The actress ex-lover of millionaire racehorse owner and trainer Ivan Allan has been ordered to vacate his £1.7m luxury house in Newmarket.
Following the couple’s separation, Glory Clibbery moved to the eight-bedroom house, known as The Gables, where her 78-year old mother, Marguerite, was already residing. The mother claimed that, because Allan had told her that she could live in the property “for as long as she wished to”, he was estopped from seeking possession.
However, the High Court has granted Allan’s company, Century (UK) Ltd SA, an order for possession, and has awarded him damages for the Clibberys’ occupation from the date upon which mother and daughter should have vacated the house.
Blackburne J held that Allan’s promise to Clibbery’s mother was a “wholly insufficient basis upon which to found estoppel”, and that it did not mean that she could continue living at the premises “irrespective of the duration of his relationship and any future wish he might have to sell or let or otherwise dispose of the property”.
Allan acquired The Gables, in 20 Bury Road, through his company in 1985, with a view to setting up a private horse-training establishment nearby. In 1986, he started a relationship with Clibbery, and, by the end of the following year, she was living in his central London apartment while her mother had moved to The Gables.
The couple separated in July 2000, and the High Court Family Division ordered Clibbery to vacate the Piccadilly flat. She immediately joined her mother at The Gables.
After Allan brought possession proceedings, Clibbery’s mother counterclaimed for equitable relief based upon proprietary estoppel, while Clibbery argued that she was entitled to occupy the property as her mother’s licensee.
However, the judge has held that Allan had been fully entitled to give notice to the Clibberys to vacate the property when his relationship ended.
A master will now calculate the amount of damages owing to Allan. Estimates indicate that the award could be as high as £24,000 pa, running from January 2001.
Century (UK) Ltd SA v Clibbery and another Chancery Division (Blackburne J) 29 July 2004
Kirk Reynolds QC and Norman Joss (instructed by Stephen Beverley Associates) appeared for the claimant; Andrew Glennie (instructed by Reynolds Porter Chamberlain) appeared for the defendants.
References: EGi Legal News 30/07/04
