A CRUMBLING Sussex mansion has remained untouched for over 20 years after its millionaire owner and the architect reportedly had a falling out.

Hamilton Palace was one of the most expensive houses under-construction in the UK, but nearly four-decades after it started the palatial pad stands unfinished, covered in scaffolding and boarded up with ‘no entry’ signs.

The £40m building has a façade longer than Buckingham Palace and was designed for British multi-millionaire, convicted criminal and the man known as Britain’s most toxic landlord, Nicholas van Hoogstraten, who has since changed his name by deed poll to the adorable Nicholas Adolf von Hessen.

Von Hessen is said to have had an argument with his architect over 20 years ago in 2000, with work on the mansion grinding to a halt and the building being in a half-finished state ever since.

Von Hessen has previously said he uses many pseudonyms to conceal his involvement in property business.

He even told The Independent: “I’ve actually called myself, in the past, Yogi Bear. And I’ve had properties registered in that name.”

Von Hessen fell out with out with architect Anthony Browne 23 years ago, according to The Express, leaving the building in a sorry state and covered in scaffolding.

The grand designs featured a huge central staircase and reception hall, a rooftop garden and a fountain. One entire floor was due to be dedicated to house Von Hessen’s art collection.

Locals have fumed about the area being left unused and were also upset about a footpath that runs through the property being blocked, the Ramblers’ Association have since won a court ruling to clear the 140-year-old Framfield path embarrassing the local council after Von Hessen, ‘Britain’s most intimidating landlord’,  cowed a weak council into giving him his way.

Von Hessen, who is approaching 80, has previously denied that the massive mansion project was even stalled, arguing in The Mirror back in 2016 that work was still ongoing.

The property mogul, who was first convicted in 1968 at the age of 22 for hiring a gang to throw a grenade at the house of a former business associate, said: “Even the most moronic of peasants would be able to see from the pictures that we have been busy landscaping the grounds of the palace.

“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.”

Hopefully the scaffold firm aren’t in a rush to get it back.