The owner of the house that was subject to Banksy's latest artwork says they are 'worse off' as a result despite the property being valued at £5 million.
Aileen Makin was set to sign off on the sale of her semi-detached property in Bristol when she was informed that the figure of an old woman sneezing had been painted across the side of it.
With it appearing to be the work of the infamous artist, she delayed the sale and was told that it could be worth between £3m and £5m - much higher than the £300k average for the area.
Advert
However, Ms Makin's son has now revealed that she has decided to sell up anyway just to escape the stress of the media attention, which has left her forking out for new security and a screen to protect the artwork.
In an interview with the BBC, Ms Makin's son Nicholas said: "Not only has it not earned us £5mm as the papers said, it's actually cost us money to protect it.
"We've had a security firm put protection over it and my step-brother on the day that it happened just happened to have a piece of perspex which he has screwed in over the wall, which was a convenient fit."
Speaking last week, Nicholas said his mum never planned to ditch the sale, she just delayed it in order to get her head around the situation.
Advert
Mr Makin told ITV News: "We put the proceedings on hold for 48 hours to understand what was going on."
According to Mr Makin, people were climbing over his house while he slept to get a closer look.
The painting depicts an old woman sneezing with her false teeth shooting out - the house is on Britain's steepest street and the angle in which it's painted makes it appear that her sneeze is blowing the houses over.
A former tenant of the house, Fred Loosmore, told ITV: "I just moved out. We've been in and out for a week or so. It's actually on the outside wall of what was my bedroom.
Advert
"There's a big walk-in wardrobe on the other side.
"We've got a furniture company, so we're bringing down a big bit of acrylic plastic to cover it up. Obviously things like this can get defaced, and we don't want that to happen."
He added: "I can't believe it."
Dale Comley, another neighbour, says he saw someone on the street early in the morning.
Advert
He said: "I got up, made a coffee, looked out the window and noticed someone in a high-vis jacket.
"I thought it was awfully early for someone to be getting up to start working on scaffolding.
"He looked quite out of place but was very much looking at this [the artwork] the whole time."
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Viral, Art, Bristol, Banksy