Family’s home loans dispute ends in court
31 March 2005
 |
| The Lewises’ dream home |
A BITTER dispute between parents and their daughter and son-in-law over loans to buy a dream home has ended up in the High Court.
Property developer Richard Daniels, from Shefford Road, Clifton, and wife Jacqueline took daughter Heather Lewis and her husband Nigel to court to try to recover loans of £81,000, plus interest.
Mr and Mrs Daniels had lent the Lewises the cash to buy their dream home at Park Farm, Warden Street, Old Warden.
They assumed that the couple would repay the loans when they were able to do so.
But even after two written demands in 2003, Mr and Mrs Lewis maintained that they were under no obligation to pay the money back.
Ruling in favour of Mr and Mrs Daniels last week, Mr Justice Forbes said the case was "a sad one".
"Two loans, each of which was undoubtedly made by parents out of love and affection for their daughter and her husband, have given rise to a bitter, protracted and ruinous family dispute fought out in the courts, with no quarter given by either side," he said.
Mr and Mrs Daniels had lent the money to the Lewises in two instalments - £31,000 towards a deposit for their gabled farmhouse, and then £50,000 to complete the purchase.
Mr Lewis had been appointed a director of companies controlled by Mr Daniels, and the Lewises claimed that it had been agreed that the loans only needed to be repaid when Mr Lewis received "salaries" due to him from those companies.
Mr Lewis had not received these salaries and so the couple claimed that they were not liable to repay the loans.
Fiction
The couple also claimed that Mr Daniels had offered to offset the loans against these "salaries", effectively writing them off.
But the judge rejected both claims, branding the idea that Mr Daniels had offered to write off the loans as "complete fiction".
"The truth is that Mr Lewis was not and is not owed any unpaid 'salary'...and he is well aware that such is the case," he said.
He decided that the Daniels' were entitled to repayment of the £81,000 plus interest.
All original material on this page, unless specified by another URL, is the property of Archant and may not be reproduced without permission. Click here to find out more...