The owner of a £4million Chelsea mansion has been ordered to remove Japanese knotweed from his garden after it became a rat-infested ‘jungle’ and made neighbouring houses unsellable.
Residents living next door to the property on Ifield Road have engaged in a prolonged war against owner Nicholas Halbritter, claiming his house is ‘rotting from the inside out’ and is home to multiple pests.
In 2010, a rotting corpse belonging to an Irish builder was found in the basement after residents complained about a smell.
He had been living in the flat as a lodger – but he was so decomposed when he was eventually discovered that several policemen vomited on arrival.
Leaking drains had also turned the inside of the home into a swamp, making it an ideal breeding ground for the families of rats and foxes that have taken up residence inside, the foxes’ screeches keeping neighbours awake.
The rear of the home is overrun with Japanese knotweed some 10ft tall, capable of sneaking its way into masonry and spreading to other properties.
Mr Harbritter is thought to have moved into the house with his mother Elizabeth, a convicted shoplifter, after the death of his father Sidney. He is believed to be unmarried, and has no children.
The death of Elizabeth – a convicted shoplifter who stole pricey sweaters, scarves and children’s clothes from Liberty and John Lewis – is believed to have been the trigger for his apathy towards the upkeep of his home.
But he can linger no more: following an appeal from residents who signed a petition in their dozens, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) has told Mr Halbritter he must confront the long-running issues at his property.
Japanese knotweed has turned Nicholas Halbritter’s house in Chelsea into a jungle
Left untouched for more than a decade, the weed now sprouts 10ft high over the back wall and into neighbours’ gardens
Nicholas Halbritter (pictured left outside 10 Downing Street) owns the mansion in Chelsea
Ifield Road in Chelsea. Residents living next door to the property have engaged in a prolonged war against their neighbour
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It has issued Mr Halbritter – the chair of Kensington and Chelsea’s branch of the Royal British Legion – with a Section 215 order, legally compelling him to tidy up the house.
The irony will surely not be lost on the 78-year-old: he is a former councillor in the borough now taking him to task and served on its education committee.
Nor is it the first time that Mr Halbritter has found himself in trouble with local government. However, he does not live in the house: locals say he visits it regularly, his presence confirmed by a first-floor light being turned on.
That may go some way to explaining the state of the home – and the anger of his neighbours.
Residents on Ifield Road – where homes have sold for more than £3million – have laid bare the long list of issues plaguing the property for years.
At a meeting of the council’s planning applications committee earlier this month, lead petitioner Nik Hoexter said: ‘There’s rampant knotweed, there’s rats, foxes, there’s a mosquito swarm from a leaking mains, which has been going on for two years.
‘The decomposing remains of the last basement resident were removed, the windows to the street are blacked out, and to the rear vegetation is growing into the house from broken windows.’
To summarise, Mr Hoexter said, ‘the house is rotting from the inside out’.
The dilapidated state of the grand home runs in direct contrast to Mr Halbritter’s glistening commitment to public service.
He is a paid-up member of the Chelsea Society local interest group and in 2022, he received an award from RBKC’s mayor in recognition of his fundraising efforts for war veterans. A year later, he attended an Armed Forces reception at 10 Downing Street.
Despite this, his fellow residents describe him as a ‘neighbour from hell’ who will flee from any attempt to speak to him about the state of his home.
Next-door neighbour Christine Gambles, 69, previously told The Mail on Sunday: ‘He beetles up the street and runs in the door. If I ask him for a conversation, he literally slams the door in my face.’
Mr Halbritter also owns another home in Camberwell that has been left to fall into ruin. He had also owned the home next door, which has since been sold.
Japanese knotweed has plagued Mr Halbritter’s mansion in Chelsea, turning it into a ‘jungle’
The back garden taken over by knotweed. A total of 46 neighbours signed a petition urging the council to take action
Locals said that the infestation of knotweed just keeps getting worse, and they claim the owner hasn’t made any effort to clear it up
Another issue many locals have complained about is the water leaks from a mains pipe that broke several years ago, which is said to attract swarms of mosquitoes in the summer months
Councillors voted to serve the Section 215 notice despite a report recommending no action be taken as officers assessed there had been ‘no significant harm to the area’.
Speaking in favour of issuing the notice despite the recommendation, Councillor Marie-Therese Rossi said: ‘Surely common sense must prevail. Direct action is needed, and this council must now act in the interest of its long-suffering residents.’
Mr Hoexter called on the council to take stronger action to enter the property and undertake the work itself under Section 219 of the Act.
He added: ‘The owner is Nicholas Halbritter – a former Conservative councillor, and he was actually on this committee.
‘We think it’s time now to take action under Section 219. As Marie-Therese has pointed out, there’s no point in trying to correspond with him.
‘You frankly have to do the work and bill him. He otherwise ignores everything.’
He had filed for bankruptcy in 2002 and shortly after his mother’s death he began renting out parts of the Chelsea home to lodgers, during which time he appeared to leave the home himself.
It was two years after his mother died that the Irish builder was found. His body was so decomposed it was clear he had been dead for some time.
There is no suggestion Mr Halbritter neglected his duties towards his lodger, nor that he knew of his awful fate. Neighbours say the flat was already in a bad way.
‘It was in a terrible state,’ Nik Hoexter previously said. His daughter – who lives in a self-contained flat within his house – smelt the body and called the police.
‘There was no inside lavatory – just a hut, which is now rotten and covered in knotweed. The flat would have been cold, damp and deeply unpleasant.’
This is not the first time Mr Halbritter has been served a Section 215 notice. He was told to tidy the garden in August 2016 by neighbouring borough Hammersmith and Fulham, under a now-expired agreement between three councils to share resources.
He did not comply with the requests to sort out knotweed, fix doors and windows or remove rubbish from the basement and garden by December 2016, and was hauled before magistrates the following May.
An embattled Mr Harbritter said he had been ‘misled’ by the council, which he claimed had agreed a deal with him on deferring the works so he could focus on his work for the Poppy Appeal each autumn.
Nevertheless, he pleaded guilty to the offence and was ordered to pay £1,513 in costs. Council officers say the garden was cleared by November 2017, so the notice was then considered ‘complied with’.
A Kensington and Chelsea council spokesperson said: ‘Following the decision of the Planning Applications Committee, we are proceeding with a Section 215 notice and will progress it in line with the legislation and relevant guidance.
‘The 2016 notice – which was investigated by a Hammersmith & Fulham officer under a bi-borough working arrangement at the time – was considered complied with and the enforcement case was closed.’
