Up next
Did She Get Plastic Surgery
A defiant father is refusing to bulldoze his illegal £200,000 ‘Monster Mansion’, claiming he has been victimised by his neighbours.
Gurwinder Singh knocked down his own semi-detached house in Willenhall, West Midlands, before spending years building a ‘huge’ four-bedroom property which locals say has made their lives ‘hell’.
It was described as being ‘like a Travelodge in the middle of a housing estate’ while others branded it a ‘monstrosity’ and ‘an eyesore’.
Walsall Council last year served Mr Singh with an enforcement notice ordering him to tear the house down, before again ordering him to raze it to the ground this month after dismissing his appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.
Now Mr Singh has spoken of how he has suffered from anxiety and depressing during a three-year ‘nightmare’ which saw him spend his life savings building the house for him, his wife and their two daughters.
Gurwinder Singh knocked down his own semi-detached house in Willenhall, West Midlands, before spending years building a ‘huge’ four-bedroom property which locals say has made their lives ‘hell’
It was described as being ‘like a Travelodge in the middle of a housing estate’ while others branded it a ‘monstrosity’ and ‘an eyesore’
Walsall Council last year served Mr Singh with an enforcement notice ordering him to tear the house down, before again ordering him to raze it to the ground this month after dismissing his appeal to the Planning Inspectorate
The Punjabi-speaking homeowner believes he is being victimised and has ‘been taken advantage of’ because of his nationality and struggles with the English language.
He told the Sun: ‘I’m disappointed in the way this has happened and devastated I lost my planning appeal.
‘I want to keep my house but the council want to demolish it, but I will keep to fight it.
‘Neighbours have been unfair about the house – they call it a monstrosity and I have no reason why.’
Mr Singh added that builders he employed during the construction process made a mistake with the brickwork and that he is renting a three-bed semi in a nearby suburb while the row continues.
A local architect firm is supporting Mr Singh in efforts to challenge the planning decision, insisting he has been let down by tradesmen and a language barrier.
Now Mr Singh has spoken of how he has suffered from anxiety and depressing during a three-year ‘nightmare’ which saw him spend his life savings building the house for him, his wife and their two daughters
The Punjabi-speaking homeowner believes he is being victimised and has ‘been taken advantage of’ because of his nationality and struggles with the English language
Mr Singh added that builders he employed during the construction process made a mistake with the brickwork and that he is renting a three-bed semi in a nearby suburb while the row continues
A local architect firm is supporting Mr Singh in efforts to challenge the planning decision, insisting he has been let down by tradesmen and a language barrier
Neighbours previously told MailOnline that Mr Singh worked with parcel company DPD and that they would repeatedly see the firm’s vans dropping off building materials, before men in DPD uniforms got to work on the build itself.
The woman living next door also complained that they put holes into her bedroom wall and that she was forced to blast Queen throughout her house to drown out the daily jackhammering, often from 8am to 10pm.
The woman, who wished to remain unnamed, said: ‘It’s falling down inside. It’s been up like this for three years. They started demolishing the original house as soon as they got in there. They paid £180,000 for this.
‘I was sat in bed reading a book one day and then I heard this banging and this beam had gone into my bedroom wall…
‘They started jack hammering this wall at 8am in the morning until 10pm at night… I used to put Queen on to drown them out!’
Mr Singh initially had planning permission for just a modest extension to the 1960s house in 2020 but went one step further and demolished the entire building
It is thought the brand new house would have cost in the region of £200,000 to build – and would have been the biggest property in the area
Mr Singh initially had planning permission for just a modest extension to the 1960s house in 2020 but went one step further and demolished the entire building.
It is thought the brand new house would have cost in the region of £200,000 to build – and would have been the biggest property in the area.
