Court hits builder with record £120k fine for demolishing house in conservation area

A builder who knocked down his house in a conservation area in Fulham without consent has been hit with a record fine of £120,000.

Isleworth Crown Court also ordered Piers Rance of Cloncurry Street, Fulham, to pay Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s estimated £100,000 legal costs. The total bill is expected to be around £500,000, taking into account his own legal costs of around £300,000.

Rance had submitted a planning application to Hammersmith & Fulham in April 2007 to extend his house. This included providing for the excavation of a new basement underneath the house.

However, before the local authority was able to make a decision on whether or not to grant planning permission for these extensions, the defendant demolished the house and began digging out a new basement area.

He insisted that the building needed to be demolished as it was in a state of collapse.

At his appeal trial, which took place in October, Judge Denniss rejected the claim. The judge concluded it was extremely unlikely that the defendant would have purchased a property for £2.2m without carrying out a structural survey unless he always had the intention of demolishing it for financial gain.

But Judge Dennis decided that the case was not appropriate for a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Cllr Nick Botterill, deputy leader and cabinet member for environment at Hammersmith & Fulham, said: ”Rance showed absolutely no consideration for his neighbours or planning law by demolishing this house in a conservation area. Most people in this borough realise that their actions impact on others, but Rance did not care and did whatever he wanted.

“The colossal fine that Rance has been hit with is £40,000 more than the previous highest record fine and reflects how serious his offences are. While we are keen to create a borough of opportunity and welcome responsible development, people simply cannot take matters like this into their own hands."

Counsel for Hammersmith & Fulham in the case were Andrew Campbell-Tiech QC and Richard Heller of Dyers Chambers.

The previous record fine of £80,000 was imposed by Kingston Crown Court in July this year on a man who demolished a 19th century house in a conservation area without consent. That case was brought by the London Borough of Richmond.

In a statement issued to Local Government Lawyer, Mr Rance insisted that he had always prided himself on being a considerate contractor with a real passion for beautiful buildings.

“I had started stripping out this building while waiting for the Council to grant planning permission,” he said. “We removed a very unattractive 1960s back addition to discover that over the years it had become a support for the rest of the house.  The flank and rear walls were unstable, and I was advised by my surveyor and also my firm of structural engineers that they posed an immediate danger of collapse. This was only feet away from the pavement and the public highway. I therefore carefully dismantled the wall and saved all the architectural features to rebuild it as it was before.”

Mr Rance also argued that the basement extension is a common feature of refurbishment projects in Fulham, and had nothing to do with the demolition. “The building techniques I used are quite standard for basement retrofitting,” he claimed. “To my surprise, LBHF fought and won a case by suggesting that the demolition of this lovely building was somehow an advantage to me. This was patently wrong.”

He said the council had sought to claim £3.5m through a confiscation procedure after his conviction. “Fortunately, the judge was persuaded that such an order would be completely wrong.”

Mr Rance added: “I continue to maintain that I have done nothing wrong, but I am exhausted by fighting this case through the magistrates and crown court and will not appeal any further. I continue to work in the building trade and to take pride in the quality of my work.”