I thought the garden was mine

Rob Noble bought a flat above a shop on the strength of it having a garden. A few months after moving in, the shop below changed hands. He then "saw some builders out there doing some work, and the waste from the shop being left outside. I went out and told them to stop dumping in my garden, which is when I found out it wasn't mine at all."

It turned out he only had a right of way to use the garden as access to get to his front door. He went straight to the council's trading standards department, which investigated the complaint. Officers believed that Townsends, the estate agent, knew the garden was not exclusive to the flat, but had done nothing with the information it already had on file.

Apparently the original seller had stressed that he had a share in the garden and despite the sale going through three sets of solicitors, at no stage of any of these conveyancing proceedings had the real ownership of the garden come to light.

Townsends was fined £3,000 with £3,000 court costs and ordered to pay Noble £5,000 in compensation.

Business News