain water on the back of the house flowed along that guttering.
“She blocked that off so there was no further water coming onto her property.”
But the Flachs’ lawyer Adam Swirsky said it was Ms Tan’s responsibility to maintain the guttering – as she herself said it was on a shared wall.
Mr Swirsky told the court Ms Tan could have replaced the guttering if it was defective.
He said: “Instead of doing that, you had your builders take the gutter down completely and throw it over their fence.”
But Ms Tan replied: “The gutter is over my land, but it’s not my responsibility.
“I have no use for the gutter, it’s not mine. It was causing damage and nuisance.”
‘TIT FOR TAT’
Ms Tan was handed a criminal behaviour order (CBO) after being convicted of harassment in February 2016, the court heard.
She was accused in her trial of consistently calling traffic wardens to complain about parking – while mounting the pavement in her car.
Ms Tan also allegedly branded neighbours “scum” and filmed them from her bedroom and the street.
Mr Swirsky told the court: “The Flachs are entitled to have CCTV – this may be thought prudent given the CBO made against Ms Tan.
“The claimants have installed CCTV, but it is trained on their house, not Ms Tan’s.
“They are within their rights to do this, and an injunction should not be made.
“Any recording or filming is tit for tat recording of allegations and counter allegations.”
Ms Tan had filmed Mrs Flach on her mobile phone in 2018 and 2019, Mr Swirsky said.
He also said there was no justification for an anti-harassment order stopping the couple “approaching or following” Ms Tan.
But Ms Tan’s barrister said his client had to be especially vigilant about her conduct due to her criminal behaviour order.
He said: “It is clear, both from Ms Tan’s witness statement and from the photographs.
“The claimants seek to try to provoke her, to photograph her with their CCTV.
“They seek to claim that they can be rude towards her when she is not permitted to answer.
“This amounts to a course of conduct which is harassment within the meaning of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
“The claimants should be restrained from this.”
At a pre-trial hearing last month, Judge Saggerson noted the cost of the litigation over such a small piece of land.
He said: “I know this is all very vexing for the neighbours, but we are talking about inches.”
But Ms Tan’s barrister said: “We are talking about inches, but nonetheless we are in a position where they have fallen out.
“It is causing arguments and it does have to be resolved.
“The claimants say they own all of the wall of their garage and also a little strip of land beyond it, to which they don’t have any access.
“It causes arguments. It may only be inches but unfortunately, absent a negotiated settlement, it matters.
“Unfortunately, we are where we are.”
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The judge said: “How much are the parties pouring down the drain on this dispute?
“The loser will have to spend £150,000 sorting it out.”