Two inches in property dispute costs hundreds of thousands

A couple accused of deliberately building their extension two inches into their neighbours' garden to "annoy" them are facing a six-figure legal bill.

45-year-old Shabaz Ashraf and his wife Shakira, 40, estimate they spent £80,000 ripping down a 1970s extension at the back of their house and replacing it with a modern one - only to have the couple next door complain that it was over the boundary between their properties.

Avtar Dhinjan and his wife Balvinder, former friends of the Ashrafs, said the new extension strayed 68mm (2.68 inches) onto their land with an overhang at roof level of 98mm (3.86 inches) on the wrong side of the property line. A former Ford car plant worker, Mr Dhinjan claimed his neighbours "intended to annoy" him and his family by building over the boundary between their homes in 2019.

While admitting the "encroachment" over their border was very minor, the Dhinjans complained their neighbours' extension was causing dampness and mould in their own home as it was so close to their wall and that it left no room for air circulation. They sued at Central London County Court, demanding an injunction forcing the Ashrafs to demolish the encroaching wall.

Mr and Mrs Ashraf said they had built the new extension on the footprint of the 1970s one, claiming that any encroachment must have already been going on for over 40 years - giving them squatters' rights. However, Rachel Coyle, for the Dhinjans, told the judge that the 2019 rebuild went beyond the footprint of the old extension and was "flush" against the outer wall of their house as a result. 

Judge Richard Roberts ordered them to knock down the offending wall and move it back. When giving his ruling, the judge said: "One of the sad features of the case is that before the parties began building new extensions to the rear of their property, they lived in harmony and were on good terms. T he defendants say they built the wall in exactly the same position as the previous wall, which was in position for 41 years. I find that that is, to the defendants' knowledge, wholly untrue."

The judge found that, by April 2019, Mr and Mrs Ashraf "were on notice that they would be encroaching and that there would be a trespass," but had disregarded the warning and carried on with their project. He found that Mrs Ashraf had said to her neighbours during a row over the issue: "If you think we have come over, then go to court."

He added, "This is a case where the defendants have acted in a high-handed manner and have simply not told the truth from the very start and, when told that there was an issue here, have carried on regardless."

As well as their own costs, he ordered Mr and Mrs Ashraf to pay their neighbours' lawyers bills, estimated at almost £100,000, with £49,009 upfront. The total cost of the case was estimated by lawyers outside court at around £200,000, on top of which Mr and Mrs Ashraf will face the costs of tearing apart and rebuilding their extension.

Collings Solicitors

Altrincham

0161 928 5558