EXCLUSIVEMother puts house up for sale after 'relentless' dispute with couple in £1.2million property next door over £150,000 boundary row and their daughter's 'deafening' drumming
A mother has put her house up for sale after claiming she has been unfairly treated by the couple next door amid a bitter £150,000 row over the boundary between their two homes.
Celia Tan, 57, removed the guttering from the house of Robert and Helena Flach in 2019, claiming it overhung the border between their homes, was broken and leaking water onto her property.
But the Flachs claim the boundary line is 5in beyond the wall separating the houses in Ruislip, West London, meaning the guttering was wholly on their land. They are suing Ms Tan for trespass and for the £1,880 cost of replacing the guttering.
Meanwhile, Ms Tan is counter-suing, alleging a series of intrusive acts by her neighbours - including the couple's daughter playing the drums at a 'deafening' volume early on Sunday mornings while her parents are at church.
Ms Tan said the long-running conflict between the two households has made her feel scared to live in the property, which she has put up for sale.
'These people are relentless. I can't describe how I feel in words. It's beyond words,' she told MailOnline.
'Why I deserve all this [...] treatment I don't know. I feel unsafe.'
Robert and Helena Flach's house (left) and Celia Tan's house (right). Circled is where the 'deafening' drums are played
Ms Tan has put her house up for sale following the long-running dispute with her neighbours
Celia Tan (left) pictured outside Central London County Court with her daughter Rebecca
Ms Tan removed the guttering of her neighbours Robert and Helena Flach, who are pictured outside Central London County Court
Ms Tan, who moved to the UK from China in 1996 and lives in the £850,000 house with her daughter, added: 'It's so tough to go to a new country and not be treated fairly.'
The business specialist said she and her family are often forced to leave their home due to the 'deafening' volume of drums being played next door.
'Once the drums [start], we have to leave the house,' she said. 'They put the girl to play in the garage.
'It is very bad. It's not soundproof whatsoever.
'Sometimes they play on Sunday morning at 9am.
'We had to leave the house. I go to the bottom of the garden to distract myself because you can't concentrate.
'Once the drums are playing there is no way you can stay there.'
She added: 'You can't watch Telly. You just have to go. You have to leave the house.'
Ms Tan said the dispute involving her neighbours has had an impact on both her and her family.
'We are facing an extremely difficult living environment,' she said.
'I didn't come to this country to waste my life on this. This is not fair.'
'I've lost sleep.' Ms Tan added: 'I feel extremely unsafe.
'Since I moved into this country in [1996], I've done nothing wrong.
'From the beginning I was dragged into this, deeper and deeper.'
'Deafening' drumming by Mr and Mrs Flachs' daughter Maria (pictured) has been highlighted
Ms Tan said she and her family are often forced to leave their house due to the 'deafening' volume of drums being played next door
As the case kicked off at Central London County Court, Judge Alan Saggerson warned the warring neighbours that the ultimate loser in the case could be 'pouring £150,000 down the drain' in legal costs.
The court heard tensions had been building since Ms Tan and her daughter moved into the two-bedroom house in October 2009 - next door to the Flachs' £1.2million home.
The Flachs' barrister Adam Swirsky highlighted the key concern as the position of the boundary between the two properties, with Ms Tan claiming it runs through the middle of the flank wall of his clients' garage extension.
Ms Tan, who came to the UK in 1996 to study English, claims that guttering perched on the garage's flank wall was positioned so it dumped rainwater on her land and as a result she decided to remove it.
But the Flachs insist that the boundary line is 5in beyond the flank wall and are now suing Ms Tan for trespass and for the £1,880 cost of replacing the lost guttering.
The neighbours are also wrangling over fences in the front and rear garden.
Mr Swirsky accused Ms Tan of having 'gradually over time moved your boundaries at the front and at the back further over into the Flachs' property' - a claim she denied.
Ms Tan is seeking an injunction barring the Flachs from siting what she describes as intrusive CCTV near her home
Ms Tan said the long-running conflict between the two households has made her feel scared to live in the property
Ms Tan is counter-suing 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 siting what she describes as intrusive CCTV near her home.
And Ms Tan said she and her daughter have been plagued over the years by Mrs Flach encouraging her daughter Maria to play the drums at a 'deafening' volume.
Ms Edge gave evidence that 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.'
It was put to Mrs Flach in the witness box that she was being accused by her neighbour of harassing Ms Tan by 'encouraging' her daughter to play the drums.
Mrs Flach replied: '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.
The trial continues.
