A judge has settled a 12-year-old dispute over a St George’s home in favour of a land developer, who will now be able to sell it at last.The wrangle between Alex Swan from Progressive Realty and Lisa Hollis, of Wellington Slip Road, St George’s, was over a house Ms Hollis alleges was illegally built in her front yard.According to Ms Hollis, in an interview given to The Royal Gazette 12 years ago, she arrived home on May 4, 2000 to discover that her front yard had been torn up.She said her family had lived on the Wellington Slip Road property for 61 years and the land belonged to her grandmother.Ms Hollis parked her car across the driveway to stop excavation vehicles accessing the site, and said she had rights to the land, and the right-of-way across it.However, Mr Swan said he purchased the land in 1999, obtained planning approval, and had every right to build there.The spat hit the headlines at the time, and both sides launched legal action over the house that same month, which has been ongoing ever since.Mr Swan’s lawyer, Rick Woolridge, said earlier this year that he has been unable to sell the property valued at $1.4 million ten years ago due to the ongoing legal action, and has rented it out instead.Mr Woolridge said after a court hearing in August: “We want a firm answer over the right of way. We want to get it settled and then sell the house.”Yesterday, Puisne Judge Norma Wade-Miller struck out Ms Hollis’s defence to Mr Swan’s claim of right-of-way.The judge said Mr Swan purchased the land including the right-of-way, which is the only access to the property, in 1999.She noted that Ms Hollis had not pleaded any facts in support of her argument that she had right-of-way and said her defence in the case was “unsustainable, frivolous and vexatious”.She awarded the costs of the case to Mr Swan, who declined to comment after the hearing.Mr Woolridge said: “It can be sold now. That’s the plan.”Ms Hollis was not present for the hearing and her lawyer, Eugene Johnston, did not comment afterwards.