Builder demolishes £500,000 house over £3,500 bill

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A builder has partly demolished a house in Leicester over a unpaid £3500 bill he set to work with a digger destroying the roof and much of the front of the property after a dispute over the bill

The house in Stoneygate, Leicester where the work was carried out, has been left without a roof and scattered with rubble after the tradesman decided to undo the work he had already done at the astonishment of the local neighbours.

Owner Jay Kurji, 40, said that he and the builder fell out over a £3,500 bill.

House owner, 40-year-old Jay Kurji, bought 26 Guildford Road in Leicester last April for £475,000. It is currently now valued at over £500,000.

Mr Kurji had hired a the contractor to carry out renovations of his new property, including a two-storey extension and enlarged kitchen diner area, to the four-bedroom detached home in February 2021.

The two fell out, however, after Mr Kurji refused to pay the builder an extra £3,500.

Last Tuesday, the builder was seen destroying the work he had done to the property while Mr Kurji was on holiday with his family 200 miles away.

Mr Kurji, a Solutions Architect for an IT firm, said: “It’s a nightmare, unfortunately I picked the worst builder in Britain.

“I bought the house last year and employed a builder to start work in February.

“We wanted lots of work doing so it could be our family home for six of us.

“The work included a two-storey extension, a new roof, wiring and we wanted it to be more environmentally-friendly.”

Mr Kurji said the builder took revenge when he refused to cough up extra money.

He added: “I was on holiday 200 miles away when all the scaffolding was taken down and the house damaged.

“When I called police they told me they couldn’t do anything because it’s a dispute so not a criminal care.

“I’ve emailed Trading Standards but I’m still away so it’s difficult to sort it all out.”

Neighbours living in the street said they “watched in disbelief” as the builders demolished much of the house with a digger.

One said: “There was scaffolding on the house and when it was taken down I did think the work might be done already and the owners might be moving in.

I was stunned when I walked past the house last week and saw that the roof had been ripped off and the new extension was just a hole in the front of the house.

“I feel badly for the owners, they must be absolutely gutted.”