{"id":945713,"date":"2026-05-08T08:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T08:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/945713\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T08:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T08:54:18","slug":"father-and-son-hit-with-20k-court-bill-after-laundry-left-on-patio-of-neighbours-london-flat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/945713\/","title":{"rendered":"Father and son hit with \u00a320k court bill after laundry left on patio of neighbour\u2019s London flat"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A father and son are facing a \u00a320,000 court bill following a bitter neighbour dispute, which escalated over access to a passageway and culminated in the family’s washing being left to dry on a private patio.<\/p>\n

Musician Jodie Schloss accused Robin Larkins and his father, Derek Larkins, of harassment and trespass. <\/p>\n

The row centred on a passageway leading to the back garden<\/a> of the Victorian villa in Strathray Gardens, Swiss Cottage, where both Ms Schloss and Robin Larkins reside.<\/p>\n

While the passage forms part of Ms Schloss’s home, she had for many years permitted other residents in the five-storey building \u2013 where flats frequently fetch prices exceeding \u00a32m \u2013 to use it for garden access. <\/p>\n

However, after Ms Schloss decided to revoke that access, a heated disagreement ensued with Robin Larkins and his elderly father, Derek, who has long served as the property’s gardener and maintenance man.<\/p>\n

Ms Schloss alleged that the gate to the passageway, situated by her front door, was forced open on two occasions, with the lock being changed once without her knowledge. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe garden at Strathray Gardens, at the centre of the dispute between neighbours Jodie Schloss and Robin Larkins (Supplied by Champion News)<\/p>\n

Her frustration peaked when Robin Larkins’ family’s laundry was discovered drying on her private patio at the rear of the property.<\/p>\n

She sued for an injunction to prevent any further incursions and, despite both men agreeing not to set foot on her passageway again, the father and son were handed a \u00a320,000 bill for the court case.<\/p>\n

Judge Stephen Hellman, sitting at Mayor’s and City County Court<\/a>, said the fact that the gate had been twice forced by Derek Larkins, with his son present once, meant that a large costs bill was appropriate.<\/p>\n

The court heard that Ms Schloss and Robin Larkins each have garden flats at the substantial detached villa in the affluent north London<\/a> street.<\/p>\n

Each has a right to use the garden, with Robin Larkins accessing it directly via his back door, while Ms Schloss could also get there from her property.<\/p>\n

For 30 years, residents of other flats in the house have also been able to use the garden, accessing it via the passageway alongside Ms Schloss’ flat, to which she had provided keys, the court was told.<\/p>\n

However, a bitter neighbours’ battle erupted last August when she changed her mind amid \u201cjustified privacy concerns\u201d and wrote to the others withdrawing consent.<\/p>\n

In court, her barrister, John Clargo, said Ms Schloss no longer wants people walking along the passageway as it is an \u201cinvasion of her sense of privacy\u201d, being so close to her front door.<\/p>\n

But, even though he can still get to the garden himself through the back door of his flat, Robin and his dad complained that access for other residents to the garden had been blocked.<\/p>\n

\"MusicMusic teacher Jodie Schloss (Supplied by Champion News)<\/p>\n

What followed was a campaign of \u201ctrespass and harassment\u201d by the pair, the barrister said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn 1 September 2025, Derek Larkins insisted he had a right to use the passageway and Robin Larkins threatened to rip the gate out,\u201d he told the judge.<\/p>\n

\u201cLater on 1 September 2025, she overheard two men in the passageway discussing whether she was out and, on the morning of 2 September, she found the lock in the gate damaged.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe felt vulnerable and left her flat. When returning to collect belongings on 6 September 2025, she found further damage to the lock and infers from CCTV footage that it was done by Robin Larkins.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn being told by telephone that Robin and Derek Larkins and another were in the passage, she telephoned the police. She was persuaded to give Robin Larkins a key, but, on viewing further CCTV footage showing his father using a crowbar, decided not to.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn 2 October 2025, Robin Larkins changed the lock on the gate and failed to provide a key, despite being asked to by Ms Schloss’ solicitor.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs Schloss, not having been provided with keys, changed the locks back. On 22 March 2026, Derek Larkins forced the lock and they used the passage multiple times on that date and on 24 March 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn 9 April 2026, Robin Larkins\u2019 family\u2019s washing was hung on Ms Schloss’ patio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asking for an injunction to prevent any trespass, Mr Clargo branded the two men’s behaviour \u201cunreasonable\u201d, saying that it was clear that Ms Schloss is in the right about the passage and that no other tenants, other than Robin Larkins, have rights to access the garden.<\/p>\n

Representing himself in court, Mr Larkins insisted that they did what they did because they wanted to protect their other neighbours’ access to the garden.<\/p>\n

\"FlatsFlats in the house frequently fetch prices of more than \u00a32 million (Supplied by Champion News)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis whole claim doesn’t really affect me because I do have direct access from my flat into the garden,\u201d he told the judge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main issue is the leaseholders in the building, who for 30 years have used this communal space via the side passage.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 30 years, everybody has had access to the communal garden.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have had in their service charges maintenance for the garden. Everyone in the building has contributed and everyone has had access to the garden.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe passage is the only way [for the other residents] to have access to the back garden.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m here today because I believe the leaseholders in the building have a right to use the communal garden.\u201d<\/p>\n

When told that their behaviour in the dispute could be considered \u201cunreasonable\u201d, Robin Larkins responded: \u201cMy behaviour was only because we believe we were in the right and that all the people in the building should have access to the garden.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s no maliciousness in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding the washing left on Ms Schloss’ patio, he said that his cleaner had hung it there without realising and been told not to do it again.<\/p>\n

However, Mr Clargo said the evidence showed that the other residents of the house do not have a right to use the garden, or Ms Schloss’ passageway.<\/p>\n

And while Robin Larkins has \u201ca non-exclusive right to use the garden\u201d, he has no need, nor entitlement, to use Ms Schloss’ passageway to get to it, he continued.<\/p>\n

After a three-hour hearing, Judge Hellman accepted the father and son’s legally binding undertakings not to enter her patio or passageway again, pending a full trial of the issues at a later date.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can understand how the letter from Ms Schloss must have come as a shock,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a sad fact that, other than the passage, for most of the other tenants there’s no way to access the garden.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendants’ position is firstly that they were seeking to preserve what they understood to be the right of tenants.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecondly, Derek has been a gardener and general maintenance man for the property for many years and that includes access to manholes in the passage, and he uses the passage for getting into and out of the garden.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to find that the two men should pay Ms Schloss’ lawyers’ bills, partly due to their conduct in Derek Larkins forcing the gate, with his son present.<\/p>\n

Having agreed to undertakings in court, Robin and Derek Larkins are now legally bound not to set foot on Ms Schloss’ patio or passageway without permission.<\/p>\n

The case will return to court for a full trial at a later date, unless the parties agree to settle first.<\/p>\n

Telling them there is a \u201cvery strong case\u201d that Ms Schloss is right about use of the passageway, the judge warned the men of even larger \u201ceye-watering\u201d court bills if they fight on and lose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":945714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,257,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-945713","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116538118841658691","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=945713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/945714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=945713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=945713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}