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Their Home Was Destroyed by Vandalism…Yet This Couple Was Slammed With a $247K Bill

Home ownership comes with a whole bunch of pitfalls that most folks don’t generally even think about. Not until it happens. One couple found out the hard way that there’s a huge difference between a local teen hoodlum tagging your wall with spray paint and the exact same thing done by a famous artist. When Banksy hit one house, it ended up costing the homeowner big bucks to get it removed.

Home destroyed by graffiti

A couple who owns a home as an investment property in Great Britain learned that having “a Banksy” is more of a curse than a blessing. At least it is under local code restrictions. They finally got the graffiti removed last month but it cost them a whopping $247,000.

No, it wasn’t really special paint. They were forced to go to the extreme of having the entire wall removed. Keeping it intact would have been an even more expensive nightmare.

The Suffolk home is owned by Garry and Gokean Coutts, who rent it out for profit. In August of 2021 they got hit by a graffiti vandal. Normally, the paint gets cleaned off at the owners expense and that’s the end of it. Not this time. Their rental property “had been chosen as a canvas by the world-famous street painter.” He didn’t actually tell anyone.

The Coutts got a call from their tenants, asking what was up with some scaffolding which had “randomly appeared outside,” they didn’t have a clue. It was gone by the next day, having disappeared as quietly as it appeared. Left behind was “a Banksy mural of a seagull.” It was instantly worth “millions.

Initially, the Coutts were pleasantly surprised. “​​At first it was obviously incredible,” Garry reflected. “But as things have gone on, it has become extremely stressful. I’m not sure Banksy realizes the unintended consequences on homeowners. If we could turn back the clock, we would.

The big problem is the local council. Suddenly, their home was a tourist attraction.

Cost of maintenance

The owners weren’t allowed to simply paint over the mural and be done with it. Their home was no longer under their control. According to the local officials, the council could put a “preservation order” on the artwork and “hold the couple personally responsible for maintaining it.” Gee, thanks. That comes “at a cost of tens of thousands annually.

The owners “had to hire a night watchman to look after it after someone stole part of it and tried to sell it on Facebook.

Another time,” Gerry relates, “vandals were caught with a dozen pots of white paint and were apparently going to paint over it.” He would have been happy to turn his back and let them but would have been in serious trouble for that.

They were left with only one choice. Call in a construction crew. The mural was painstakingly removed and stashed away for preservation. The couple hopes to sell it and get back the money it’s cost them. They’re just happy to have their home back. Meanwhile, the town is ready to lynch them.

Residents of the seaside resort town “reacted with dismay to discover a Banksy piece worth millions had been removed.” They had to use a 40-foot crane to remove the mural from their home intact.

One onlooker claimed the Banksy was being “stolen from the town” the night it was removed. The couple suggested replacing it with a replica, which they don’t have to pay to maintain. The town is “not empathetic.

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