The £3m Chelsea pad and a bitter war over grand design ‘disaster’
WITH space at a premium in the capital, luxurious basement extensions have become a must-have for West London’s well-heeled residents.
But one interior designer’s revamp has resulted in a costly legal wrangle, following botched work on her £3million flat.
Olivia Walton was ordered to pay £114,000 to her neighbour after the ambitious extension project caused a catalogue of misery.
The 28-year- old’s builders are accused of damaging the two- storey flat above hers, owned by business consultant Michele Napp. Miss Walton claims she cannot afford the payout, despite earning up to £8,000 a month in rent from the luxury Chelsea townhouse, which is currently occupied by a TV actress.
Instead, her lawyers offered to compensate Mrs Napp at a rate of just £1,500 a month, a deal which would take more than six years to complete. Mrs Napp, 57, said: ‘This has almost bankrupted me. It has been awful.
‘I have lost so much. I am utterly shocked at their behaviour. Olivia said she only had £30,000 and no trust fund or assets. Her boyfriend paid the rent. All she has are the clothes she is wearing. I don’t know about them but she has a few Hermes handbags and they are certainly worth something.’
Details of the stand-off emerged as a judge at Westminster magistrates’ court was asked to enforce the debt. Miss Walton, who works for luxury interior designer Laura Hammett, did not attend because of an administrative blunder.
She will attend a full hearing tomorrow to settle the bitter row, which has dragged on for almost four years.
Images posted online show her on a yacht and holidaying across Europe while posing with a variety of designer handbags. Her father is a property developer whose latest venture controls student accommodation near their £4.6million family home in Jesmond, Newcastle. building work Mrs left Napp her claims floors and the walls cracked, a window subsided, she was inundated with dust and her tenant fled.
She brought a case under the Party Wall Act and won a total of £113,860, including £52,400 for the damage alone.
Her barrister Edward Blakeney told the court: ‘The rest was for cleaning bills, loss of rental income and payment of the surveyor itself. No such payment has been made under this award at all.’ The judge was told Miss Walton offered to pay Mrs Napp at £1,500 a month. But Mr Blakeney added: ‘That would take 6.3 years to pay off. Miss Walton rents out the property for £ 8,000 a month. The defendant has ample assets by which they can satisfy this debt.’ Miss Walton informed the court she was unable to attend but the other parties were not informed. Speaking after the case, Mrs Napp, a senior figure at global consultancy firm KPMG, said: ‘I have never in my life seen such shoddy workmanship. In total, my losses are more than £750,000. ‘The actual restoration which has been awarded does not cover the real issue of where the floors have moved as well as the windows and doors. For the first six months as they excavated underground the dust and pollution was extreme.’ Miss Walton could not be contacted for comment.