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A grandmother will be forced to sell her home after losing a legal row with their neighbour over a fence. Jenny Field, 76, could be ordered to sell her home to pay a £113,000 legal bill after she lost a battle with neighbour Pauline Clark.

Pauline Clark, 64, launched a civil court case against Field over accusations that she had moved her boundary fence, erected in June 2020 to replace a broken fence, by one foot onto Field’s land. It was claimed that this occurred when the fence in question was replaced.

The pair, who live in a cul-de-sac in Hamworthy, Poole, Dorset, then engaged in a lengthy and now costly legal battle over the boundary.

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Following the construction of the new fence during the pandemic, Field hired contractors to tear down the new fence to get back the land she believed she had lost.

In response, Clark initiated legal proceedings, claiming for damage, theft, and trespass in February 2021.

After a lengthy legal battle, Clark subsequently won the case in December 2022 with Field told to pay a £14,000 legal bill, a combination of £11,800 to Clark for the fence damage and retaining wall plus her own £2,120 legal costs.

However, Field elected to challenge the ruling, resulting in legal costs spiralling to £113,266 as she launched multiple court cases. A civil restraint order was made against Field because of how many documents she sent to the court.

Commenting on the matter, District Judge Ross Fentem said the “volume of correspondence is plainly excessive and may be perceived as vexatious”.

Among Field’s legal paperwork was an attempt to claim £500,000 in damages because she claimed Clark had engaged in “sham litigation” and added that she believed she had suffered around five years of abuse of the court system.

As a result of the five-year legal battle, Field has now been told by a judge at BournemouthCounty Court that she must raise the funds pay the debt within three months or her bungalow will be sold to pay for it. Field bought the bungalow for £270,000 in 2016.

Speaking after the case, she accepted that she will have to put her three-bedroom home on the market.

“I haven’t got that sort of money,” she said. “I have estate agents coming round to put my home on the market for £600,000 so that I will have the money to pay the court. I am selling it because I have to and I am fed up with living here but I will offer to pay her £1 per week.”

The Timesreported that Field failed to attend the hearing at the court and that the matter was heard in her absence as a result.

Representing Clark, Anna Curtis told the court that Field had “no intention” of paying the money and said that an order for sale was the “last resort”.

Commenting on Field’s future, Clark’s representative Curtis said there was enough equity in Field’s property to allow her to pay the debts and still find somewhere nice to live afterwards.

She added: “An order for sale will be the only way in which this matter can be finally concluded and the parties can all move on with their lives.”

District Judge Fentem added that he felt an order of sale was also the only way forward because any attempt to litigate with Field had failed.

He added: “I have no confidence at all that the claimant will be paid what she is owed except by an order for sale. This matter needs resolution, the parties need to find a way of putting the entirety of this dispute behind them.

“The order for sale is a last resort and a draconian remedy but taking all the factors into account I should make an order for sale in this case.”

Following the conclusion of the case, Field admitted she would have to put her home on the market as she admitted she didn’t have enough money to pay the fees.