A Swedish entrepreneur who co-founded Skype and Kazaa has failed in a legal action against a couple that sold him their £1.1m “dream home” in Southampton, which he later had to demolish because it was structurally unsafe.
Edwards-Stuart J rejected a claim by Niklas Zennstrom and his wife Catherine that Helen Moseley and Deborah Wilks were acting as “property developers” when they rebuilt the property known as 22 Crowsport, Hamble, Southampton, and so were liable for its defects under the Defective Premises Act 1972.
The judge found that the couple built the minimalist Bauhaus-style property overlooking the marina as their “dream home” between 2007 and 2009, and only sold it in November 2009 so that Ms Wilks could make a change in career, and to get away from an “unpleasant” neighbour who objected to having a same sex couple as his next door neighbours.
He said: “I am completely satisfied, taking the evidence as a whole, that when Ms Wilks and Ms Moseley embarked on the rebuilding of No 22 they did not have any intention of selling it. The evidence points overwhelmingly, in my view, to the conclusion that they built it as their dream home as they have always contended.”
This evidence, he said, included the fact that the project’s architect wanted to enter it into a Grand Designs competition, only open to self-builders.
The Zennstroms, who paid £1.1m for the property in November 2009, but had to demolish it when it was found to be structurally unsafe, had argued that Wilks and Moseley developed 22 Crowsport in the course of a business of providing dwellings and the building was neither built in a workmanlike manner nor was it fit for habitation when completed.
They claimed that Wilks and Moseley were already unable to finance the outgoings of No 22 on their joint incomes and that they had always intended to sell it as soon as the work was complete, from the moment that they acquired No 22 in July 2004. They argued that the couple deliberately kept the house sparsely furnished, more like a show house rather than a home, so that it would be attractive to potential purchasers.
But the judge said: “From the outset the claimants’ case did not look promising. The evidence has not improved it.”
He said that Wilks and Moseley were honest witnesses, even if their recollections of particular events were not always reliable, and added: “But even if I had felt uncertain about the reliability or honesty of Ms Wilks or Ms Moseley, the contemporaneous correspondence and the evidence of the other witnesses all pointed one way, and that was in favour of the case put forward by Ms Wilks and Ms Moseley.
“This is not a case where the Claimants have simply failed to prove their case: I am quite satisfied that Ms Wilks and Ms Moseley have made good their defence.”
He said he was also quite satisfied that neither of them was aware of any defects in the construction of No 22, or at least not of any defects that were of any significance.
The Zennstroms also sued the builder, Kevin Fagot, architect Andrew ramus and Fast-Calc Ltd, which carried out structural calculations relating to the steelwork. Judgment has already been entered against Fagot, but Edwards-Stuart J said that he appears to have no assets, and the architect may have no insurance cover.
Mr Zennstrom is best known for co-founding communications software company Skpe and the file-sharing system Kazaa with Janus Friis.
In a statement, Moseley and Wilks said: “From start to finish, the case was a relentless battle to convince Niklas and Catherine Zennstrom and their team of lawyers that we are what we say we are: ordinary homeowners, not property developers. It was a thoroughly awful experience that we would not wish on anyone.”
Zennstrom v Fagot and ors Technology and Construction (Edwards-Stuart J) 21 February 2013
Richard Morgan QC (instructed by Harbottle & Lewis LLP) for the Claimants
Daniel Crowley and David Thomas (instructed by Fisher Scoggins Waters LLP) for Defendants (2) & (3)
