Waitress left £650,000 home from pensioner loses court battle to keep it

The family of an 82-year-old ‘recluse’ have won a legal battle to keep his £650,000 home after he signed it over to a waitress.

Richard Joy had never married and didn’t have children, spending most of his time at the library or caring for his rare coins and medals.

In May 2018, two years before his death, he gifted his home in Harrow, north west London, to 38-year-old Mariia Romanyshyn.

Mr Joy met Ms Romanyshyn, from Ukraine, in 2011 while she worked as a waitress at a local breakfast café he visited three times a week.

The pair formed a close bond, with the pensioner inviting Ms Romanyshyn and her child to live with him as his ‘adopted family’.

Ms Romanyshyn claimed he ‘thrust’ the deeds of the home into her hands in 2016, saying: ‘The house is yours. I want you to keep the house.’

But Mr Joy’s cousin and executor of his estate, Martin Larney, sued the waitress, arguing he was too mentally frail to understand what he had done.

The two sides agreed to settle the court battle, with Ms Romanyshyn’s claim to the house being ‘dismissed’ by a judge.

Judge Simon Monty KC ruled that Mr Joy’s estate would be divided up as per the terms of a 2011 will, which leaves most of his estate to Mr Larney, his 87-year-old mum, Doreen, and a former friend.

Central London County Court heard that Mr Joy never had a family of his own, spending his entire life in his parents’ home in Harrow.

Mr Larney’s barrister, Andrew Nicklin, claimed the pensioner was ‘vulnerable with apparent cognitive impairment’ and ‘dependent’ on Ms Romanyshyn before he passed away.

But the waitress told the court she treated him ‘as her uncle’, while her daughter viewed him ‘as a grandfather figure’.

Ms Romanyshyn also said he played chess with her daughter and followed episodes of Sherlock on TV, using that as proof he was still mentally sharp enough to make major decisions after signing over the house.

When she first met Mr Joy in 2011, Ms Romanyshyn said she offered to help him with shopping after he had a hospital spell.

She soon began helping him regularly and he ‘repeatedly encouraged’ her and her family to move in with him, Ms Romanyshyn said.

Referring to house deeds, she claimed he told her: ‘I have a present for you’, to which she replied: ‘Don’t worry, I will look after it very well for you.’

She added: ‘He received and felt the care, love and affection from me and my family.’

Both parties involved in the legal battle agreed to settle their dispute out of court after negotiations behind the scenes.

Judge Monty stated he had been ‘satisfied on the evidence heard that the last true will of Richard Anthony Joy was the will dated November 26, 2011.’

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