Man speaks out for first time after demolishing half of neighbour's semi-detached house
A man who demolished his half of a semi detached house has spoken out after his neighbour was left unable to sell her house following the demolition.
Chris Rhodes, 47, stood by his decision to demolish his half of the semidetached property, leaving just a pile of rubble in its place.
Neighbour Shivarna Mitra, 44, said that she had been through a 'nightmare' lasting for four years after the demolition led to a host of problems with her own home.
These included damp problems and issues with the electricity, as well as the house becoming structurally no long safe due to the removal of the adjoining property.
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Mr Rhodes, who has since moved out of the UK, has insisted that he did not do anything wrong, telling the Daily Mail: "There were very unfortunate circumstances that cost my wife and I a significant amount of money and stress."
He claimed that this had 'created a bad situation of which I tried to work with all parties concerned at every point to resolve'.
Ms Mitra still lives at the property, and said: "He had pulled down his side of the party wall and the breeze blocks meaning I only had a layer of bricks protecting my house from the outside.
"From the foundations, first floor, second floor, and up to the roof I am now exposed."
She explained that she cannot fix the problems because she is unable to access the land next door, which Mr Rhodes sold.
Mr Rhodes also blamed both Ms Mitra and the council for making the situation more complicated, calling it 'unfortunate'.
He said that after buying the house in July 2022 for £280,000 he had applied to Leeds City Council for planning permission to build two extensions in June 2022 and August 2022, with work beginning in October that year.
Ms Mitra has claimed that he used these planning applications to demolish the house illegally, an allegation that Mr Rhodes has denied.
He alleged that Ms Mitra had been 'trying to stop us building at every possible point', and accused her of being 'abusive and aggressive' towards builders working on the property, which Ms Mitra has denied.
In January 2023 Ms Mitra called Leeds City Council and said that the work being carried out was not adhering to the planning consents, saying that the local authority had asked him to stop the work, though Mr Rhodes disputes this point, saying he was 'ignored' and claiming that he was being 'punished' by the planning department at the council.
Mr Rhodes claimed that a councillor had shared 'negative posts about the property without any attempt to gain the facts of what was happening'.
He denied claims that he had been aggressive towards Ms Mitra, saying: "This did not happen and I was in no way, shape or form, aggressive with her."
Ms Mitra also shared that she had been battling cancer at the time of the ordeal, saying: "I was really chuffed when I bought it but the whole ordeal has been a nightmare, and it's caused me to be very ill.
"I have gone through cancer and had a major operation while all this was going on, so instead of recovering, I'm fighting battles from my hospital bed on emails.
"The list of problems is endless, and I don't have the funds or the help to fix it."
Kit Roberts