Since the 1980s David, an artist, was also licensed to keep
wild birds of prey. He looked after disabled and injured birds that were given
to him to care for. He built aviaries in the garden for owls, buzzards and saker falcons and flew them on Hackney
Marshes and other open spaces.
In about 1983 the old bus station in Shrubland Road was
pulled down and new homes built. A café at 97 Shrubland Road was demolished at
the same time but Hackney Council refused to reinstate the fence between the
café site and the end of David’s garden so he occupied and fenced off that site
too, cleared it of demolition rubble and so extended the garden. He built a
carp pond there.
The Council refused to accept rent from David who told him
that they did not want the responsibility as landlord to repair the house. The basement flat became very damp and so he moved
out to squat the upper ground floor flat. By 1989 the upper maisonette, which had also
been squatted, was derelict and vacant.
In 1995 the Council intended to auction off some of its
properties and it discovered that the Land Registry title to the Albion Road
house had never been changed from the GLC’s name. Like many ex-GLC properties, Hackney had never set up a housing stock
record and rent account ( “…..- yet another one!!” – Hackney Memo 24.4.95).
Hackney’s ownership of the Albion Drive house was then once again forgotten
about.
David instructed solicitors who applied to the Land Registry
for him to be registered with title but Hackney contested the application and
it was refused by the Land Registry. Hackney then began Court proceedings for possession and David came to Dowse
& Co to fight the claim.
The possession claim was defended and the dispute was settled on terms for the flat and garden to
be transferred into David’s name and, on the same day, the Council purchased
the flat and garden back from him for £280,000 and paid his legal costs.
David bought and now lives in
a listed cottage in Wales with a salmon river at the end of his meadows. His
wild birds live in the orchard. Bill Parry-Davies, his solicitor, said “ This beautiful old house was a community asset but Hackney wouldn't accept responsibility as landlord for its repair. As a result it’s
right to claim possession had already expired by the time it commenced the
Court claim. The most difficult thing about the case was the timing of the settlement.
Nature takes its course so the deal had
to fit in with the breeding, nesting and fledging habits of the wild birds.”
