Woman set to demolish luxury lodge in her garden after it's deemed 'second home'
07.05.2023 - 17:53
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A former hairdresser who moved to Wales in order to set up her dream retirement retreat has said she now needs to demolish her ‘second home’ after a neighbour complained.
Hazel Cullen, 60, moved to a farm in Builth Wells, Powys, east Wales, with husband Richard and teenage daughter Megan four years ago as part of a mission to build her ‘dream’ cabin lodge.
She transformed an originally tired-looking cabin in the farm’s two-acre garden into a luxury getaway lovingly named Woodpecker Lodge which housed holiday makers throughout the year.
READ MORE: Join the FREE Manchester Evening News WhatsApp community
But Hazel claims she has now been left with no choice but to demolish the lodge after a neighbour's complaint triggered a three-year planning issue, Wales Online reports.
She says a second homes tax has also 'put the kibosh on it' and now wishes she had never undertaken the transformation project on the Matt's Farm cabin in the first place.
Helen explained that a neighbour’s complaint over lights in the lodge alerted Powys County Council. “A valuation officer turned up in March 2020 and we initially were told everything would be okay,” former hairdresser Hazel said. “But then we were given a council tax bill and were told it was because the cabin was a second home.
“It isn’t a second home. If I wanted to go on holiday to my second home why would I want to do it in my back garden? We told them it wasn’t a second home, it’s a cabin, but they weren’t having any of it. The council tax on it is going up and up and next year it’s going to be ridiculous. I’ll be losing money on it.”
Hazel has spent three years arguing that she should not be paying second home council tax on the cabin. She says the cabin is simply an extension