A DESERTED “ghost house” bigger than Buckingham Palace has been left to rot as locals clash with millionaire owner.
The creepy Hamilton Palace sits like a dilapidated property on the lavish Sussex lands after being abandoned.
5
5
5
The huge home is owned by multi-millionaire Nicholas van Hoogstraten who said it was built to last 2,000 years.
But its decaying exterior shows it may never be finished in the first place.
What should have been one of the most spectacular properties in the country is now a sorry sight.
The incredible estate is reportedly bigger than Buckingham palace.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Built in 1995, the opulent house is hidden away off a junction on the A22 south of Uckfield in East Sussex.
The gated entrance onto the estate is covered in mud with a sign that reads “High Cross Estate, Private Property, Keep Out” written in capital letters.
It boasts a grand central staircase and a reception hall with lift shafts and lavish stone balustrades and pillars.
The roof has low-level lighting and a garden space for a fountain below.
Most read in Money
If that wasn’t enough, an entire floor was due to house Van Hoogstraten’s art collection.
Aerial footage shows the domed roof of the main building rising over the top of the treeline.
Speaking in 2004, millionaire landlord Nicholas van Hoogstraten wins right to retrial after manslaughter conviction in the murder of business associate Mohammed Raja
The half-built house gained such a bad reputation in East Sussex that it was named by locals “The Ghost House of Sussex”.
Neighbours previously complained about the grotesque state of the area.
But the owner hit out at locals calling them “peasants”.
He said: “Even the most moronic of peasants would be able to see… that we have been busy landscaping the grounds of the palace to prepare for scheduled works.”
Hoogstraten was also suggested that his neoclassical property should be given over to house the homeless.
Neighbour Richard Baxter said: “With all the housing problems we have in this country surely the building can be put to good use. It’s a disgrace that it is just going to ruin,'” The Mirror reported.
In a hate-filled rant, the owner replied: “The ‘homeless’ – the majority of whom are so by their own volition or sheer laziness – are one of the filthiest burdens on the public purse today.
“The chance of my offering an opportunity for them to occupy Hamilton Palace is just ludicrous.
“Likewise, my offering accommodation to these Muslim ‘migrants’ and to encourage their besiegement of our country and the unwarranted plundering of its resources is ridiculous. We should remove them all.”
He also denied that the house was falling apart.
“Hamilton Palace is far from ‘crumbling’ and was built to last for at least 2,000 years. The scaffolding only remains as a part of ongoing routine maintenance such a property would require until completion,” he added.
The shamed businessman made his fortune as a slum landlord renting out properties which are in bad conditions to tenants who were desperate.
But he became infamous after the gruesome gangland killing of his business rival Mohammed Raja — carried out on Hoogstraten’s orders.
Raja was killed at his South London home in 1999 where he was stabbed five times before being shot in the head.
Hoogstraten was sentenced to ten years in jail after being found guilty of manslaughter but later had his sentence quashed.
A judge awarded Raja’s family £6million in damages — of which callous Hoogstraten has insisted they will “not see a penny”.
Another High Court judge ordered him to pay £1.5million in legal costs to the family in 2016 but they have still not been paid.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Hoogstraten claims to have “no assets at all now in the UK” and cannot pay the damages – claiming his empire has been broken up and is now in the hands of his five children.
Hamilton Palace is now thought to be owned by Messina Investments which is run by his four eldest children – Maximilian, 30, Alexander, 28, Britannia, 25, and Louis, 25.
5
5
