We’ve been fined £25,000 after neighbours whinged about our luxury B&B – it’s not like we were running a brothel
A FURIOUS couple have lashed out at their neighbours after being hit with a £25k court bill when a row broke out on their exclusive private road over a posh B&B in their £1m home.
Ex-Grenadier Guards officer Steven Marcham and his partner have been banned from taking in paying guests to their home in the New Forest, Hampshire.
He furiously protested “it’s not like we’re running a brothel” but a judge has ruled that they are no longer allowed to continue with the B&B operation.
Mr Marcham, 66, and Diana Groves, 65, sparked the neighbourhood row after they decided to launch the “fun” business idea.
The couple were baffled when they received a lawyer’s letter in 2019 warning them that they were breaking the terms of their house purchase.
In the letter their neighbours complained about guests using the outdoor swimming pool at their seven-bed home and about “seeing numerous cars parked at your property”.
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They also warned the couple that they had breached their “restrictive covenant” - a binding part of their purchase contract which barred them from taking in paying guests.
Desmond and Colette Taylor and Trevor and Shirley Hands both sued the couple, and asked for a court order outlawing the B&B operation, plus damages.
After a lengthy legal battle at Central London County Court Judge Nicholas Parfitt has banned them from operating their B&B and left them with a £25,000 court bill.
During the hearing, Ms Groves told the court that they had once been on friendly terms with the two other couples, with their teenage daughter even baby-sitting the Taylors' children.
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The couple had decided to experiment with their B&B after their adult children left home, but said they ended up without a penny profit due to interruptions caused by the Covid lockdowns.
Neighbours claimed Major Marcham and Ms Groves crossed the line by renting out two bedrooms at their home, 'Avonhurst', at a price of £90 per night.
They said it had caused “nuisance and annoyance” in the private country road in the leafy village.
Before their case went to court, Ms Groves said they felt their neighbours were “ganging up against them” and added: “it’s not like we’re running a brothel”.
In July last year, the Taylors and the Hands secured a court judgment against Major Marcham and Ms Groves, ruling that they had breached their covenant by running the B&B.
Judge Parfitt also awarded their neighbours £1,000 each in compensation and an injunction closing the B&B permanently.
Maj Marcham and Ms Groves had suggested their neighbours “rushed into litigation and behaved over-aggressively” and argued that their costs’ bill should be slashed to reflect that.
They claimed the costs’ bill had been heavily inflated by involving lawyers at all stages, rather than dealing with the issue on a "person to person" basis.
'VERY DISSAPOINTED'
But the judge rejected the criticism as “unjustified”, adding that the Taylors and Hands were well within their rights to negotiate through their lawyers rather than chat directly with Major Marcham and Ms Groves.
He said: “It wasn’t unreasonable for the claimants to deal with the defendants through their solicitors - entirely not.”
He offered his sympathy for the B&B operators having to pick up a £23,000 costs bill.
But he added: “You have to bear in mind that they had to pay those costs - regardless of whether they were reasonable - to vindicate their position that you shouldn’t have been running a B&B”.
On top of that, the judge slapped them with a court order banning “the operation of a bed and breakfast from this property”.
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Maj Marcham told the judge: “We feel very disappointed by this judgment but we shall carry on with our lives, and that’s what it’s all about. We will pay up very promptly.”
The couple's venture finally shut up shop in July last year, but now cannot reopen after Judge Parfitt's order.
