Estate agent and ex-Apprentice contestant facing £200k bill

Estate agent Alex Britez, who appeared on the seventh series of hit BBC show The Apprentice (main picture) in 2011 has been left facing a £200,000 court bill after a judge threw out his claim to a small passageway between his house (pictured) and his neighbours.

Britez, who has worked in the property industry for over 17 years works including in lettings, now works in sales for a upmarket residential property developer, was being sued by his neighbours David and Isabel O’Brien over three feet of land that sits between their homes in Dulwich, London.

The row broke out in 2018 when Mr O’Brien’s stepfather fell into a hole which Britez’s mother had dug into the passageway in 2003.

The O’Briens had claimed that not only is the trench dangerous but also that the entire passageway belongs to them.

But Britez (pictured) argued that the true boundary runs between the middle of the passageway. Now he has been left facing a £200,000 court bill after a judge threw out his claim.

JUDGEMENT

Giving judgment, Recorder Cheryl Jones said: “This dispute is over a very narrow strip of land between two residential properties. Although very small, vanishingly so in places, it is not a trivial matter for either of them.”

Regrettably, they have found themselves unable to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.”

Record Jones said: “I find it very persuasive that the gap between the two buildings, at its narrowest, is what I find to be the minimum gap required to enable the delivery of coal and the carrying of dustbins from the rear patio to the front of the house.”

Recorder Jones ordered Britez to pick up the lawyers’ bills for the trial.

During his 2011 appearance on the BBC show, Britez described himself as “ambitious, driven, and extremely focused”.

He was booted off by Lord Sugar who labelled him a “good talker”.

Read more about property disputes.