How family row from hell may see our beloved home razed
Bid to raise rent behind feud
IT is a place packed full of happy memories from childhood holidays on his grandfather’s farm.
But having moved to live and work at Barguillean in Glen Lonan, Argyll, Nick Charlton is now at the centre of a rent and repairs row, which has escalated into a family fall-out.
Hundreds of objections have been lodged with Argyll and Bute Council against a demolition threat hanging over Barr Bheag, the home Mr Charlton shares with partner Claire de Mortimer, on land which has been in his family for over 100 years.
The farm was passed down the family to Mr Charlton’s sister, Josephine Marshall. After her death it reverted to a trust fund in her name with her husband, Robin Marshall, as a trustee.
Miss de Mortimer, 45, said: ‘He tried to double our rent and we said, if you are doubling our rent we want repairs.’
The couple claim the Trust’s demolition plan is an attempt to evict them, after they used tenancy laws to try and force their landlord to repair the house.
Mr Charlton claims that since 2015, when he refused Mr Marshall’s request to pay more rent, relations between them have deteriorated.
He says the Trust instructed him to stop using a poly tunnel and Mr Marshall also installed a bell, set to chime every hour, on a rental property near Barr Bheag.
Mr Charlton said his brother-inlaw said it was a memorial to his wife, who died 20 years ago.
Miss de Mortimer, 45, an artist and locum doctor, added: ‘It rings at 87 decibels in our living room, it drives me bonkers.’
Mr Charlton said: ‘We objected and they refused to listen. Environmental health said it had the potential to cause a nuisance and asked them to only ring it between 9am and 7pm. From that point the relationship started to break down.’
Mr Charlton, who runs a cycle repair workshop next to his house, will also lose his business premises if his tenancy ends.
The situation is a far cry from his childhood, when he enjoyed family holidays at Barguillean. He said: ‘It was fantastic. The farm was owned by Neil Macdonald, my grandfather, from the 1950s, and his parents before that.’
Now he is fighting to retain his links with the family lands. He said: ‘The landlord did not accept that the repairs notified in 2015 were his responsibility.
‘At the end of 2016 we applied to the Housing and Property Chamber First Tier Tribunal. They held the landlord responsible for the repairs and a Repairing Standard Enforcement Order was issued detailing the required repairs.’
Now the Trust is appealing the decision and has lodged an application to demolish the house at an estimated cost of £12,400.
The couple have evidence that the house is worth £100,000 and needs £25,000 of repairs, but the Trust’s architect’s report claims it is at the end of its useful life.
Miss de Mortimer said: ‘If this action goes ahead, not only would we lose our home and business premises of 13 years but it could set a dangerous precedent, allowing other landlords to depriving others of their homes.’
Mr Marshall, a partner in Hogan Lovells’ Construction and Engineering Practice Group, works in London. He said: ‘Myself and my fellow trustee do not think it is right to comment. It is complex. There are wider relationship difficulties.’
‘Relationship difficulties’