Dad-of-5 made homeless after being forced to sell family house in dispute with neighbour… over garden fence | EBQ4174 | 2024-04-03 06:08:01
Mark Coates, 56, and spouse Louise, 52, have fought a "bitter" lengthy battle with their
A& DAD-OF-FIVE has been pressured to sell his household house after a neighbour dispute sparked by the position of a backyard fence.
Mark Coates, 56, and spouse Louise, 52, have fought a "bitter" lengthy battle with their neighbours Brian Greenwood, 69, and Janice Turner, 65.
The row arose over the place of a fence and ownership of a monitor beside their semi-detached homes in the East Sussex countryside near Hastings.
Each claimed the opposite had set up "surveillance cameras" to watch the others, a court heard.
Mark, who is a full-time carer for his disabled son, was accused of swearing at his neighbours and throwing stones at their bed room window.
The 2 couples had been warned once they first reached courtroom in 2020 that the dispute might end in monetary wreck for considered one of them.
Now, four years later, having lost the case, Mark and his studying assistant spouse face just that with courtroom bills totalling around £475,000.
High Courtroom decide Master James Brightwell stated a pressured sale of the property – considered value about £420,000 – was the only method that the debt can be paid.
However Mark informed the decide that he doubted whether the home would promote for that quantity, including: "I don't know who would need to stay subsequent to them anyway."
The neighbours started rowing over the boundary between their gardens and between the Coates' garden and an entry monitor purchased by their neighbours behind it.
Janice objected to the taking down of a fence and erection of a brick wall, which she claimed encroached on her property.
But what was a row over a small strip of land descended into chaos, with allegations made on each side of varied types of unneighbourly behaviour.
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> In September 2022, Decide Sarah Venn found towards Mark and Louise at Hastings County Courtroom on the row over the place of the boundary.
Mark was then hauled back to courtroom in October 2023 and accused of "juvenile behaviour" by his neighbours.
He had damaged their property by throwing stones at a bedroom window and swearing at them.
The decide was proven video which she stated showed Mark approaching Janice, "visibly indignant" and making "abusive feedback and engaged in bodily threatening behaviour."
She additionally discovered that feedback made by Mark in courtroom amounted to a "menace" to his neighbours or their property.
He was jailed for 252 days for contempt of courtroom, decreased after 47 days behind bars to allow his fast release at the Court of Appeal in December last yr.
Earlier this month the case went back to courtroom, as Brian and Janice utilized for an order on the market of the Coates' house so that the bills could be paid.
Mark and Louise, representing themselves, fought the appliance, arguing that they still have instances operating in different courts which could see the boundary row continue.
<!--googleoff: all--> <blockquote class="article__quote"> </blockquote> <!--googleon: all--> They complained that the case was unfair, with them having to struggle it alone with out legal assistance in face of their neighbours' costly staff of legal professionals.
"We aren't going to stop preventing this matter, even when it's eight or 10 years down the line," Mark advised the decide, Grasp Brightwell.
"We haven't received money. We are representing ourselves because we haven't acquired any money.
"The only asset we've got is the property. It's our house for our disabled son and ourselves."
Describing their plight as an "absolute scandal," Louise insisted that – despite the rulings towards them – the case was "not one-sided."
"The impression on my youngsters and my life has been horrendous," she stated.
"We have now been discriminated towards due to our monetary status and lack of legal help."
Ruling that the house must be bought, the decide stated there was "no affordable prospect" of the debt being repaid otherwise.
Speaking afterwards, Mark talked of the devastating influence of the dispute on his family.
"I went to prison for seven weeks and I'd by no means been to jail before," he stated.
"If I stated I went to jail over a boundary dispute, no one would consider me.
"Everybody has been really affected. I'm going to be homeless. My son is going to be homeless. We've obtained to rehouse the canine.
"I've simply had grief after grief. I don't understand how we're holding it collectively."
A picture taken from the Coates backyard in 2015. The fence is on the fitting of image[/caption]
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Janice Turner, 65, objected to the taking down of a fence and erection of a brick wall[/caption]
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