A stylist from Notting Hill is suing her neighbours after claiming that dust from construction work they carried out in their apartment ruined her designer handbag collection worth £14,500. Maria Serra, who describes herself as an “international fashion stylist”, told the high court in London that she was seeking £250,000 in damages from estate agent David Harvey and his wife because “dust ingress” from renovations on their apartment turned her home uninhabitable and ruined her 26 vintage handbags from designers like Chanel and Paco Rabanne . Ms Serra moved into her £570,000 ground-floor apartment in 2008, two years after the Harveys bought their £580,000 basement property.
In 2016, Ms Serra got into a dispute with the Harveys when they commissioned renovations to build a “conservatory-type” extension. Mr Harvey runs Horne and Harvey in St James, an estate agency. Lawyers representing the Harveys said Ms Serra’s claims were “frankly absurd” and that she “grossly inflated” the value of her handbags, which could all be cleaned and restored at “minimal” cost.
Gavin Hamilton, representing Ms Serra, said her flat was “pristine” and “dust free” before the construction work began. “Ms Serra kept the flat in good condition. It was free of dust prior to the works.
There is no rational explanation for the presence of dust inside the flat other than it must have come from the works below,” said Mr Hamilton. He went on to add that the Harveys did.
