Man billed for not removing gnomes from dead father's garden

'Ludicrous' - that is how one man has described being sued for £160 to evict a family of six gnomes from his late father’s house. Paul Urch said he was left 
dumbfounded after the home’s new owner Nick Walters served a 12-hour eviction notice upon the gnomes and subsequently charged him the removal costs. He said: “The whole thing to me is totally ludicrous that anybody should make such an issue about it. Some people leave houses and take the light bulbs and I didn’t do anything like that.” Mr Urch sold the house in Yeomans Orchard, Wrington, North Somerset, on September 9, only to find out soon after he was g facing legal action over the novelty 
characters.

He said: “On completion day he [Walters] was in France and then I got an email that tells me to remove them. Next thing he tells us he is threatening to take me to court if I do not pay this. He was 
belligerent throughout. Haven’t people got better things in life to do than moan about a gnome? I just think this should be a warning to people.” Mr Walters paid for the 
gnomes, a sundial, a bench and a television set to be removed and dumped in the driveway of a neighbouring house that Mr Urch was also trying to sell. He inherited both properties after his father Oliver Joseph Urch, better known as OJ, died in 
January. Mr Urch, who lives in 
Clevedon, thanked neighbours who cleared up the mess.



Mark Hayward, a 
negotiator for Debbie Fortune Estate Agents, who managed the sale, said the reaction was ‘a bit extreme’. He said: “I must say I haven’t come across this before. The purchaser took occupation and was a bit miffed that there were some gnomes still in the garden. As a result they collected all the gnomes together and put them in the vendor’s drive.” Mr Urch said he had offered to pay for a skip at the start and did not know why he had received such a backlash.

Mr Walters said the removal took place 24 hours after completion date because the house should have been cleared because ‘one wonders whether it was ever going to be gone’. He said: “I thought he [Mr Urch] was an honourable man but he has proved me wrong.” Mr Walters admitted he did not see what was left because he was away in the south of France but got a friend to remove everything. He added that he was in the process of contacting solicitors over dirty carpets too. Mr Urch said the television had been left as a present by the previous tenants but Mr Walters said the old set was not needed because he has a widescreen HD television of his own.