Couple Triumphs in 4-Year Dispute Over Small Patch of Grass After Neighbors Swap Plants for a Garden Gnome

A COUPLE have won a lengthy battle over a tiny patch of grass after new neighbours ripped out their plants and replaced them with a gnome.

Liz Dobson and Andrew Pleming, both 60, had long tended the eight-foot stretch of lawn outside their £1.3million pound home in Dorking, .

Gardener Liz Dobson (pictured) and her partner Andrew had looked after the patch since moving into their home in 2009Credit: Champion News Service But new neighbours, company CEO Alison Unsted (pictured) and her husband Darren, removed their plants from the lawn in May 2023Credit: Champion News Service The grass patch lies at the end of their driveways on Mrs Dobson and Mr Pleming’s side

Expert gardener Liz and former executive partner Andrew had looked after the patch since moving into their home in 2009.

The green-fingered couple “exhaustively” catered for it – mowing it, planting herbs and wildflowers on it, and letting their children play there.

But they were shocked when , company CEO Alison Unsted and her husband Darren, removed their from the lawn.

The grass patch lies at the end of their driveways on Mrs Dobson and Mr Pleming’s side, but it was registered under the title of the Unsteds’ house.

The Unsteds moved into the million-pound home in August 2022.

Nine months later, the couple “re-took possession” of the disputed land by ripping up and installing a garden gnome.

Mrs Dobson and Mr Fleming then took the case to court, claiming adverse possession – also known as squatter’s rights – over the small strip.

And, despite initially losing before a tribunal, their appeal was allowed at the Upper Tribunal on the basis they had used it as their own for years.

Mrs Dobson and Mr Pleming said they had always used the triangular patch as if it was theirs from when they bought the house.

The court heard they used it as a route from their upper to lower lawn, while their children used it to get to and from a rope swing.

They had also replaced the topsoil and planted seeds on the eight by three foot strip.

But in May 2023, reached a head when the Unsteds decided to remove plants and replace them with a gnome.

At the initial First-tier Tribunal, Mrs Dobson and Mr Pleming did not dispute the strip was held under the title of their neighbours’ property.

But they claimed it was theirs in line with the of “adverse possession”.

The couple said they and the previous owners of their home had used and enjoyed the strip for decades without .

Giving evidence, Mr Pleming said they had used the land like the rest of their garden and front drive.

They had even put their house number sign on the small stretch of land, he told the court.

While the First-tier Tribunal judge found they had established possession since 2018, he said it wasn’t long enough to qualify for permanent rights.

The judge said he wasn’t convinced they had planted herbs in 2011 or 2013, which would have helped prove their permanent status.

He then ordered the land registrar to “cancel the couple’s application to be registered as proprietors of the small area of land”.

Mr Pleming said they had used the land like the rest of their garden and front driveCredit: Champion News Service Their appeal was allowed at the Upper Tribunal on the basis they had used it as their own for yearsCredit: Champion News Service Liz and Andrew ‘exhaustively’ catered for the small patch of grassCredit: Champion News Service

His ruling prompted Mrs Dobson and Mr Pleming to launch a renewed appeal to Judge Elizabeth Cooke in the Upper Tribunal.

Supporting their case, a previous owner of the Unsteds’ home had told the court that she did not even know the patch of land was there.

She also told how she had always treated everything on the other side of the drive as belonging to Mrs Dobson and Mr Pleming.

Giving judgment, Judge Cooke said the couple had done everything they could over the years to show they possessed the land.

The judge said: “People do not generally mow grass without their agreement.

“Nor do they let their children play on it. Nor do they replace topsoil on it or plant herbs in it.

“Looking again at the nature of the land, I fail to see what more an occupying owner could have done.”

Judge Cooke ruled that Mr and Mrs Unsted’s bid to “repossess” the strip with their gnome had failed.

She added: “It seems to me perfectly obvious that Mrs Dobson and Mr Pleming were in possession of the disputed land, and that their acts of possession taken together demonstrated their intention to possess it.

“I substitute the tribunal’s decision that the appellants have shown that they and their predecessors have been in adverse possession since at least 2002 until the respondents dispossessed them in 2023.

“I will therefore direct the registrar to respond to their application for registration as if the respondents’ objection had not been made.”

Judge Cooke said the couple had done everything they could over the years to show they possessed the landCredit: Champion News Service