A property investor has criticised Heathrow after landing planes caused vortex damage to his grade II listed £3 million mansion.
Daljit Bhail, 54, is in a dispute with the country’s biggest airport over the repair of dislodged tiles at Brookfield House, a 28-room property first constructed in 1750.
The property in Horton, Berkshire, which is set in 1.4 hectares and lies below the flight path of the south runway at terminal five, was struck by at least one vortex caused by an aircraft.
Vortices are caused by the disturbance of air as a plane travels at high speeds. They are rarer at lower levels when planes slow down to land but can reach ground level when there is no rain or wind to dissipate them. Properties with pitched roofs and loosely-laid tiles are susceptible to damage.
Like other airports, Heathrow has a vortex protection scheme to prepare susceptible properties and respond to damage.
Advertisement
Bhail bought Brookfield House, which now has an indoor swimming pool and full-size basketball court, for £950,000 in 2017 and lets its east wing through Airbnb.
He raised a dispute with the airport after damage was caused to the property.
Bhail said: “It’s a standoff — they sent an assessor out who confirmed the house had been hit by a vortex strike, and said they would nail down the tiles but then they said they couldn’t as it’s a listed building.”
Heathrow eventually agreed to have a contractor carry out repairs in April.
However, Bhail has claimed that the workman did a “shoddy job”, allegedly putting his foot through a ceiling and leaving nails protruding.
Advertisement
He said: “It’s just madness how they treat a listed building. The planes wake me and guests up at 3am.”
The dispute has put repairs on hold. Bhail said that Heathrow has “abandoned” the property — a claim denied by the airport, which said it was seeking a resolution.
Bhail said that scaffolding has been left around the property for five months due to the incomplete work. “[It] now has ivy growing up it, it’s been there so long.”
The scaffolding is also having an impact on his ability to attract renters, he added.
“Sometimes there is less than a minute gap between planes flying overhead. It’s not just the damage — it’s really loud and they shouldn’t be flying that low.”
Advertisement
He has also claimed that frozen sewage has fallen from planes and damaged the property. Heathrow denied this was the case.
The airport said: “We have well-established programmes to protect local buildings from the impacts of airport operations, including preventative works and noise insulation.
“In the rare cases where a property is damaged, we work with specialist contractors who will assess the most suitable repair, at no cost to the resident.”
