A Plymouth man whose home was left exposed to the elements after the next door property was demolished, has won the latest round of a nine-year fight for compensation.
The Court of Appeal today ruled that Raymond Rees, of 14 Hastings Street, is entitled to £47,000 damages from solicitor, Philip Skerrett.
The dispute dates back to February 1990 when the property next door to Mr Rees’s home – which had been bought by Mr Skerrett the month previously – was demolished, leaving the flank wall of Number 14 exposed.
Lloyd J said: “The works seems to have been done in a thoroughly inconsiderate and unsatisfactory way, and the site was left in a poor state. Only token gestures were made as regards support for Number 14 and weatherproofing the exposed wall”.
He went on to say that Mr Skerrett’s property had been declared a “dangerous structure” and was levelled, pursuant to a Plymouth City Council demolition order that required the shoring up and weather proofing of any exposed parts of adjoining buildings.
Although planning consent had been granted for a new block of flats to be built upon the site, nothing was actually done to implement that permission, and Mr Rees’s flank wall was left unsupported and exposed to the wind and rain.
At Plymouth County Court in April 1999, Overend J had dismissed Mr Rees’s damages claim after refusing to accept that the damage to the flank wall resulted from the withdrawal of support.
The Court of Appeal has reversed that decision, and Mr Skerrett has been ordered to pay Mr Rees £47,000 damages, plus interest of £6,855.
Rees and another v Skerrett and another Court of Appeal 23 May 2001 (Waller LJ and Lloyd J)
PLS News 23/5/01
