A retired couple who face selling their house to cover huge legal costs from a lengthy battle with neighbours over a three-inch extensions turned down a £750 peace offering eight years ago when the row began.
Herman and Yvette Constantine have three weeks to move out of their seven-bedroom home worth £600,000 in East Ham, London – and give their keys to their neighbours, the Ali family, after a judge ruled against them.
The Constantines, who have lived there for 31 years, accused the Alis of trespass by knocking down their fence and building an extension three inches into their garden – which led to both families turning their homes into fortresses bristling with security cameras.
Mrs Constantine, 57, has since revealed the Alis offered them £750 compensation for the fence but they refused after an expert told them they could get at least £2,500.
She said the neighbours refused to pay the higher amount, which sparked the planning feud.
Herman (pictured) and Yvette Constantine have revealed they turned down a £750 compensation offer from their neighbours at the start of an eight-year planning row over a fence that has left them having to sell their house to cover legal costs
Herman Constantine next to a load of packed boxes, ready to move out of his family home
The Constantine family say they have been told to move out of their house (pictured left) in East Ham, London, and give their keys to their neighbours, the Alis, after losing a legal battle
Sardar Ali (pictured left) and Herman Constantine (right) have been embroiled in a row over a boundary for more than eight years. Mr Constantine has lost his latest appeal
Mrs Constantine told the Sun: ‘They were meant to pay us £750 initially but that was for material they had removed from the fencing. That was just compensation for that, that was not for trespassing the land.’
She added they brought in an expert to examine the garden and were told ‘the minimum we should accept is £2,500’.
The Constantines, who have three children, say they are heartbroken at the ruling and have nowhere to go.
The family said they have been through ‘the most stressful part in their lives’ and added they have nowhere to go when they are forced to hand over the keys to their seven-bedroom house.
Mrs Constantine told MailOnline: ‘We were told they have to sell our house. Can you imagine that?
‘We tried to appeal but they didn’t give us permission to appeal despite our overwhelming efforts. It’s been the most stressful point of our lives.’
‘We will be leaving here by January 5 – but we have nowhere to go. We don’t know what is going to happen to us.
‘We have lived here for over 30 years and this has been our lovely home. Now only the almighty will decide what happens.’
Mr Constantine added: ‘I don’t have any kind of money now, everything is in my house.
The Constantines (right) accused the Alis (left) of trespass by knocking down their fence (pictured) and building an extension three inches into their garden while they were on holiday
‘It’s giving me a headache and I don’t want my blood pressure to go up. ‘Who wants to live here? My house is in a bad area, a bad spot now. It’s really, really painful.’
Yvette said the families got along before the spat, adding: ‘We were not good friends but we were polite and civilised.
‘They are not really someone I would have a conversation with apart from ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye.’
‘We came back from holiday and saw the structure on our land.’
Mrs Constantine said they initially did nothing about the extension because they couldn’t afford a solicitor.
But she added that the Alis began to ‘harass’ them by installing cameras which faced their home when the Constantines began their own upstairs extension.
She claimed CCTV cameras fitted to the Alis’ property are facing the Constantine house.
The family has even covered a window with bin bags to stop the cameras looking in. She added: ‘All the cameras are on us and these cameras here literally spy on us.
‘We’re prisoners in our house. They just do as they see fit. They turned their cameras directly above our garden, and the one at the front directly above our driveway.’
Security cameras outside Sardar Ali’s home (right) and outside Herman Constantine’s home (left)
Bin bag over back door of Herman Constantine’s home to block view of Mr Ali’s CCTV camera
She said the family were still paying the mortgage on the house and will struggle to find funds for another place.
She said: ‘I don’t know what we will do. I really don’t know. We want to express the injustice and we hope things will turn around from the exposure.
‘We have to be out by the 5th, we have nowhere to go, we have been here since 1986.’
She and her husband have already packed dozens of boxes with personal items in preparation for having to move out.
Shelves have been cleared and a photo card reading ‘We Love our Home’ was forlorn on a side table.
She added: ‘The last eight years have been a nightmare. We have been prisoners on our own home because the Ali’s have put cameras at the back and front of their home which observe us.’
Pointing to a small camera in white casing on a pole facing the back of her home which was in the Ali’s back garden, she added: ‘We feel our every move is being seen.
‘I have put black bin liners over the kitchen window door for privacy.’
Asked if she regretted now embarking on the legal action, she said:’ There was a trespass on our property and we were within our rights.
‘But I can’t believe the judge has forced our house to be sold. It is not right at all.’
Herman said after the bitter battle with his neighbours, he would not want to live in the house anymore.
‘We have to go and we have started packing. We have no choice. Where we will go now is the big question.
‘This has been our home where we have raised our children. I don’t know how much money we will have and where we will live now.’
‘I don’t know want to get ill and raise my blood pressure. But it is very stressful. My wife is stronger than I am, but it is a bad time for us all.’
Pictured is the back garden of Herman Constantine’s – the area of land that was in dispute
The Constantines first complained the Alis’ extension had been built while they were on holiday in 2009. The case ended up in the Civil Courts in 2012
The fence that divides the back of Herman Constantine’s home (right) and Sardar Ali’s home (left)
A court decided that the Constantines must move out of their home by January 5 and sell their home for at least £500,000. It stated that £132,544 of the proceeds from the sale will go towards the Ali family’s legal fees.
The Constantines are reportedly ‘devastated’ by the ruling, which could mean that they will be homeless after Christmas.
But speaking this morning, their neighbour Sardar Ali, 62, told MailOnline: ‘It’s been a very hard time. I don’t want to talk about it. The time to talk about it was eight years ago but not now. Talk to my son about it, he’s not around at the moment.’
The two houses at the centre of the row have been turned into virtual fortresses. Mr Ali’s house has a swivelling cctv camera and two spotlights.
There is also a third camera perched from the guttering keeping an eye out.
The Constantines have two video cameras, a spotlight and an alarm system.
A clue to the bitter legal fight can be found, perhaps, in a sign on the front of the Constantines’ house which reads: ‘Please do not leave deliveries with any neighbours.’
A view of the back of Herman Constantine’s home (right) and Sardar Ali’s home (left)
The Constantine family have been ordered to hand over their house (pictured centre, with red roof) to their neighbours
The two houses have been turned into virtual fortresses with CCTV cameras spotlights protecting the properties
A clue to the bitter legal fight can be found, perhaps, in a sign on the front of the Constantines’ house which reads: ‘Please do not leave deliveries with any neighbours.’
The Alis have a sign in the porch of their door which tells visitors they have lived there for 26 years.
The Constantines remained behind closed doors and declined to accept visitors.’
The Constantines first complained the Alis’ extension had been built while they were on holiday in 2009. The case ended up in the Civil Courts in 2012.
A judge sided with the Alis and said that the extension was not trespass.
The Constantines lost an appeal in May this year and a final charging order was placed on them demanding payment of the Alis’ legal fees. A judge made the final ruling on December 1 due to non payment.
A source said: ‘They will lose the house they had for 31 years and be homeless after Christmas. All because they objected about a neighbours’ fence.’