Greta Scacchi's "driven out" of Sussex dream home

10:50am Saturday 5th February 2011 in News By Emily Walker, Chief Reporter

Actress Greta Scacchi has said she has been driven out of her dream family cottage because of a bitter dispute with her neighbour.

Italian-born screen siren Ms Scacchi, 50, who starred in the films The Player and White Mischief, has been embroiled in a five-year legal battle over a driveway at her Hustpierpoint home.

The quarrel has already cost £250,000 in court and legal fees and the actress, her Italian husband Carlo Mantegazza and children Matteo, 12, and Leila, 19, have now moved saying the situation has become “unbearable”.

Ms Scacchi said: “I have loved this valley since my golden childhood memories and chose to raise my children in this simple, idyllic cottage.

"It should have been a refuge, a peaceful family home. But our harmony has been so compromised that I was recently forced to move my family to get away from the stress the situation has caused us.”

The family have now moved from the £850,000 cottage in Hurstpierpoint to a rented house in East Grinstead.

For the full story see today's Argus.

Comments(19)

manag says...
11:48am Sat 5 Feb 11

How sad is this? It's surprising how nasty people become over things like this. It should be taken out of their hands and dealt with by an independent arbitrator

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TheInsider says...
12:04pm Sat 5 Feb 11

Driven out of her home over a land dispute handled by solicitors?
She should try living next door to students who scream and shout and thunder about all day and night and whose landlord refuses to answer letters or phone calls.
That's enough to drive you out of your mind let alone your home.
Perhaps I can move into Ms Scacchi's home.

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Granny says...
2:46pm Sat 5 Feb 11

Well said, The Insider. I would much prefer to live next door to stables even if the access road is in dispute, than the students next door, whose behaviour is worse than animals. In fact I often wonder if I am next door to the chimpanzee enclosure in the zoo. Although I would imagine chimpanzees have more brains!

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NickBrt says...
5:41pm Sat 5 Feb 11

I fully concur with the comments about students. They act like savages 24/7. None have respect for anyone else. I just hope that karma comes around and when they get a place of their own they are blighted by students too!

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manag says...
6:27pm Sat 5 Feb 11

what has this got to do with students, it's a topic about a driveway, not a forum to post envy-ridden comments full of inverted snobbery,

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chipmunk77 says...
7:33pm Sat 5 Feb 11

Rubbish reporting, the facts of the story are much better put in the following article:

http://www.thisislon
don.co.uk/standard/a
rticle-23920441-road
-row-with-neighbour-
cost-me-my-dream-hom
e-says-greta-scacchi
.do

It's actually a row about contributions to pay to resurface a private access road OWNED by her, but used by neighbouring stables too, and then she puts a gate across it to stop local horseriders from gettin to the stables it seems!

£250k in legal fees, how much to resurface the road, £10k max I'd hazard a guess!!!!!

Only winners in this stupid squabble are the lawyers!

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chipmunk77 says...
7:34pm Sat 5 Feb 11

chipmunk77 wrote:
Rubbish reporting, the facts of the story are much better put in the following article: http://www.thisislon don.co.uk/standard/a rticle-23920441-road -row-with-neighbour- cost-me-my-dream-hom e-says-greta-scacchi .do It's actually a row about contributions to pay to resurface a private access road OWNED by her, but used by neighbouring stables too, and then she puts a gate across it to stop local horseriders from gettin to the stables it seems! £250k in legal fees, how much to resurface the road, £10k max I'd hazard a guess!!!!! Only winners in this stupid squabble are the lawyers!
oh, just saw that the owner of the stables WOULD pay anyway:

"A spokesman for Mrs Saydhun said: "We have offered to pay for the resurfacing of the access road but we dispute the amount Ms Scacchi claims it will cost."

Security words: dumb-squabble

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Jay2 says...
10:13pm Sat 5 Feb 11

chipmunk77 wrote:
chipmunk77 wrote: Rubbish reporting, the facts of the story are much better put in the following article: http://www.thisislon don.co.uk/standard/a rticle-23920441-road -row-with-neighbour- cost-me-my-dream-hom e-says-greta-scacchi .do It's actually a row about contributions to pay to resurface a private access road OWNED by her, but used by neighbouring stables too, and then she puts a gate across it to stop local horseriders from gettin to the stables it seems! £250k in legal fees, how much to resurface the road, £10k max I'd hazard a guess!!!!! Only winners in this stupid squabble are the lawyers!
oh, just saw that the owner of the stables WOULD pay anyway: "A spokesman for Mrs Saydhun said: "We have offered to pay for the resurfacing of the access road but we dispute the amount Ms Scacchi claims it will cost." Security words: dumb-squabble
Its not just horseriders she is stopping attending the stables. It is the carers who feed, water and care for the animals twice a day in all weathers, every day of the year. They now have to climb over a 5 bar gate and walk through 2 fields to access their animals, carrying all their equipment with them, before and after work each day.

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TheInsider says...
11:46pm Sat 5 Feb 11

manag so you are now the great advisor on how the issue should be dealt with as well as the monitor of what should be posted on forums.
Well the Uk is still a free country where Mrs Scaachi and her neighbour can fight a private dispute and people can post what they like on forums.
You are quite the little bossy boots.

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NickBrt says...
12:28am Sun 6 Feb 11

Well done Insider. Manag does come across as a grumpy old bore!

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stan bailey says...
7:53am Sun 6 Feb 11

It's one thing having a private house as a neighbour, another a DIY livery yard with people coming very early in the morning an late at night, lorries etc. These people once up on their horses expect with good reason every one to be quiet, slow and give them a wide berth so that they do not spook. Not what you really want up and down outside your house

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John Steed says...
9:22am Sun 6 Feb 11

250k buys a 1/4 of a mile of A class road. only an apparent fool would spend more in legal fees than the cost of the job, especially a job that needs to be done .
the argument seems to be one of cost their are enough reputable contractors in this area to get competative quotes and there are enough consulting engineers to ensure a reasonable specification, a motorway standard is not required nor a budget 50mm block paviour that is favoured by some of the more dubious contractors around this area. however 250k appears to buy national and international bad publicity.
the reported facts of this matter appears to bring sympathy only to the owner and patrons of the stables and one wonders at the value of the property, exactly how saleable would it be with this apparently unreasonable legal trail attached.

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Old Ladys Gin says...
1:11pm Sun 6 Feb 11

I smell a has been actress attempting to get back into the limelight.
I could be wrong but I'm suspicious by nature!

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SirLancelot says...
5:20pm Sun 6 Feb 11

How sad is it when your readers have to turn into investigative reporters because the articles that you publish do not appeal to their own personal levels of intelligence. You should be thankful Argus - surely don't deserve them?! I now read http://www.brightona
ndhovefreepress.co.u
k/

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anonymous coward says...
3:23pm Mon 7 Feb 11

Re:TheInsider

I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning.

Sorry, afternoon.

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manag says...
4:53pm Tue 8 Feb 11

why are people so nasty to this beautiful woman and her family?

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Jay2 says...
9:43pm Thu 10 Feb 11

Because she is so nasty to dozens of ordinary people.

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moony says...
5:44pm Sun 13 Feb 11

i find it interesting that while greta scacchi is the patron of a theatre group whos members include disabled children is happy to force elderly and disabled members of the stables to climb gates and fences and lug equipment through fields made treacherous due to recent weather conditions to see to their animals as well as feeds,hay,straw ...the list goes on....how inclusive of her !

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bradley12 says...
9:08pm Tue 15 Feb 11

The dispute is over money and how much the stables should pay. They have agreed to pay 92% of the cost but dont agree it will cost 57k. Erecting the gate has meant it difficult for vets to attend animals when injured or sick, people that want to move out and take there horses to another stable have been locked in by Greta and refused them to leave with the horse boxes. Disabled riders have been turned away. Last week a very injured horse was refused treatment and a blacksmith denied access as Greta parked her car across the emergency exit. The stables were there before she moved in and now she doesnt want them there. Thats the kind of person she is and that is why many people are being nasty about her in the local villages, forums etc because many people talk and she has behaved very badly. There is procedure to enforce someone to pay, dont pick on the people wanting to look after the animals - pick on the owner of the stables instead.

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