• William Lyttle built and under ground network of 60 foot-long tunnels under his home
  • The house, in Hackney east London, is now expected to fetch 750,000 at auction

By Tammy Hughes

PUBLISHED: 12:58 EST, 2 June 2012 | UPDATED: 03:12 EST, 3 June 2012

 

The house where the infamous 'Hackney Mole Man' constructed an elaborate labyrinth of tunnels underneath his London home is going under the hammer.

Eccentric William Lyttle, a retired civil engineer, spent 40 years digging 60 foot-long passages below his property.

Now the house in east London's Hackney area is expected to fetch around 750,000 when it goes up for auction next month.

Dilapidated: The house in Hackney, east London, is expected to fetch 750,000 at auction

Dilapidated: The house in Hackney, east London, is expected to fetch 750,000 at auction next month

Planning permission to knock the house down and replace it with two town houses - with basements has now been granted.

Lyttle died at the age of 79 two years ago, leaving a 408,000 bill for his four decade long underground campaign.

He was evicted from the house in 2006 'for his own safety' after Hackney Council discovered his exploits.

Mr Lyttle was dubbed the 'Mole Man' after his underground exploits were discovered. He was evicted in 2006

Labyrinth: William Lyttle built an underground network of tunnels under his home, this picture shows a mock-up of what the passages might have looked like

Labyrinth: William Lyttle built an underground network of tunnels under his home. This picture shows a mock-up of what the passages might have looked like

They found skiploads of junk including the wrecks of four Renault 4 cars, a boat, scrap metal, old baths, fridges and dozens of TV sets stashed in the tunnels.

Mr Lyttle was then put up in a hotel for three years, at a cost to the taxpayer 45,000, before being re-housed in a nearby council-owned property.

Towards the end of his life the reclusive pensioner battled to keep his mole tunnels preserved, but after his death council workers filled in the tunnels with concrete for safety reasons.


Dangerous: Despite slapping a number of notices on the building the council refused permission to demolish it due to the street's status as a conservation area

Tip: The council found skiploads of junk including cars, a boat, scrap metal, old baths, fridges and dozens of TV sets. The house went up for sale last year but no deal resulted

Tip: The council found skiploads of junk including cars, a boat, scrap metal, old baths, fridges and dozens of TV sets. The house went up for sale last year but no deal resulted

It is now surrounded by high fences and most of the tunnels have been filled reports The Independent.

The building went on sale last year for around 500,000 but no deal resulted.

'Putting the property  up for auction is the best option to achieve the maximum property price' said Sean King of estate agent Move with Us.

'We expect lots of interest in the sale. The property is prime real estate in Hackney with the added cachet of being the 'Mole Man's former house.'

Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

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I agree with you Wurzel. Some people on this planet are just here to be milked by their own stupidity.

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"a mock up of how the tunnels may have looked" - lol, journalism at its finest.

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What an absolute pile of rubbish. Prime real estate eh? What a joke. If someone buys it then it would be purely for the land.

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So I was expecting an 'insight' into what the house looked like during his lifetime and got a picture of the house today, a random bloke underground somewhere, a moles face and the house as looks now. What a scam that headline was!!

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If ever he had been sent to prison he would have had no problem getting out!

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Yes, it's the land they'll be paying for but only in broken Britain do we see prices like this.

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Have the Middletons viewed it?

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I agree with Richard, London. Prime De Beauvoir, not too far from Upper Street, amazing local pubs (Talbot, Skolt Head) the De Beauvoir Deli is not too far away either. I live 5 minutes away from the place, with the planning permission a local developer would be able to make a mint knocking it down and putting 2 properties here. The downside is that it is likely to be new build properties that will ruin the look of Mortimer Road but there you go, what can you do? The Mole Man was a local celebrity but had very limited amount of fans, put the future of surrounding properties in danger due to his tunnelling.

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Not worth 750,000? I notice that no one actually from London is saying that! lol Land in London, WITH planning permission for 2 houses is easily worth that if its close enough to the centre of the City, and Hackney is quite close in

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For that kind of money I would expect a 6 bed detached house set in 6 acres with a triple garage but then we are talking about London where people pay through the nose to be the victims of crime and to live in filth squalor and degradation. I pity the fools.

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