{"id":28954,"date":"2025-06-15T11:58:03","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T10:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=28954"},"modified":"2025-07-27T17:38:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T16:38:03","slug":"homeowners-win-court-battle-over-170-footballs-landing-in-garden","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=28954","title":{"rendered":"Homeowners win court battle over 170 footballs landing in garden"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text-2xl font-bold mt-1 text-text-100\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400;\">A couple living next to a primary school have won a legal victory after enduring nearly 170 footballs kicked into their \u00a32 million property within a single year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Mohamed and Marie-Anne Bakhty successfully sued Hampshire County Council, claiming their Winchester home became a &#8220;no-go area&#8221; after Westgate All Through Primary School built a football pitch just two metres from their garden boundary.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-100 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">Paradise lost<\/h5>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">The Bakhtys&#8217; country home, St Anns, was once their peaceful retreat. Property developer Mohamed used to relax in his garden, while his wife Marie-Anne enjoyed tending to her plants as a keen gardener.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">That changed dramatically in 2021 when the school transformed a grassy playground into an all-weather football pitch, complete with a green wire fence that did little to contain the constant barrage of stray balls.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">&#8220;The sports pitch had taken over our life,&#8221; the couple told the High Court. Marie-Anne described enduring &#8220;continuous, horrendous noise&#8221; that caused her significant distress.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-100 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">A garden under siege<\/h5>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">The scale of the problem became clear when Judge Philip Glen visited the property and found 20 footballs scattered across the couple&#8217;s flowerbeds. Court documents revealed that 170 balls had landed on their property in less than 12 months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Mr. Bakhty claimed the school had &#8220;deliberately&#8221; positioned the pitch to &#8220;upset&#8221; them, turning their once-idyllic garden into an unusable space.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-100 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">The court&#8217;s decision<\/h5>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Judge Glen ruled that while occasional stray balls might be expected, the &#8220;frequent projection&#8221; of footballs onto the couple&#8217;s property constituted a public nuisance under common law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">The court awarded the Bakhtys \u00a31,000 in damages for the period of &#8220;excessive use&#8221; of the play area. However, the judge stopped short of granting an injunction to shut down the pitch entirely, which was the couple&#8217;s original request.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">In his judgement, Judge Glen suggested a straightforward fix: &#8220;If a net was erected to prevent balls and other objects from crossing the boundary fence, I cannot necessarily see that there could be any real objection to opening this area up altogether.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">The judge also noted that the school did not appear to intend continuing the nuisance, suggesting the problem could be resolved with proper ball-retention measures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">This case highlights the delicate balance between community facilities and residents&#8217; rights. While school playgrounds serve an important public purpose, they must be designed and managed in ways that don&#8217;t unreasonably interfere with neighbouring properties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">For the Bakhtys, the modest \u00a31,000 award represents more than money; it is recognition that their peace and quiet matters, even when weighed against children&#8217;s need for recreational space.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">The solution seems simple enough: better netting could allow both the school and the homeowners to coexist peacefully, proving that sometimes the most complex legal disputes have surprisingly straightforward fixes.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9<a href=\"http:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/INDEX\/INDEX1.html\">www.PropertySurveying.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A couple living next to a primary school have won a legal victory after enduring nearly 170 footballs kicked into their \u00a32 million property within a single year. Mohamed and Marie-Anne Bakhty successfully sued Hampshire County Council, claiming their Winchester home became a &#8220;no-go area&#8221; after Westgate All Through Primary School built a football pitch &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=28954\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Homeowners win court battle over 170 footballs landing in garden&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18797,"parent":23833,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"folder":[555,560],"class_list":["post-28954","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Homeowners win court battle over 170 footballs landing in garden - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=28954\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Homeowners win court battle over 170 footballs landing in garden - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A couple living next to a primary school have won a legal victory after enduring nearly 170 footballs kicked into their \u00a32 million property within a single year. Mohamed and Marie-Anne Bakhty successfully sued Hampshire County Council, claiming their Winchester home became a &#8220;no-go area&#8221; after Westgate All Through Primary School built a football pitch &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Homeowners win court battle over 170 footballs landing in garden&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=28954\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PropertySurveying\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-27T16:38:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/ball-1850984_1920.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=28954\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=28954\",\"name\":\"Homeowners win court battle over 170 footballs landing in garden - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=28954#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=28954#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/ball-1850984_1920.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-15T10:58:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-27T16:38:03+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=28954#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=28954\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=28954#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/ball-1850984_1920.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/ball-1850984_1920.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":280,\"caption\":\"court case footballs garden\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=28954#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Legal\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=23833\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Homeowners win court battle over 170 footballs landing in garden\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/\",\"name\":\"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\",\"description\":\"The NEWSLETTER\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/cropped-property-surveying-logo-for-newsletter-body-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/cropped-property-surveying-logo-for-newsletter-body-1.png\",\"width\":240,\"height\":50,\"caption\":\"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/PropertySurveying\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Homeowners win court battle over 170 footballs landing in garden - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=28954","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Homeowners win court battle over 170 footballs landing in garden - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","og_description":"A couple living next to a primary school have won a legal victory after enduring nearly 170 footballs kicked into their \u00a32 million property within a single year. Mohamed and Marie-Anne Bakhty successfully sued Hampshire County Council, claiming their Winchester home became a &#8220;no-go area&#8221; after Westgate All Through Primary School built a football pitch &hellip; Continue reading \"Homeowners win court battle over 170 footballs landing in garden\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=28954","og_site_name":"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PropertySurveying","article_modified_time":"2025-07-27T16:38:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":280,"url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/ball-1850984_1920.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=28954","url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=28954","name":"Homeowners win court battle over 170 footballs landing in garden - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=28954#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=28954#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/ball-1850984_1920.jpg","datePublished":"2025-06-15T10:58:03+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-27T16:38:03+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=28954#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=28954"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=28954#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/ball-1850984_1920.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/ball-1850984_1920.jpg","width":1920,"height":280,"caption":"court case footballs garden"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=28954#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Legal","item":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=23833"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Homeowners win court battle over 170 footballs landing in garden"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/","name":"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","description":"The NEWSLETTER","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#organization","name":"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/cropped-property-surveying-logo-for-newsletter-body-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/cropped-property-surveying-logo-for-newsletter-body-1.png","width":240,"height":50,"caption":"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PropertySurveying"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28954\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ffolder&post=28954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}