Grandmother, 82, who gave her £1.4m home of 40 years to her daughter, 52, for ‘inheritance tax reasons’ is kicked out following bitter court battle
- Norma Gibbons and daughter Dawn lived in the house in Earlsfield, London
- Tensions rose after Dawn said Norma shouted and made hoax calls against her
An 82-year-old grandmother who gave her home to her daughter for ‘inheritance tax reasons’ faces homelessness after being booted out amidst a bitter family fight in court.
Norma Gibbons and daughter Dawn Gibbons, 52, lived in upstairs and downstairs flats in the same converted £1.4million house in Allfarthing Lane, Earlsfield, south London.
In 2004, when their relationship was still good, Norma had transferred her upstairs flat into her daughter’s name – without even telling her – to avoid inheritance tax.
But after Dawn had a daughter in 2008, tensions arose between them, such as when Norma made 155 ‘hoax calls’ to the police making allegations against her, even as late as at 3am.
Their relationship broke down completely, Dawn said, after she heard her mum ‘shouting’ at her young daughter, which she said was the ‘last straw’ in an already lengthy row.
Norma Gibbons, 82, who transferred her £1.4million London home to her daughter, 52, has been kicked out
Dawn (pictured) said tensions rose after she had a daughter, saying her mother began to make ‘hoax calls’ against her
A bitter court struggle began, with Norma claiming she had been ‘tricked’ into transferring the property and Dawn applying to throw her mum out.
Bringing the ten-year fight to an end at Central London County Court, Judge Nigel Gerald ordered that Norma must leave her home of more than 40 years.
Giving judgment, he said some might find it ‘astonishing’ that a daughter would boot out her 82-year-old mother, but said others might see that Dawn had been ‘pushed to her limit’ by her mum’s behaviour.
The court heard mother and daughter lived in upstairs and downstairs flats in the same converted house.
But in 2004, Norma transferred her three-bed flat, which was in her name, and the freehold of the entire building, which was in their joint names, into her daughter’s sole name for ‘tax planning’ reasons.
Representing herself in court, Dawn – who works in finance – said she had a good relationship with her mum before they fell out after she herself became a parent in 2008.
After a series of problems, she said the last straw came when Norma ‘shouted’ at Dawn’s young daughter.
READ MORE: Mother, 82, in bitter legal battle with her own daughter says she worked two shifts a day as a nurse to buy her home and pay for her child to go to private school
She had then severed ties with her mother, with the row spiralling into a catastrophic relationship breakdown and a series of court cases.
She said her mum had repeatedly made hurtful accusations about her to social services, resulting in Norma being told by the council to stop contacting it.
She had also been the victim of 155 ‘hoax calls’ to the police making allegations against her by her mum, resulting in needless police attendance at all hours, even as late as 3am, she said.
‘I have had to install internal and external CCTV to prove what we are doing,’ she said.
‘It’s been absolutely horrendous. I’m exhausted. It’s been 10 years and I have had enough.’
Her mum had waged a campaign of harassment against her, she said, banging in the flat above, deliberately causing water leaks into the £800,000 downstairs flat and refusing to let builders in upstairs to fix the problems.
When she had served court orders on her mum to force her to allow entry to tradesmen, they had been torn up and thrown into the garden, she said.
The case went before Judge Alan Johns KC at the county court last year when Norma claimed that her daughter had ‘tricked’ her into signing the flat over.
But Judge Johns rejected her claim, finding that Norma had willingly transferred the £600,000 flat to her daughter as a ‘gift’ to avoid inheritance tax – but without even telling Dawn she was doing so.
With her mum allegedly continuing to refuse access to allow maintenance of the upstairs flat, Dawn last November handed her an eviction notice.
That resulted in the case coming back to court last week before Judge Gerald as Dawn launched a bid for her mum to be forced to get out of the flat and hand over the keys.
Fighting the application, her mother’s barrister Lara Simak argued that she would never have transferred the flat to her daughter if she thought she could be evicted.
She said Norma had always had an ‘expectation to live there for the rest of her life’ and that that must have been part of any agreement to transfer it.
The pair had lived in upstairs and downstairs flats in a converted £1.4million house in Allfarthing Lane, Earlsfield, south London
‘Certainly, she didn’t expect to be kicked out of her flat by her daughter, otherwise she wouldn’t have transferred it,’ she said in argument.
But Judge Gerald rejected her defence, pointing out that there was no way Norma could claim that she had relied on an agreement that she could stay for life while also claiming she had been ‘tricked’ and didn’t even know about the transfer.
He said it was impossible to understand how a defence based on such a promise could go forward and that any hope she could avoid eviction based on it existed only ‘on cloud nine, not on Planet Earth.’
‘On 12th May 2022, Judge Johns determined that the flat had been gifted by mother to daughter on 19th August 2004 with the aid of a solicitor and without daughter even knowing about it,’ he said.
‘From that, it will follow that it was an outright gift. It would appear that that was part of some sort of tax planning.
‘It would also follow that mother was a bare licensee of the flat, so that following the daughter’s 20th November 2022 notice terminating the licence as of 5th December, mother was obligated to vacate possession of the flat.’
He continued: ‘Dawn told me that whilst she is unhappy about all the alleged harassing behaviour of her mother, it is not something she requires a determination of this court on.
‘She therefore before me simply asks for an order that her mother give possession of the property forthwith.
‘It would perhaps seem to an observer somewhat astonishing for a daughter to seek possession from a mother in her 80s – that is essentially a moral judgment and observation.
‘But if anybody were to look at the extent of the allegations by the mother against the daughter and that the daughter has been the subject of multiple harassment issues, an observer might reach the conclusion that she had been pushed to her limit.
‘I will order that the defendant give possession to the claimant forthwith.
‘Hopefully, this will bring matters to an end.’
The judge also ordered Norma to pay £10,000 up front on account of her daughter’s legal costs, which Dawn says amount to £28,000.
In an earlier court appearance Dawn had said in evidence: ‘I have served her a number of orders which she has ripped up and thrown into the garden.
‘I need my builder in there to survey what damage there is and what repairs need doing.
‘Water is coming through my ceiling. I have mildew. The damage is unrepairable, I have to have access to upstairs.
‘I am seeking possession because the defendant has continued to ignore orders of the court.’
‘I have been trying since 2017 – from friends to family, police, through the courts, through environmental services.
‘The electricity is failing in my home. My daughter and I are in danger.
‘I have pleaded with the defendant. What more can I do?’
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