Six square metres of shrubs has cost two neighbours £70,000 in dispute that will continue in the Court of Appeal this autumn.
Cheltenham neighbours Martin Charalambous and Dr Welding will now resume their fight over a worthless patch of pyrocanthus shrubs after Mr Justice Jacob granted Charalambous permission to appeal, but urged the neighbours to consider mediation.
Last December, Gloucester County Court ruled in favour of Welding’s claim that the Land Registry records showed the boundary between their properties, and ordered Charalambous to pay £70,000 costs. Charalambous, on the other hand, maintains that the line of bushes marks the boundary. Charalambous’s solicitor, Conrad Gadd of Gadd and Co, says: “Everyone ought to sit down and negotiate. Our point of view is we’d like to. But it’s not very likely.”
Tim Wallis, mediator, North West Mediation Solutions, says a dispute of this sort would typically cost about £5,000–£6,000, once solicitors’ fees for both sides were taken into account, if they opted for mediation.
“People want their day in court, but that doesn’t actually give you a chance
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