15-05-2025
Neighbours' seven-year row over garden tap is ‘ridiculous', says judge
A neighbourly row over a garden tap has racked up £250,000 in legal bills.
The dispute between two neighbours in Ilford, east London, has lasted for seven years and has now gone before the High Court.
A judge, presiding over the case this week, said: 'Hundreds of thousands of pounds about a tap and a pipe that doesn't matter – this brings litigation into disrepute.'
The feud started when pensioner Christel Naish complained to her doctor neighbour, Jyotibala Patel, about a tap and pipe outside her house in Chadacre Avenue, the court heard.
She said the tap and pipe were 'trespassing' on a narrow strip of land between their homes, which she claimed partly belonged to her.
Ms Naish is accused of 'terrorising' Dr Patel and her husband Vasos Vassili with 'petty and vindictive' complaints about the matter.
The couple's barrister, Paul Wilmshurst, told the court they felt forced to sue because of the 'blight' on the property's value caused by the unresolved row.
'For many years the appellant has been making allegations about the trespassing nature of the [tap and pipe], thereby making it impossible for them to sell their house,' he said.
In a trial at Mayor's and City County Court in 2023, the couple claimed the gap between the houses belonged to them.
They insisted the boundary between the two properties was the flank wall of Ms Naish's house and not the edge of her gutter as she claimed.
They won that case and Ms Naish was ordered to pay 65 per cent of her neighbours' lawyers' bills, amounting to about £100,000, on top of her own costs.
But Ms Naish has refused to back down and took her case to the High Court for an appeal last week.
Her barrister, David Mayall, argued that the original decision was 'fatally flawed' and should be overturned.
The appeal is costing more than £30,000 and Mr Mayall said it could result in 'another £200,000' being spent on a second trial if she succeeds.
Judge Sir Anthony Mann criticised both parties for the 'ridiculous' row after the court heard the tap had since been removed by Dr Patel anyway.
Addressing Mr Mayall, he said: 'You don't care about the pipe and the tap, so why does it matter, for goodness' sake, where the boundary lies?
'It seems to me to be a ridiculous piece of litigation - on both sides, no doubt.'
