Last Friday, a Greenford man who had used legal aid to fund a dispute with his neighbours won his case against the Legal Services Commission. The commission had attempted to recover the legal costs by obtaining a charge over his home.
In 1999, Kanubhai Patel, of Garrick Road, Greenford, obtained a declaration that his neighbours’ new extension had encroached on his land. However, Brentford County Court awarded him only nominal damages of £3,000. When his neighbours successfully took the case to the Court of Appeal, his legal bill exceeded £45,000.
Deputy Judge Richard Sheldon QC ruled that the commission, formerly known as the Legal Aid Board, was not entitled to recover the sum of £45,237 by way of a charge over Patel’s property, under section 16 of the Legal Aid Act 1988, since that section applies only to properties that have been “recovered or preserved” in the proceedings for which legal aid was given.
The judge backed Patel’s argument that, because his entire property was not at issue, but only the sliver of land in question, which was a mere 7in at its widest point, the section 16 statutory charge could be registered only against this strip. The court, however, had found that it was valueless, and that its retention had not added any value to Patel’s property.
The judge said: “I find that, in fact, the strip of land in question had no more than a nominal value and that its recovery or preservation in the proceedings did not enhance the value of the property.
“As to the scope of the statutory charge, I find in favour of Mr Patel that it did not extend to the property as a whole. The property was not recovered or preserved in the proceedings, only the strip of land, the subject of the boundary dispute.”
Patel v Legal Services Commission Chancery Division (Mr Richard Sheldon QC, sitting as a deputy judge of the division) 2 April 2004.
Simon Williams (instructed by William Sturges & Co, of Ealing) appeared for the claimant; Katharine Scott (instructed by the solicitor to the Legal Services Commission) appeared for the defendant.
References: EGi Legal 5/4/04
