This Kensington candy house has earned the right to keep its stripes

Remember the Kensington resident who pissed off her neighbourhood by painting her three-storey Georgian house in barber-shop stripes? Well, the candy house is back in the news again after its owner Zipporah Lisle-Mainwaring won her case against the planning authority’s order to repaint the property.

The thoroughly upper-class dispute kicked off in 2015, when property developer Lisle-Mainwaring was accused of painting the stripes on the façade of her home on South End, near High Street Kensington, to spite her neighbours after they objected to her plans to demolish the building. A notice issued by The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea claimed the decorating job was ‘incongruous with the streetscape of South End and the local area’ and gave her 28 days to paint over the offending stripes. 

After two years of failed appeals, Lisle-Mainwaring brought her case to the High Court, where Mr Justice Gilbart ruled in her favour, stating that the paint job had been ‘entirely lawful’. So it turns out doing up your own gaff to look like an oversized candy cane is allowed, but you might have trouble keeping your grumbling neighbours sweet. 

Main image: Fred/Flickr

Want more property grumbling? Find out why luxury flat owners are suing Tate Modern.