Mum's 'nightmare' ordeal after neighbour demolishes the other half of her semi-detached house
A mum has told of her four-year 'nightmare' ordeal after her neighbour demolished his half of their semi-detached home.
Shivarna Mitra, 44, has claimed her three-bedroom home has been left riddled with faults and is now unsellable after the house next door was pulled down.
All that is left is heaps of rubble, with fencing securing off the area next to her home.
Shivarna said she saved up for a number of years to put a deposit down on her £217,000 'dream' three-bed semi-detached house in Leeds.
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But just 18 months after purchasing the home and spending £80,000 on renovations, her former next-door neighbour pulled down his side of the property.
Shivarna now says the demolition left her home severely damaged and potentially structurally unsafe, with the chaos happening while she was being treated for cancer.
Shocking images appear to show the extent of the damage, including holes in her walls and roof that leaked into the house and damaged the electrics, carpet, and wallpaper.
And she says the house, which she also shared with her elderly mum and young nine-year-old son, became infested with damp and mould as well as vermin and insects including rats, squirrels, and wasps.
"Instead of recovering I was fighting battled from my hospital bed"
Shivarna explained: "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.
"I didn't ask for this, no one would ask for this, but shows it can happen to anyone. Everyone is shocked when they come and see it as they don’t expect to see the house completely removed.
"I spent a lot of money to turn this into a house of my dreams, but now I have nothing to show for it."
Shivarna said spent over a year picking out what she thought would be her 'forever home' before moving in May 2021.
She spent around £35,000 re-landscaping the garden, and later had a new kitchen installed and redecorated the house, including having new plastering, carpets, and wallpaper fitted as well as the loft being fully boarded.
She said: "It was perfect for my family. It had a big garden for my son to play in and enough living space for him to grow up and for us to live comfortably."
At the time she purchased the house, Shivarna said an elderly lady lived next door, but it was sold in July 2022 for £280,00 to Chris Rhodes
Mr Rhodes put in two planning applications for two extensions to Leeds Council in June and August 2022, which were both approved.
But Shivarna claimed they were used to demolish his house without permissions, which he has denied.
Work began in October 2022 and the mum said she didn't think anything of it. At the time, she explained she 'didn't know much about construction or building practices'.
She said she became worried in the December after Mr Rhodes removed his property's roof, which left holes and exposed her to the cold winter weather.
However he told SWNS that due to a storm 'the gable wall became unsafe' and 'following HSE guidance' and 'to avoid any risk or danger to others and their properties', he proceeded to pull down the wall as well as a further front wall.
"I only had a layer of bricks protecting my house"
"In the time he was asked to stop 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," she said.
Then in July 2023 Mr Rhodes applied to the council to erect a new five-bedroom property which was refused. A second application for another five-bedroom house design was then granted in May 2024.
Mr Rhodes never completed the work and later sold the plot with planning permission in May this year for £115,000. Mr Rhodes claims he was treated unfairly by the council during the new build application process.
In the meantime Shivarna says her house has become 'ruined', adding: "Rats got in and chewed the wires, resulting the house needing full rewiring.
"Water has got in through the roof and holes in the wall and has caused mould and damp, affecting son chest and her health but no one cares.
"I have the heating on full blast in the winter as well as portable heaters. My bill is around £630 a month. Walls are cracked, expensive wallpaper and carpet ripped up.
"The decking had to be ripped up due to builders messing with the foundations and cutting through it, resulting rats all under the new decking."
Mr Rhodes denies his work caused any of these problems.
Leeds City Council has confirmed the property was demolished 'without necessary permissions' following concerns of structural instability.
It said that a team had inspected the property which they now found it 'remained structurally stable'.
It added: "As these are privately owned properties, the council advised Ms Mitra to contact her house insurer and take legal advice. The council will continue to monitor the site and take any appropriate action as necessary."
And in response, Chris Rhodes said: "There were very unfortunate circumstances that cost my wife and me a significant amount of money and stress.
"This was a series of unfortunate circumstances that have created a bad situation, of which I tried to work with all parties concerned at every point to resolve."
James Holt