My dream home is being torn down after neighbours called it a ‘monster mansion’ – but now I want to build ANOTHER one
A DAD has told how he was forced to tear down his dream home - but he already wants to build another one.
Gurwinder Singh sparked a three year row with his neighbours when he built the four-bedroom property in Willenhall, West Mids., back in 2020.
Neighbours fumed the building work had made their "lives hell" while others described the "eyesore" as "like a Travelodge in the middle of a housing estate".
Following more than 95 complaints, he was ordered to tear down the half-built home by Walsall Council.
Demolition began this week at a whopping £37,000 cost to him - but he is already thinking about building another one.
The delivery driver told The Sun: “I am really disappointed it has come to this, and my wife and two daughters are in a deep depression that we have lost the house we had dreamed of, and just before Christmas.”
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The DPP worker, aged 43, also hit out at residents on Willenhall, West Midlands, who have continually criticised him during a “hateful” three-year dispute.
His new partially built £300,000 four-bed property is now being raised to the ground brick by brick - to cheers from neighbours and tears to his family.
For many months Gurwinder had refused to tear it down and had begged the council to “find a solution.”
He said: “I did everything I could in my power to keep my home but it cannot be, and it is heartbreaking.
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“Planners listened to the neighbours, it was people pressure that cost me my home. No doubt they will be celebrating, at my family’s expense.
“I’ve lost, they’ve won.”
The deflated owner - who is living in a rented house with his wife Rajwinder Kaur, also 43, and their two daughters, aged 11 and 14 - said: “I’ve tried more and more times to keep our new home but the council don’t listen to me.
“I had no other option but to get builders in to take it down, every brick that has been built so far.”
“I have no idea what will happen in future and if I’ll be able to build a new house to replace the original one.
“It is my plot of land but as soon as the builders have finished it will be an empty space.”
He said that he has “lost two homes.”
Gurwinder told how he faced a demolition bill of between £35,000 to £37,000 which will now “wipe out all my savings.”
He added: “My wife is really disappointed at losing our new home, we all are. We had dreamed of having a bigger and better family house to replace the first one which was knocked down.
“I met with the builders at the site a few weeks ago before they started demolishing it. I’ve not seen how far they have gone because it is too upsetting.
The first floor of the structure in Sandringham Avenue has now been torn down to the relief of neighbours,
One man said: "It's about time! This has been going on for way too long and we just hope he sees it through now."
Another local said: "We always said he'd never get away with it but as time went on you did wonder. It's been hell living next to a construction site and half-built shell for three years. Common sense has prevailed."
Resident Dave added: “The bulldozers are here and we can’t wait to see that property completely knocked down.
"I can't feel sorry for him because he brought this on himself and along the way he made our lives hell.
"I bet he feels very hard done by but he should have put his proposal through the proper planning procedure, like everyone else does.”
One resident chipped in: “We’re pleased it’s being torn down and will be relieved when it's all done and dusted.
"The house was bloody huge and looked like a horrible monster mansion. It was at least three times the size of the original house.”
Another local told how iron girders from the property were pushed into the home next door, forcing the pensioner living there to move out.
Gurwinder had appealed Walsall Council’s decision to demolish the half build home but his bid was dismissed with planners upholding the original enforcement notice.
In July the defiant dad had told our website: “I’m not going to tear my house down and I’m begging the council not to either. We can work out a solution.”
He vowed: “I will do everything possible to save my new home.He claimed he had been "ripped off” by shoddy builders and even “bribed” by council officials and left “suffering from anxiety and depression” over the stress of a “planning nightmare.”
But he has now accepted defeat.
The family has been renting a three-bed semi in a nearby West Midlands suburb for £800 a month.
Gurwinder bought the contentious 1960s semi in 2020, which he then demolished to build a bigger home.
Initially he never applied for planning permission, and had only been given the go ahead for a side extension to the existing house.
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A Walsall Council spokesperson said: "We are aware that the owner has started demolition work and continue to monitor in accordance with the enforcement notice. The owner is undertaking works themselves at this stage.”
“The council is monitoring the situation to ensure all actions in the enforcement notice are complied with.”
