A pensioner from Croydon has lost her High Court battle to reclaim her £575,000 home after a catastrophic parking row with her neighbour spiralled into years of legal warfare.
Marie Potter, 75, was evicted from her property on Bennett’s Avenue in Shirley in April 2023, following a bitter dispute with Kirsten McGowan over Mrs Potter’s car blocking their shared driveway.
The churchgoing pensioner had hoped to overturn the original order, which ultimately stripped her of her home, but Judge David Halpern KC ruled against her this week.
The judge described the case as “yet another cautionary tale about the financial consequences of neighbour disputes for those without deep pockets”.
Mrs Potter mounted her High Court challenge representing herself, assisted by a retired solicitor from her church congregation.
She argued that the original order seizing her property was invalid, citing a court rule she believed prevented county courts from enforcing sales where third-party charges exceeded £30,000.
The pensioner also counter-claimed for more than £250,000 in compensation, seeking to recover rent costs, storage expenses, and what she claimed was a depreciation in her home’s value exceeding £100,000.
Judge Halpern KC dismissed her arguments, ruling that county courts possess jurisdiction to order property sales where charges or mortgages do not exceed £350,000.
The bitter dispute between Marie Potter and Kirsten McGowan began on Bennetts Avenue in Croydon, over a shared driveway
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“The order was therefore validly made,” he concluded.
The ruling effectively ends Mrs Potter’s hopes of recovering her former home, with her counter-claim now dependent on preliminary issues she has failed to establish.
Mrs Potter’s property, which she moved into in 1998, remains unsold nearly three years after her eviction.
After Mrs Potter moved next to Mrs McGowan almost three decades ago, the two families enjoyed cordial relations for many years, with Mrs Potter telling the court she “had managed to get along well enough” with her neighbour.
However, tensions eventually emerged over the positioning of Mrs Potter’s Ford Focus on the shared driveway.
The dispute was battled out in Bromley County Court
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Mrs McGowan complained that the vehicle obstructed access to her garage at the rear of her property.
The disagreement proved impossible to resolve amicably, and Mrs McGowan took legal action.
At Bromley County Court in August 2020, Mrs McGowan secured victory, winning approximately £30,000 in damages along with £27,000 in legal costs.
Mrs Potter failed to pay any of these sums, setting in motion the chain of events that would ultimately cost her everything.
By December 2020, a charging order of roughly £70,000 had been placed against her home, which was valued at £575,000 at the time.
Mrs McGowan’s solicitors subsequently obtained an order for sale of the property in December 2021.
When the debt remained unpaid, a warrant of possession was issued in April 2023, and Mrs Potter was removed from her home of over 20 years.
Her belongings were cleared from the property and placed into storage at her own expense.
The pensioner has since been living in rented accommodation in Bromley, while her possessions remain in storage.
The judge noted that the amount owed to Mrs McGowan “continues to rise as interest accrues and more costs are incurred”.