Pensioner ordered to sell £420k home after loosing fence dispute

Two neighbours racked up more than £100,000 in legal fees during a five-year row over a fence in Dorset.

Jenny Field, 76, and Pauline Clark, 64, have been in dispute since 2020 over a narrow strip of land between their bungalows in Hamworthy, Poole. The feud escalated after Mrs Clark replaced a six-foot fence separating the properties, which Ms Field claimed had been moved a foot onto her land.

Two months later, Ms Field demolished the fence, sparking a bitter court battle. Mrs Clark sued for damage, theft and trespass, and in December 2022 a judge ruled in her favour. Ms Field was ordered to pay £11,800 for the damage, and £2,120 in legal costs.

But after a series of further hearings, District Judge Ross Fentem found Ms Field had “no reasoned basis” for her claims and ordered her to pay more than £100,000 towards Mrs Clark’s legal fees, bringing the total owed to £113,266.

To cover the debt, Ms Field has been told she must sell her £420,000 home. She then, she has since put the three-bedroom bungalow on the market for £600,000. Speaking after the ruling, she said:

“I haven’t got that sort of money. I am selling because I have to, and I’m fed up with living here; but I will offer to pay her £1 per week.”

Judge Fentem urged both parties to “find a way of putting this dispute behind them.”

This article is for general information and interest purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice, nor does it necessarily represent the views of HCB.