My neighbour built a fence THROUGH my tennis court and waged war against me – now I’m suing her for £350k
A FILM producer has accused his neighbour of waging war against him after she built a fence across his tennis court at his £3.25 million house.
Jeremy Cowdrey, 63, is suing neighbour Vanessa Gibson, 53, for at least £350,000 after he says he lost three potential sales of his home due to her actions.
Mrs Gibson, who lives next door at a £2.2 million house, strongly denies any wrongdoing and is fighting Cowdrey’s claim at the High Court.
In her defence statement she said she “categorically refutes the Claim brought against her”, calling it “ill-founded and unproven” and “quite unapologetically, defamatory”.
She bought a strip of land in 2022 which runs through part of her neighbour’s tennis court.
Mr Cowdrey, who owns the six-bed Grade II listed house in Goudhurst, Kent, argued that the land had been used by the owners of his house for more than 20 years and emailed Gibson to say: “Indeed a fenced tennis court is pretty clear evidence of that.”
Mrs Gibson had previously complained that Mr Cowdrey’s astroturf tennis court “slices through” the land she had purchased.
Cowdrey, who produced the film Summer in February which stars Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens, then tried to buy the land back from her for double what she paid for it, but she refused.
In an email sent from Mrs Gibson to her neighbour about the dispute, she wrote: “I must warn you that in the interim we will use the land that is registered as being owned by us for any purpose we wish.
“We will pursue trespass on the land and will occupy the land until the matter is settled.
“Threats and offers of fait a complis [sic], take it or leave it antagonize us and so, so we suggest you change the tone of your emails and we start to find a compromise otherwise we will adopt a similar attitude to yourself.”
Mr Cowdrey sent an email stating: “I had understood that you were buying the land to prevent undesirables moving in to the area. However, reading between the lines of your messages it now appears you are wanting to profit from it – hopefully I’ve got the wrong end of the stick.
“As a goodwill gesture I would consider paying you what you paid for it plus modest costs you might have incurred, so that you are not out of pocket.
“Otherwise we are happy with it being ours due to adverse possession. Either way it would be good for us to put this to bed so that we can resume friendly relations.”
Court documents show that the feuding pair made an agreement in March this year deciding on the “removal of part of the tennis court, and the erection of fencing agreed”.
Mr Cowdrey had accepted an offer from a couple for £3.85million in April, the High Court claim says, but the couple withdrew from the sale in June, just before contracts had been exchanged.
Mr Cowdrey argues that the potential purchasers pulled out of buying the house because of Mrs Gibson’s attitude, “as set out in her frequent and voluminous correspondence”, and her disputes, as did two other couples.
Mr Cowdrey has not yet put the property back on the market and says it is unsaleable at any proper price because of her behaviour.
He says the dispute over the land running through the tennis court was settled in March 2023, and by insisting potential purchasers were told about it, was trying to manufacture a dispute where she knew there was none.
He accuses her of acting maliciously, making false claims, as a deliberate campaign to frustrate and delay sale of Mr Cowdrey’s property, and her true motivation is for “compensation … the full transfer of the Chicken Field”, a 12.2 acre field.
He is seeking a declaration that her allegations of disputes are misconceived and false, an injunction banning her from asserting that the disputes are genuine, and damages of more than £350,000. Mrs Gibson called the allegations “not proven”.
Mr Cowdrey and Mrs Gibson did not respond to The Sun’s requests for comment.