Family who fought to reclaim home sue States over costs

The Allez family claim the States was ‘negligent, inept and careless’ when it included a substantial part of their home, a former German bunker known as Maison de la Guerre, in the 2019 sale of neighbouring Fort Richmond, using a boundary map from 1922 which it knew was incomplete and had previously agreed to redraw.

A summons has now been served on the States to appear in court on Friday 28 March to respond to a claim for reimbursement of costs totalling nearly £80,000 which the Allezs had to spend in a years-long legal battle, during which there were attempts to evict them, before they finally secured clear title to their home in August 2024.

The summons follows months in which the States has dodged questions about the fort property deal, made claims about it which were later proved to have been inaccurate, and repeatedly rebuffed the family’s attempts to negotiate an agreement.

The senior States committee, Policy & Resources, which is responsible for property, said it would decline to comment during legal proceedings when it was recently asked questions in the Assembly by Deputy Andrew Taylor, who has been assisting the Allezs. But P&R has previously said that the ‘legally split ownership of the bunker was a matter of public record’ and claimed that it was therefore reasonable to include part of it in the sale of the fort.

The court summons sets out three options for the States. It can either consent to judgment for all or part of the £79,970.37 claimed, apply for an adjournment of the case, or notify the court that it will defend the action in whole or in part.

The Allezs’ advocate has written to the States’ lawyers confirming that the family would still be prepared to agree terms out of court over the next few weeks.

‘We have put a return date about six weeks hence to give your clients the chance to make an offer to try to resolve these proceedings amicably,’ he said in the letter.

‘It is probably a last chance of resolving matters amicably, so I would be most grateful if you could take early instructions.

‘Our client would like to put this to bed. If matters cannot be agreed then the proceedings will be tabled on the return date. There will be yet more publicity and yet more cost and yet more exposure to the States.’

If the States decides to defend the action in court, it may be required to disclose details of discussions and correspondence which led to the deal to sell the fort and surrounding property for £1m., five years after it had been marketed for sale for £2m.

This may reveal more about the decision to include part of the Allezs’ home in the deal despite the existence of documents dating from 1947 until just weeks before the sale in which States officials repeatedly accepted that incomplete boundary drawings needed to be clarified, to show that the family were the rightful owners of the whole of their bunker home.

It was already known that the 97-year-old boundary map used as the basis for the sale was described by States lawyers as ‘indicative’ just two days before the conveyance was finalised.