The 'saddest ever' house on Grand Designs looks set to be sold within weeks to a mystery buyer. The house, designed in the style of a lighthouse, has sat empty for years due to development hell which cost owner Edward Short his marriage to wife Hazel.
In February the property was removed from the Knight Frank website as “terms of a sale” were being discussed with a 'serious buyer'. However, earlier this month it was reported that the £10m sale of the extraordinary Chesil Cliff House along with its annex The Eye had dramatically collapsed after the potential buyer pulled out at the eleventh hour.
But Express.co.uk can reveal that the deal is very much alive and that the sale of the Devon clifftop mansion is expected to “go ahead” in a matter of weeks.
Nic Chbat, director of Match Property estate agents in North Devon - who has been assisting the owners with marketing and sourcing buyers - told Express.co.uk that the reason the sale had stalled was simply due to the agreed sale timescale ‘expiring’.
He said: “As far as I am aware the previous buyer is still wanting to buy the property as a whole including the Eye, but the agreed timescale for the sale to conclude has expired.
“This is simply due to delays verifying that some agreed works on site have been concluded. This is in hand and will be verified in due course, at which point we expect the sale to go ahead.”
It had been reported that as a result of the sale ‘falling through’ estate agents Knight Frank and Match Property were planning to remarket both properties separately.
Nic added: “Understandably, we are discussing options with other interested parties in the interim which includes the potential to sell the Eye separately, as previously reported.
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“It is normal for any sale to go through some delays and uncertainties as the sale progresses through the legal conveyancing and this sale is no different to any other in that regard.
“There is no doubt the sale will go through, hopefully with the current buyer, and if not, with another interested party in due course.”
Mr Short is hoping the sale of the sprawling cliffside mansion will help clear his whopping £7million worth of debt accrued from building the cursed mansion.
Alongside the divorce, the decade-long build – which was initially meant to last 18 months – also left locals fuming and caused rows over how the house would impact nearby areas of natural beauty.
Over the years the project has been hit with a range of issues and challenges, including spiralling costs, the banking crisis, Brexit, supply problems, bad weather, and the Covid-19 pandemic.
