Portland Bill beach hut owners' legal dispute with landowner Howard Legg

They have been embroiled in a row with Howard Legg, a former Mayor of Weymouth and Portland who also previously stood as a parliamentary candidate for the Lib Dems.

One couple say they will have to sell their house to cover their share of the costs as a result of the legal row which has also seen them lose their £25,000 hut.

The five hut owners had disputed a new tenancy agreement which gave the owner of the land the timber cabins are on the right to evict them with just three months notice.

Former borough and county councillor Mr Legg, whose family have rented the land at Portland Bill to hutters for 60 years, demanded all 71 tenants sign the deal but five refused.

They said the contract went back on a long-standing gentleman’s agreement that had been in place and took Mr Legg to court.

But a High Court judge has ruled against them, bringing an end to the three year dispute which may cost the five hutters up to £100,000 each.

The hearing itself cost the group £165,000 in legal fees and they have also lost their £25,000 huts as they have now been evicted from the site. They are waiting to hear if they will have to pay Mr Legg’s legal costs of £190,000.

Mr Legg, pictured below, said the group attempted to change something they had no right to.

He said he had introduced a new tenancy agreement on the advice of his solicitor so people knew where they stood.

Claimants Patrick and Julie Moverley said the row had left them emotionally and financially drained. They will have sell their home to cover their costs.

Mrs Moverley, who is in her mid-50s, said: “It is devastating and the whole matter has been handled really poorly.

“We had a gentleman’s agreement in place for years which meant we couldn’t be evicted as long as we followed pretty basic rules which were mostly just commonsense things.

“For him (Mr Legg) to then turn round and say otherwise just isn’t true which is why we stood up for it and took it as far as we did.

“We own two houses and we will have to sell one to fund the massive costs. We will then be struggling to keep up with paying the mortgage on our other house so it’s a really horrible situation.

“The deal he was proposing was just not fair, and he wanted the right to be able to evict anyone and anytime for any reason.”

One of the huts at Portland Bill pictured just after being dismantled

The claimants are the Moverleys, Dr Paul Ratliff, Sarah Gilpin and John Hort.

Against a bleak backdrop of grey skies and heavy seas, some of them went to Portland Bill this week to dismantle the wooden cabins following their evictions.

They claim Mr Legg plans to get rid of all the tenants there so he is free to build new huts and sell them for £35,000 each.

Mr Legg, who has been Mayor of Weymouth and Portland twice, said he decided to create an official agreement written on paper to let everyone know where they stand, in 2014.

As part of the new agreement, Mr Legg insisted he held the right to evict any of the hut owners – as long as he provided a three month notice period.

Of the 71 sets of hut-owners, 66 signed, but five disputed it.

A judge at the High Court in Bristol found the hutters held a tenancy rather than a licence, meaning Mr Legg was entitled to evict them if he saw fit.

Mr Legg, 74, said the ‘indefinite lease’ the rebels had demanded was unreasonable and he believes the five brought the situation upon themselves.

He said: “My parents first bought the land in 1956, and other than an incident in the early 1960s this is the first major issue we’ve really had.

“On the advice of my solicitor I decided to get a formal agreement written up so everyone knew where they stood and it was signed by 66 of the 71 owners.

“The five that didn’t sign wanted an indefinite lease which is absolutely absurd.

“It ended up in high court and ultimately the judge agreed with me that what they were saying was not correct.

“As they haven’t signed the agreements they’ve now been evicted and are in the process of removing the huts from the site.

“I already have planning permission to build on four of the plots and the I’d imagine a new beach hut up there would sell for somewhere between £20,000 and £35,000. There are 280 huts on Portland Bill and they’re all temporary and always have been. What they did was to try to change something they had no right to.”