Owner of 'Spybooth' mural property near GCHQ ;Given listed status due to Graffiti

Banksy Ruined My Life!

The owner of a property near GCHQ where Banksy daubed his ‘Spybooth’ artwork claimed today that the mural had made his life a misery after being given listed status.

David Possee could have expected a windfall after the work was sprayed onto the side of his end-of-terrace property close to Britain's surveillance centre in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

But after the stencil was granted Grade II-listed status, Mr Possee, 45, has been unable to remove and sell it - and cannot carry out building work to make the house habitable.

As a result he cannot rent out the home, which is empty. He claimed he has been harassed by ‘malicious busybodies’ and now just wants to sell the property - so he can ‘get on with my life’.

Mr Possee said: ‘If Cheltenham want it, they can have it. Just buy the building off me, I just want to get on with my life. Cut me free, you can have the Cheltenham Banksy.’

Spybooth features three 1950s-style agents, wearing brown trench coats and trilby hats, using devices to tap into conversations at a telephone box on the side of the £300,000 property.

It appeared last April before soaring in value when Banksy confirmed it was one of his pieces.

The wall was boarded up but a bidding war ensued as locals tried to raise an estimated £1million to secure it for the town. A businessman claimed to have raised enough, but his bid fell through.

It was feared the chunk of wall could be removed and sold, but last month Cheltenham Borough Council voted to incorporate the mural into the building’s existing Grade II-listed status.

This means Mr Possee - whose home is thought to have tripled in value since the mural was painted - now cannot carry out urgent repairs to strengthen and re-render the walls.

He said: ‘If this had been any other artist, it [the listed status] would have been laughed out of the chambers. I have no idea where I go from here.'

Mr Possee said he could fight the decision, but that would mean him spending his own money to launch a case at the High Court.

Seeing the Banksy for the first time when he returned from holiday in April 2014, Mr Possee said he thought it was ‘quite nice’ and liked the new addition before the problems began.

As much as I love the Banksy on the wall, who knew it was such trouble to have one! Why go to so much trouble if you can't even repair the dang building! You have to be able to repair the building, otherwise the walls will fall down, if the walls fall down, then the Banksy go boom! I mean, let's all use our brains here people. Patches are only going to go so far. I could be reading the article wrong, but that seems to be my interpretation of it. Anyone in England, am I reading it correctly? Is that what Grade II listing means?

a reply to: Anyafaj

I love Banksy and I'm sure he had no ill will or intention for this to happen, but I'm sure he'd destroy the piece before taking ones livelyhood from them. The city IMHO has no right to stop the property owner from touching his own building. In a way Banksy brought to light the Orwellian laws brought down on the people.

originally posted by: NiZZiM
a reply to: Anyafaj

I love Banksy and I'm sure he had no ill will or intention for this to happen, but I'm sure he'd destroy the piece before taking ones livelyhood from them. The city IMHO has no right to stop the property owner from touching his own building. In a way Banksy brought to light the Orwellian laws brought down on the people.

Unfortunately, the irony is, that's exactly what has happened here. The poor owner cannot even make repairs to the building. You'd think the city would realize the Banksy would not even be there if there is no wall to hold it up.

No repairs=no walls
No walls=no Banksy.


Just common sense really.

A listed building is one that is deemed to have national or historic importance. There are different grades dependent on the controls placed on them.

The inclusion on the list of a building will note what aspects can, or can not be altered. A lot of things can be altered/repaired, but usually there ia a clause to state that repairs must be sympathetic to the original aesthetics of the building. As an example, I saw a renovation program where the owners wanted to upgrade the heating system in their listed building, and ended up having brand new radiators made, but cast to look vintage in order to comply with he listing.

Point 1
The building was already listed when the guy bought it, so he would have already been aware of the constraints placed on him when performing renovations.

Point 2
The Banksy has been added to the listing, meaning in has to remain a part of the building. This is primarily an effort to prevent the owner of the building from chiseling it out and selling it.

Point 3
There is nothing to stop the guy from chiseling it out, performing all of the repair work required, including a complete, sympathetic rebuild of the entire wall, and putting the stenciled rendering back into its original position.

Point 4
They'd better make the phone booth a listed building as well, because without it the picture looks a bit silly

IMO the guy is trying to come across as hard done by, by talking about not being able to re-render the wall, when really he's pi553d that he cant sell it.

If he really is more concerned about his property, throw the local youth a twenty to paint over it, once its gone, its gone. Problem resolved.

a reply to: NiZZiM

The building is listed!

The owner is only allowed to make alterations as covered in the listing. All of the restrictions would have been conditions of sale.

This is no different than buying a property in a gated community where you might agree to certain conditions in order to be allowed to buy.

An example might be buying an apartment where no pets were allowed. I might look at that condition from my home with a large garden and say, "the city shouldn't be able to stop me owning a dog/cat/fish"

I recently went to look at a property and walked away laughing. halfway through the sale pitch, when I was informed that I would have to apply for permission to change the colour of the front door and window frames! However, had I agreed to that and bought the property, could I then complain that I wasn't able to change that colour if permission was denied?

I will admit that in this case it is slightly different, as the Banksy wasn't there when he bought the property, but I bet there is a clause that says items affected by the listing can be added or removed at any time.

So basically, he does not own the artwork, the city does? Having some one not living in a building I own telling me what I can and cannot do is not my idea of 'freedom' I presume the guy pays local taxes as well?

originally posted by: idmonster
If he really is more concerned about his property, throw the local youth a twenty to paint over it, once its gone, its gone. Problem resolved.

Exactly what I thought, but...
www.english-heritage.org.uk...

The maximum penalty is 2 years' imprisonment or an unlimited fine.

...a local youth would sing like a canary if caught and threatened with an unlimited fine/prison.

originally posted by: idmonster
A listed building is one that is deemed to have national or historic importance. There are different grades dependent on the controls placed on them.

The inclusion on the list of a building will note what aspects can, or can not be altered. A lot of things can be altered/repaired, but usually there ia a clause to state that repairs must be sympathetic to the original aesthetics of the building. As an example, I saw a renovation program where the owners wanted to upgrade the heating system in their listed building, and ended up having brand new radiators made, but cast to look vintage in order to comply with he listing.

Point 1
The building was already listed when the guy bought it, so he would have already been aware of the constraints placed on him when performing renovations.

Point 2
The Banksy has been added to the listing, meaning in has to remain a part of the building. This is primarily an effort to prevent the owner of the building from chiseling it out and selling it.

Point 3
There is nothing to stop the guy from chiseling it out, performing all of the repair work required, including a complete, sympathetic rebuild of the entire wall, and putting the stenciled rendering back into its original position.

Point 4
They'd better make the phone booth a listed building as well, because without it the picture looks a bit silly

IMO the guy is trying to come across as hard done by, by talking about not being able to re-render the wall, when really he's pi553d that he cant sell it.

If he really is more concerned about his property, throw the local youth a twenty to paint over it, once its gone, its gone. Problem resolved.

Than k you for clarifying that. That helps really. I don't know the local laws over there, only some of them here in the states, and even here it depends on the states really because each state has different laws.