She claims the neighbour ripped up her fence and damaged her hot tub deck
Rose claims the land is rightfully hers
A West London grandmother is currently caught in a dispute with her neighbour, accusing them of stealing 1.1m metres of her garden, including part of her hot tub area.
Rose Smith, 60, spent £12,500 and dedicated five months to revamping the end of her garden, decking it out with a hot tub, all in time for her milestone birthday.
However, the teacher was left devastated when she alleges she found that a metre of her garden had been annexed by a neighbour. She claims they uprooted her fence and removed some of the wooden planks surrounding her pool, before erecting a new fence further into her garden.
Rose is now working with the Land registry to get the land she says is hers back
As the police are unable to intervene in this “civil matter”, she’s now attempting to reclaim what she believes is rightfully hers, with assistance from the Land Registry. A professional boundary survey conducted last month seems to confirm that her original fence was correctly positioned.
Rose said: “What began as my dream garden has turned into a living nightmare. I won’t stop until what’s mine is finally respected. I do have a little bit of sympathy for him because he honestly thinks it is his land, but just the way he has gone about it is vile – he just doesn’t stop. I just want to be able to relax in my garden with my family.”
An aerial view shows the contested strip of land
The ordeal kicked off in April 2024, when Rose, from Hayes, West London, received a letter from the Land Registry, she said. It stated that a neighbour was attempting to claim land behind her garden through adverse possession – the occupation of land to which another person has title with the intention of possessing it as one’s own – despite Rose being the registered owner. The medium-sized plot had been derelict, overgrown and untouched for years.
Rose said: “I didn’t even realise the land was mine. I have lived there 10 years! As soon as I found out, I wrote straight back disputing it.”
Following months of waiting, Rose was informed by the land registry that her neighbour’s claim had been rejected, she said. She then set about transforming the neglected plot into a new section of her garden.
She erected a new fence, extending the space just over a metre, precisely as indicated on the boundary plan from the land registry. From February to June 2025, Rose worked relentlessly. By July, it was almost finished, just in time for her 60th birthday party, celebrated in the newly extended back garden with family.
Rose had just finished building her hot tub area when the neighbour allegedly damaged her fence
However, the tranquillity was short-lived. In August 2025, a neighbour attempted to claim the land once more – this time to sell – contacting her through a solicitor, she says. On September 22, she returned from work to discover that part of her garden had been seized.
Rose said: “He had cut out a bit of our garden. I genuinely didn’t believe what was happening – who does that? The neighbour had ripped out my fence. He sawed about a metre off my garden at a slope and taken five wooden planks from the hot tub surround. He left all my hard work ruined; I couldn’t believe that someone could do such a thing to someone’s property.”
She alleges he had also hacked a metre off her decking and rear fence, installing his own in its place, before positioning two vehicles and a JCB dumper truck directly against it. She claims a teenager was stationed there to guard the new boundary line.
When challenged, the youth reportedly told Rose: “it’s my land” and insisted it was his “legal right”, brandishing an alternative boundary plan that clashed with Rose’s official title documents, she stated.
Rose says the neighbour erected their own fence and parked vehicles against it to stop further action
Rose notified police of the damage and provided witness statements, but was informed it constituted a “civil matter” despite approximately £2,000 worth of destruction, she claims.
On September 24, Rose’s daughter and a friend dismantled the fence her neighbour had constructed. However, by December 1, another fence had appeared, this time intruding even deeper onto Rose’s property, she said.
Last month, a professional boundary assessment validated that Rose’s title plan is accurate – confirming the entire replacement fence sits on her land. Rose is now liaising with the Land Registry to examine the easement and determine her future course of action.
She said: “I just wanted a garden where my grandchildren could play safely – instead, it’s been stress, damage and months of worry.” The neighbour was approached twice by SWNS for comment.
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