A High Court appeal decision handed down on 31 July 2026 has brought to a close one of the most protracted and disproportionate neighbour disputes to come before the courts in recent years in the matter of Gibson v New[2026] EWHC 1862 (Ch), a saga spanning 13 years, multiple trials, two High Court appeals, a Court of Appeal application, and even First-Tier Land Tribunal proceedings, all arising from a dispute over a few inches of garden land.
We are pleased to have acted for the successful respondents, Mr and Mrs Gibson, throughout this appeal before Mr Justice Thompsell in the High Court with Senior Associate David Sodimu having conduct of the case.
Mr Justice Thompsell dismissed six of the seven grounds of appeal, upholding the vast majority of HHJ Duddridge's findings. The Appellants achieved only a modest, partial success on one ground, a £500 reduction to reflect a short period during which the Gibsons could have mitigated their loss, reducing the damages from £9,500 to £9,000. Costs were awarded to the Gibsons as the "successful party," reduced by only 1% to reflect the narrow scope of the Appellants' success.
Beyond the legal principles, this case stands as a stark illustration of the human and financial cost of allowing a neighbour dispute to escalate disproportionately. As the trial judge observed, the litigation had been "unusually disproportionate, difficult and frustrating" even by the standards of boundary disputes, consuming thirteen years of the parties' lives over what was, in the Court's own words, "a trivial strip of land."
The case is also a reminder of the importance of properly implementing settlement agreements reached through mediation. Had the Defendants accepted the surveyor's determination in 2015 as they had agreed to do, this entire decade of litigation, and the substantial costs liability that followed, could have been avoided entirely.
A copy of the Judgement is available here.
If you are involved in a boundary dispute or neighbour disagreement, early legal advice and a willingness to engage constructively in mediation can save significant time, expense, and stress.
If you are in need of assistance with a dispute, do get in touch with our Property Litigation Solicitors and we would be happy to assist.
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The content of this article is provided for general information only. It does not constitute legal or other professional advice. The information given in this article is correct at the date of publication.
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