A former Adidas boss is suing a developer after being forced to demolish part of his £1.3million countryside home for being two metres too big.
Edward Nixon and wife Sally are embroiled in a court dispute after buying a former farm outbuilding called West Barn, in East Haddon in Northamptonshire.
They commissioned developer Barry Howard and his company to convert the property into a sprawling rural home.
Mr Howard, head of Northampton-based house building and development company, Barry Howard Homes, sold the couple the £600,000 parcel of land where West Barn stands.
There was already a ‘shell of a house’ on the site, a court has been told.
Mr Howard and the couple then struck a £700,000 deal for the developer to ‘finalise the construction of the house in accordance with drawings provided to the Nixons’.
The couple say they were told by Mr Howard during a video call in July 2020 that ‘the house is built and the planners are happy with it’.
But they were horrified when in June 2021 the local council imposed an enforcement notice.
Former Adidas managing director Edward Nixon, pictured with David Beckham, is embroiled in a court dispute with developer Barry Howard
Edward Nixon and wife Sally commissioned developer Barry Howard and his company to convert former farm outbuilding West Barn, in Northamptonshire, into a sprawling rural home
That demanded that the Nixons either demolish their new home or carry out comprehensive alterations, telling them the 36m former barn was bigger than the approved plans and two metres too long.
The case has now gone to court, with Mr and Mrs Nixon suing Mr Howard for £900,000 for ‘fraudulent misrepresentation’.
They say he must have known the house was bigger than it should have been when filling in an enquiry form.
But the housebuilder is disputing the couple’s claim, insisting he had no idea the renovated barn’s dimensions had gone over the limit when he sold it.
Mr Nixon, 56, is a former MD of Adidas and also founder of Brand First Clearance Solutions, a company specialising in advising on clearing excess stock.
Mr Howard, 57, has had a long career as a developer and housebuilder in the Northampton area.
Daria Gleyze, the couple’s barrister, said at Central London County Court that Mr Howard made a series of misleading statements which induced his clients to go ahead with buying into the barn conversion project.
She told the court this included a video call in July 2020 in which he declared: ‘The house is built and the planners are happy with it.’
When filling out the standard enquiries form questionnaire accompanying the sale contract in September 2020, Mr Howard answered ‘no’ to the question, ‘Are you aware of any breach of planning law in relation to the construction, use or occupation of the property?’
Housebuilder Barry Howard is pictured outside Central London County Court
The £1.3million West Barn cobversion is the large grey building with a roof window running from north to south in the upper middle part of this picture
But the finished house project exceeded its permitted length by two metres, Ms Gleyze told Judge Nigel Gerald, with West Northamptonshire Council demanding drastic alterations due to ‘its sheer bulk and mass deviating from the character and form of the original approved building’.
The court heard that the house ultimately produced by Mr Howard’s company, Barry Howard Homes, exceeded its permitted length by about two metres and its ‘ridge height’ by just under one metre.
The local authority decided that the changes had ‘detracted from the character and appearance’ of the original barn.
The Nixons discovered in December 2020 that planning rules had been broken, three months after completing the barn’s purchase.
In June 2021, the local authority imposed an enforcement notice demanding that the Nixons either demolish their new home or carry out comprehensive alterations.
The following year council officers finally approved ‘remedial works’ which would result in a ‘significant decrease in size and a different layout of the house’, Ms Gleyze said.
She told the judge: ‘Their new house will have to be much smaller.’
The Nixons’ legal team say the couple ended up buying the project on the strength of the ‘false representation’ made in the enquiries form.
They are now claiming £900,000 compensation from Mr Howard, partly to cover the costs of ‘making their house smaller’.
They are also suing for ‘fraudulent misrepresentation’ on grounds that Mr Howard must have known the outsize building had breached planning rules when he filled in the enquiry form.
But Mr Howard is fighting the Nixons’ claim, insisting he had no idea the renovated barn’s dimensions had gone over the limit when he signed it away to the couple.
Mr Howard, representing himself in court, said he ‘had no knowledge that this building was being built in breach’.
He also said Mr Nixon had been fully aware of all the planning developments in relation to the barn, being ‘involved in every detail of the building’s design’.
But the couple’s barrister branded his defence ‘demonstrably untrue’.
Ms Gleyze said: ‘It is inconceivable, and wholly fanciful to assert, that Mr Howard, who prides himself on being a professional builder with ample experience of building houses, would not have realised that he had deviated from the plans approved when he constructed the house.’
During a court hearing last week, the Nixons’ lawyers asked Judge Gerald to order ‘summary judgment’ against Mr Howard on grounds that he has ‘no realistic prospect’ of defeating the claim against him.
But after a brief hearing, the judge agreed to Mr Howard’s request to have the case adjourned in order for him to gather more evidence and instruct solicitors.
The judge said: ‘It seems fair to give Mr Howard a relatively brief opportunity to find new solicitors and put in a witness statement.’
He adjourned until late November to permit Mr Howard time to prepare his case.
