Sitting on a manicured Chelsea street is a decaying £4million mansion where rats and foxes are constantly spotted scurrying through smashed windows, the garden resembles a 'knotweed jungle' and a mummified corpse was found in the basement. 

One might assume, as many families on the leafy street did at first, that a house as dilapidated as this must have been abandoned, or its owner in a dire financial state. 

However, the Daily Mail can reveal that the owner, former Conservative councillor, Nicholas Halbritter, has an envious London property portfolio worth an estimated £6million. 

Alongside his crumbling £4million mansion, which he has owned for 43 years, Mr Halbritter also had two three-storey terraced townhouses in south east London - selling one in 2024 for £650,000.

Converting the properties into flats, the house he currently owns is likely providing him with £72,000 a year. 

Mr Halbritter the chairman of the Kensington and Chelsea branch of the Royal British Legion has been described as a 'disgusting' landlord with no duty of care towards his tenants. 

Between 1982 and 2010 he rented out rooms in his Chelsea home in a joint venture with his kleptomaniac mother Elizabeth. 

Discussing his south east London property, Henry Sherwood founder of The Buying Agents told the Daily Mail: 'Rent-wise in south east London you're probably looking at around £2,000 a month for a two-bed and probably £1,500 a month for a one-bed.

'The property itself would be worth £1.2million. If you look at the south-east the yields are better.'

But with multiple smashed windows, a decaying roof and makeshift curtains the condition of the flats are horrendous. 

'The back windows are smashed in and there are birds flying inside it's disgusting,' one neighbour said. 

Neighbours recalled traumatised tenants constantly needing consoling after Mr Halbritter displayed bouts of aggression.

'He used to have lodgers who had to come and be consoled. He's not a nice man,' neighbour Nik Hoexter told the Daily Mail.

Mr Halbritter's last ever lodger in the Chelsea home was an Irish builder named Frank whose body was found mummified in the basement in 2010. 

Residents said Frank was a regular at a pub on the corner of their road and after he stopped showing up they raised alarm bells.

Using a ladder from a neighbouring garden to climb into the property police found the corpse which was so decomposed that many of them vomited.

Meanwhile, the policeman who found him was on his first day on the job and was left so upset that neighbours gave him whisky. 

However, the cause of death remains unknown and Mr Halbritter was not involved.

Mr Halbritter is thought to have moved into the house with his mother Elizabeth 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.

It has issued Mr Halbritter with a Section 215 order, legally compelling him to tidy up the house.

The irony will surely not be lost on him who as a councillor for the borough oversaw education, the arts and children’s services, between 2002 and 2006.

As chairman of the Kensington and Chelsea branch of the Royal British Legion, he is a dedicated poppy-seller and fundraiser, as well as a devoted member of the Friends of Brompton Cemetery, where he gives guided tours.

In 2022, Mr Halbritter – who is believed to be a former architect – even received an award from the mayor of the borough in recognition of his fundraising efforts for war veterans. And the following year he posed on the steps of 10 Downing Street, where he attended a reception in honour of the Armed Forces.

But despite his accolades he has been described as the 'neighbour from hell'. 

For years, Mr Halbritter has been at the centre of a huge row with his Chelsea neighbours who claim his house is 'rotting from the inside out' and that the 10ft tall Japanese knotweed in his garden is making their homes 'unsellable'. 

Emily Grant, director of Environet, an invasive plant specialist company said removing the plant could cost up to £20,000. 

Ms Grant told the Daily Mail: 'This is a classic case of a homeowner with knotweed failing to take responsibility and the neighbours suffering as a result. As well as the risk of structural damage, which is more likely when the plant is well-established, the neighbours will have a legal duty to declare the knotweed when they come to sell if it's within 3 metres of their boundary. 

'That will certainly impact the appeal of their property and the price a buyer is willing to pay for it, plus a buyer might struggle to get a mortgage.

'Because the garden is completely overgrown, it would first need to be cleared, allowing us to identify any hidden patches of knotweed and establish whether it has spread across the boundary into neighbouring gardens. 

'The gold standard treatment would be to excavate all the affected ground to ensure the knotweed is completely removed, costing in the region of £10,000 - £20,000. A cheaper alternative would be to herbicide treat it over a 5-year period, costing around £5,000, but this is only a control method and would be unlikely to kill the rhizome beneath the ground given how well established it is.

'Situations like these are thankfully rare these days, since most homeowners act quickly when they discover knotweed to preserve the value of their home. But when knotweed is left unmanaged for years, it's a nightmare for the neighbours and it can affect them almost as much as if it was growing in their own garden.'

Meanwhile, neighbours say drains have turned the inside of the home into a swamp, making it an ideal breeding ground for rats and foxes that have taken up residence inside. They say the foxes' 'screeching' keeps them awake. 

Nik Hoexter added: 'I've lived here 40 something years and he was here first. It was fine for a few years but then he's got more and more eccentric. 

'Dead rats seem to be appearing and there was a huge fox the council had to remove. The basement can't be accessed from the house it's completely derelict. It even smells in the summer so you can't keep the windows open.

'I'm always worried about kids hopping in and the basement door is never locked. If you try to talk to him he's head down and charge.'

His neighbour on the other side Christine Gambles said: 'It wasn't like this when we first moved in there were tenants in the house and he rented it out floor by floor. 

'My housekeeper says he's not living there but he does turn up occasionally even if it is to slam the door in my face. 

'My husband died four years ago and I don't want to stay here much longer but I can't sell it because nobody would get a mortgage next door because of the knotweed, they have to clear it otherwise I'm completely stuck. 

'The knotweed was never treated he just cut it out, it's illegal. He was fined for non completion of the works. 

'There is also wildlife living inside a house you can't live next door to a menagerie.'