According to planning officers, Oatgold Limited, of London, began extending the rear of an existing house in Gray Street, Northampton, despite the owner not having planning permission.

The landlord has been served an enforcement notice by Northampton Borough Council after some neighbours complained about the construction.

Councillor Richard Church, borough council cabinet member for regeneration, said: "It's not acceptable for anyone to think they can ride roughshod over the planning process.

"We have been left with no option but to issue a formal notice to have this extension removed."

However, the landlord of the property, who asked not to be named, said the planning application had been resubmitted to West Northamptonshire Development Corporation for a decision on May 30.

He said: "The enforcement notice is not the right one and we're appealing against it because there was already one storey there and what we did was just build above that.

"This place was basically a dump. You can see the amount of money we've spent on it. We've only increased it about a metre-and-a-half, everything else was here before. We're not going to let them demolish it."

The property is at the back of a house in Shakespeare Road near the Happy Times off-licence.

Bharat Patel, who rents the shop, said: "The work has been going on for seven or eight months. Before, it was a dump and the way it is now is much better but obviously not everyone thinks that."