A pensioner evicted from her £420,000 bungalow after a court battle over a 12in strip of land has been left ‘furious’ after discovering new construction work carried out on the property while it is marketed for sale.
Jenny Field was left furious after finding out all of the roof tiles on her bungalow have been stripped off so insulation in the rafters can be removed.
The 77-year-old lost her three-bedroom detached property in Poole, Dorset, in January after she failed to pay neighbour Pauline Clark’s £113,000 legal bill.
A county court judge issued a repossession order that gave Mrs Clark’s solicitors the authority to sell the property to recoup their costs.
They put the property on the market for £325,000 and it is believed they had found a buyer but there was a snag with the spray foam insulation.
Workmen were seen at the cul-de-sac on Thursday, taking off roof tiles to clean away all the foam.
It is not clear who will be paying the bill for the work.
Mrs Field, who had been living in a hostel but is now staying at a friend’s flat, said: ‘I got a call that two men were on my roof chucking out the tiles.
‘I went past it [the property] on the bus and could see my roof was just wooden rafters and no tiles.
‘It is very sad to see it because I worked damn hard on that property.
‘I had the foam insulation put in as part of home improvements in 2023. It is three years old.
‘I don’t think there is anything wrong with it and now it is being taken out. I’m not paying it, that’s for sure.’
Spray foam insulation is used to stop heat escaping from roofs, but there have been concerns about moisture being trapped and roof timbers at risk of decay.
Some mortgage firms are reluctant to deal with homes with spray foam insulation because of this and people are having to spend thousands to have it removed so they can sell their house.
Once the sale of the house goes through and Mrs Clark has been paid her £1130,000 Mrs Field will get the remainder.
But she claims the house has been put on the market for £75,000 less than she had it valued at.
Mrs Field is not allowed to enter her home following the eviction and the locks were changed after she was removed by court bailiffs.
The row between Mrs Field and Mrs Clark centred on a boundary fence between their two properties.
Mrs Clark had it built in 2020 but afterwards her neighbour claimed it had been positioned 12ins onto her land and had contractors take it down.
The matter ended up in court with Mrs Field losing.
Initially Mrs Field’s legal bill was about £13,000 but it escalated to the six-figure sum when she has repeatedly challenged the ruling and failed.
She was given three months to pay the money otherwise, her home would be repossessed and sold from under her.
In December Mrs Field made one last attempt to have the ruling overturned by claiming her neighbour’s case had been fraudulent, which the judge described as ‘totally without merit’.
On January 26 bailiffs turned up in the usually peaceful Dean Close and evicted Mrs Field.
She was then given until mid-February to move all her belongings out otherwise they would be dumped.
Mrs Field was also told by BCP Council she is still liable to pay council tax as she is still the freehold owner.
BCP council and Pauline Clark have been contacted for comment.
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