A couple risk losing their family home after becoming caught up in a long-running land dispute 2,000 miles away.

Linda and David Orams, from Hove, were looking forward to a quiet retirement when they bought a dream holiday villa in Cyprus two years ago.

But a court has ordered them to demolish the villa, in the northern part of the divided island, or face losing their UK assets.

The ruling could mean the courts could seize their property, including their home, which is worth up to £500,000.

They have appealed and the outcome of their case could have implications for hundreds of British ex-pats with properties overseas.

It could prove a landmark case affecting any non-Cypriots who have bought Greek/Cypriot properties.

The couple, of Hill Drive, Hove, bought the villa in an orchard in Lapta, near Kyrenia, for £160,000.

The house was only half-built and they spent months doing it up.

But last October they were shocked to receive a summons from a court in southern Cyprus.

A former owner of the plot of land, a Greek/Cypriot forced to move to the southern half of the island when it was divided in 1974, attempted to reclaim it.

The court ordered the Orams to demolish the villa they had built and pay the former owner, Meletis Apostolides, more than £7,000 in damages. Their appeal will be heard on January 13.

If it fails, 58-year-old Linda, who used to work at Hove Museum, and David, 60, risk losing their Hove home.

Although the judgement would not be enforced in northern Cyprus, the former owner has threatened to pursue the case under EU law in the UK, where British courts could move against the Orams' Hove home.

The result of the proceedings could affect hundreds of mainly British EU citizens who have bought homes in the north of the island.

Linda said she and her husband had bought the house in good faith and were confident lawyers would overturn the judgement next month.

She said: "The whole thing has been a bit of an adventure but it has made me annoyed."

Constantinos Candounas, lawyer for the Greek/Cypriot property owner Mr Apostolides, said his client had no intention of capitalising on what had been built on his property.

Mr Apostolides, who has the original title deed to the land, told The Times newspaper: "The place is very dear to me and I am very much a person who wants to go back and find a solution."