The bizarre saga surrounding a sex therapist's rental of a Broads period home has taken a new twist - with the estate agent behind the move dragged into a £90,000 court wrangle.
Patricia Ramshaw, known as Lady Pea, was evicted from the Old House in Ranworth in June 2023 - which she had been renting from the wealthy Cator family.
The ill-fated tenancy exploded into a bitter dispute between the two parties, which has been in and out of courtrooms for months.
Earlier this year, an exasperated judge urged the warring parties to go their separate ways, although the dispute rumbles on.
But now, Starkings and Watson (SWEA), the estate agents which advertised the property on the Cator's behalf, is facing its own legal battle with the former tenant.
Lady Pea has made a claim for £90,000 from the company through the Civil National Business Centre, a government body which allows people to make claims for money through civil courts.
Her claims after the Property Ombudsman had ruled the agent had not properly established whether the Old House had a valid energy statement at the time of Lady Pea's rental in November 2021.
She claims this resulted in her suffering a debt through her rental, which she has asked the courts to retrieve from Starkings and Watson.
Now, an order has been made calling on the estate agent to pay Lady Pea the sum of £90,000 - which states the organisation did not respond to the claim.
However, Christopher Starkings, managing director of the firm, insists it did respond - and confirmed the claim would be contested.
He said: "SWEA Ltd submitted everything within a timely manner, had confirmation of receipt from the courts and heard nothing more until the request for payment came through.
"Documents have since been submitted to have the order set aside."
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