Aristocrat and interior designer in High Court battle over refurbishment of £11.5m home

An aristocrat is locked in a High Court battle with an interior designer over claims the refurbishment of his £11.5 million home was mismanaged.

Lord James Russell says he left the revamp of his Notting Hill townhouse in the hands of designer Lucinda Sanford, only for the project to run £1 million over budget and miss the completion date by more than a year.

He has accused Mrs Sanford and her firm, Lucinda Sanford Ltd (LSL), of “exceptionally poor performance”, suggesting his young family was put in peril and he eventually had to axe the contract to bring in another firm to fix “defective” works and complete the job.

However, the designers insist they were hampered by Lord Russell’s insistence at being “hands on”, accusing him and his wife of dithering over key decisions.

The firm is suing for £863,436 in alleged unpaid invoices, while the aristocrat — the third son of the 14th Duke of Bedford whose family seat is Woburn Abbey — is counter-suing for more than £1 million he says he overpaid for the work, as well as £376,731 in damages.

Mrs Sanford, who has previously worked for the royal family, says her firm was approached by Lord Russell and his wife during the summer of 2015 and agreed to take on the revamp of their new home with the aristocrat insisting on “deciding on every matter of layout and design, no matter how minor”.

Isabel Hitching QC, for LSL, said Lord and Lady Russell gave contradictory views to the workers, while Lady Russell sometimes “changed her mind” once jobs had been finished.

“(She) selected sinks for the bathrooms which were supplied and installed but subsequently changed her mind requiring removal not only of the sinks but the marble and vanity units to which they had been affixed”, she said, in papers filed at the court.

LSL said Lord Russell had not “voiced any major concerns over the standard, quality, or timeframe of the works”, even recommending its services to his mother, the Dowager, Duchess of Bedford.

But by October 2017 there was a “marked” change in attitude, it said, as he began not paying invoices and eventually ended the contract in March 2018. Lord Russell, who is a board member of Bedford Estates, which owns swathes of property in Bloomsbury, says he and his former model wife became exasperated by LSL and Ms Sanford’s “exceptionally poor performance”.

“The works had taken over twice as long as they should have taken” wrote his barrister, William Webb. “Seeking a stable home environment for their children, Lord and Lady Russell moved in during October 2017 despite major elements being incomplete”, said Mr Webb.

The family allege their son was found with an open bleach bottle, they claim “open Stanley knife blades were left lying around and discovered by the children”, and say the property was left “vulnerable to intruders” when workmen left the door and windows open.

LSL contests the claims that the family’s safety was put at risk, deny that dangerous objects were left out and argue that Lord and Lady Russell failed to control their children who entered construction areas and even fired Nerf guns at builders.

Lord Russell is seeking to recover more than a quarter of the £4 million he says he paid, as well as £376,731 allegedly incurred in “professional fees and delay losses”. LSL is demanding £863,436 in alleged unpaid fees. Papers have been filed at the High Court.

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