Couple ‘used daughter’s drumming as weapon’ in £150k boundary dispute
A COUPLE have been accused of using their daughter’s “deafening” drumming as a weapon in a £150,000 five-year battle over leaky guttering at their £1.2million house.
Insurance broker Robert Flach, 56, and wife Helena are fighting translator Celia Tan after she allegedly ripped out their gutter amid a dispute over the position of the boundary between their properties.
Ms Tan, 53, claimed in 2019 that it overhung the border between their homes in Ruislip,West London, by a matter of “inches” and was leaking water onto her property.
But the Flachs insist the boundary line is five inches beyond the wall between their houses, meaning the guttering was wholly on their land – and they are suing Ms Tan for trespass and the cost of replacing the lost guttering.
However, Ms Tan is countersuing for £85,000, alleging a series of intrusive acts by her neighbours. Judge Alan Saggerson warned the sides as the case started at Central London County Court that the loser faces “pouring £150,000 down the drain” to pay for costs.
The court heard that tensions between the families have been building since Ms Tan and her daughter Rebecca Edge moved into a two-bedroom house, now valued online at £700,000, next door to the Flachs in 2009.
Adam Swirsky, the Flachs’ barrister, claimed the core issue is the position of the boundary between the properties, with Ms Tan claiming it runs through the middle of the flank wall of the Flachs’ garage.
The warring neighbours are also fighting over fences, with Mr Swirsky suggesting Ms Tan has “gradually over time” moved the boundaries, which she denied.
Mr Swirsky told the court Ms Tan has previously clashed with the Flachs and other neighbours and was handed a criminal behaviour order for harassment in 2016. Ms Tan additionally wants an injunction barring the Flachs from siting what she claims is intrusive CCTV.
Ms Edge gave evidence that the Flachs would leave their daughter Maria at home playing the drums at a “deafening” volume on Sunday mornings when they went to church, adding: “she would play for 40 minutes per day on average”.
Mrs Flach insisted that Maria “was sitting her grade five exams and needed practice time”.