Millionaire ‘stole half my garden while I was away’
AN ARTIST is fighting his millionaire neighbour, claiming he dug up half his front garden while he was abroad.
Banker turned multimedia artist William Savage, claims inventor Richard Bankart created a sunken patio and has been “trespassing” on his land for 17 years.
Mr Savage, 45, owns a flat covering the ground and first floor of a Victorian villa in Stockwell, south London, as well as the front garden.
Mr Bankart, 59, the CEO of green energy tech company Solar Skin, owns the £1million basement flat below, as well as the freehold of the property.
The pair have been feuding over the garden since 2003.
Trespass
The artist’s barrister Lina Mattsson told Central London County Court that their “relationship has gone from bad to worse since”.
The artist is now asking a judge to grant an injunction barring Mr Bankart from “his continued trespass and use of his front garden” – or up to £60,000 in compensation.
The court heard that Mr Bankart created a “narrow light well” at the front of his basement flat in 2003 to create more light in his “very dingy” living room.
The work took place while Mr Savage was living in Paris.
But in 2018 that was then excavated, said Ms Mattsson, to create a larger “sunken terrace” with French doors – which took up 50 per cent of Mr Savage’s garden. That increased the value of Mr Bankart’s basement flat by nearly £50,000, she added. Mr Bankart’s intrusions were “high-handed and insolent”, she said, adding: “He has at all times known that Mr Savage objects to his land grab. He has nevertheless proceeded to (have built) the new sunken terrace and made it deeper, notwithstanding Mr Savage’s repeated objections.”
But Mr Bankart’s legal team says he made an “enforceable agreement” with the previous owner of Mr Savage’s flat concerning the expansion of the light well, which was “part of the overall reconfiguration of the garden”.
And he claims Mr Savage clearly accepted that works would be carried out when he was purchasing his flat in 2001. The
2018 works simply “deepened” the light well, but it was not enlarged beyond its 2003 footprint, said barrister MichaelWalsh.
The disputed land “has never been part of the demise owned by Mr Savage under the terms of his lease”, he said.
All trespass claims were denied on Mr Bankart’s behalf.
The judge will give his ruling at a later date.
The French doors and extended lightwell were installed in 2018 in front of Mr Bankart’s basement flat. Part of the front garden, owned by his neighbour in the London villa, below, was dug up