Construction company boss Simon Baynes Clarke, of Haywards Heath, who, in 2009, was ordered to pay a £200,000 legal bill after he lost a dispute with his neighboursover an access road to their properties has lost his appeal.
Baynes Clarke, who runs BC Construct Assist, and his wife Sarah, appealed against a \July 2009 ruling by Proudman J, when she found in favour of their former friends Michael and Joanne Corless.
The couples bought their detached homes on a gated development in Carmelstead Close,
The Corlesses moved into North Heath and the Baynes Clarkes into South Heath.
In 2004, the friendship between the couples turned sour after Mr Corless, former head of
The Baynes Clarkes claimed that there should have been a constructive trust of the access road, jointly in their favour, the Corlesses, and the owners of a third.
They based their claim on a January 2003 agreement between the couples and the tenants of Carmelstead to form a management company, once Allum had resolved some drainage problems. They argued that they had agreed that the management company would take control of the access road and end to Allum’s involvement in the development
However, Proudman J ruled that the Corlesses were entitled to retain for their own benefit the estate road.
Patten LJ agreed. He ruled that the 2003 agreement was not sufficient to support the imposition of a trust.
He backed the previous judge’s ruling that the Baynes Clarkes had not acted to their detriment in reliance on the 2003 agreement in a way which made it unconscionable for the Corlesses to retain the land.
