Couple accused of using daughter's 'deafening' drumming as weapon in bitter £150k neighbour feud – The Mirror
A judge at Central London County Court warned the two neighbours involved the stakes are high, with the loser ‘pouring £150,000 down the drain’ to pay for the cost of their court fight
A couple's daughter was accused of "using deafening drumming" as a weapon in a £150,000 dispute with their neighbours, a court has heard.
Robert Flach, 56, an insurance broker and his wife Helena became embroiled in a row with translator Celia Tan after she took down guttering in 2019 and claimed it was leaking water on to her property in Ruislip, west London. The Flachs, however, say the property boundary line is five inches beyond the wall between their houses. It meant she took down guttering which was on their land. This prompted them to sue Ms Tan for trespass plus the £1,880 replacement cost the lost guttering.
But Ms Tan is countersuing and alleges 'intrusive acts' from her neighbours. She claims Mrs Flach encouraged her daughter Maria to play the drums at a "deafening" volume on Sunday mornings while the couple were at church, A judge at Central London County Court, meanwhile, warned the warring neighbours the stakes were high, with the loser "pouring £150,000 down the drain" to pay for the cost of their court fight.
Tensions between the two families rose after Ms Tan and her daughter Rebecca moved into a two-bedroom house, now valued online at about £700,000, next door to the Flachs' £1.2million home in Old Hatch Manor in October 2009. The Flachs' barrister, Adam Swirsky, explained that the core issue was the position of the boundary between the two properties
The warring neighbours are also fighting over fences positioned in the front and rear garden, with Mr Swirsky suggesting that Ms Tan has "gradually over time moved your boundaries at the front and at the back further over into the Flachs' property" – which she denied. Ms Tan, 53, is countersuing her neighbours for £85,000 to compensate for an alleged reduction in value of her home caused by trespass, encroachment and damage. She is also seeking an injunction barring the Flachs from using what she claims is intrusive CCTV near her home.
She alleges a series of intrusive acts, including trespass and damage to fence panels, a mature tree and garden wall, as well as theft of number plates from a fence and "nuisance by videoing her and her family in her garden both with handheld devices and CCTV". On top of that, she says she and her daughter, Rebecca, have been plagued over the years by Mrs Flach encouraging her daughter Maria to play the drums at a "deafening" volume.
Ms Tan's daughter, Rebecca Edge, gave evidence saying the Flachs would leave their daughter at home playing the drums on Sunday mornings when they went to church, adding: "She would play for 40 minutes per day on average." Mrs Flach told the court: "Maria was at the local school where she was playing drums. She was sitting her grade five exams and needed practice time." She added that her daughter had generally never played more than once a week on a set of "dampened" drums. Ms Tan had banged on the walls with "spades and other implements" and the Flachs had ultimately got rid of the drumkit, it was claimed, although Ms Tan and her daughter denied the banging.
Mrs Tan's barrister told the judge: "Her position is that the guttering was a trespass and, moreover, leaked and was causing damage to her property. Her position is that the claimants configured their house so all the rain water on the back of the house flowed along that guttering. She blocked that off so there was no further water coming onto her property."
But lawyers for the Flachs claims she had 'no valid reason to tear down the gutter' which was her responsibility to maintain as she claims it sat on a shared party wall. If the guttering really was defective, she could have taken it down and had it replaced, said Mr Swirsky, telling Ms Tan: "Instead of doing that, you had your builders take the gutter down completely and throw it over their fence."
Ms Tan said: "The gutter is over my land, but it's not my responsibility. I have no use for the gutter, it's not mine. It was causing damage and nuisance." The Flachs' barrister told the court Ms Tan has previously clashed with the Flachs and other neighbours and was handed a criminal behaviour order (CBO) after being convicted of harassment following a trial at Isleworth Crown Court in February 2016.
And he added: "It is clear, both from Ms Tan's witness statement and from the photographs, that the claimants seek to try to provoke her, to photograph her with their CCTV, and to claim that they can be rude towards her when she is not permitted to answer. This amounts to a course of conduct which is harassment within the meaning of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and the claimants should be restrained from this."
Judge Alan Saggerson suggested the cost of the litigation over such a small piece of land was unnecessary. But Ms Tan's barrister explained: "We are talking about inches, but nonetheless we are in a position where they have fallen out and it is causing arguments and it does have to be resolved.
"The claimants say they own all of the wall of their garage and also a little strip of land beyond it, to which they don't have any access. It causes arguments. It may only be inches but unfortunately, absent a negotiated settlement, it matters. Unfortunately, we are where we are." The judge added: "How much are the parties pouring down the drain on this dispute? The loser will have to spend £150,000 sorting it out." The hearing continues.
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