The once pretty red-brick cottage in Shipdham has been surrounded by poles since the owner, Margaret Smith, began renovating it in 2020, with a shipping container placed on the lawn.
She works on the property with her partner in their spare time but has said the project – which has also left debris piled high in the garden – is unlikely to be completed before the end of the decade.
Breckland Council has ordered her to remove the scaffolding as well as the container and debris, but Ms Smith has lodged an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate to overturn the enforcement order.
The slow process has infuriated others living on the street who say the eyesore – known locally as the Scaffold House – is lowering their house prices.
One said: “I look out of my dining room and all I see is rubbish.
“We’re thinking of selling but probably are not going to be able to.
“We would probably be leaving if it wasn’t for the house.
“It has directly impacted the value of my house and I’m not going to be able to sell.”
She claimed that people often stop to gawp at the Scaffold House from the pavement, and that rats have been seen among the materials strewn in the garden.
However, others have benefitted from the drop in house prices.
Another neighbour, who moved to the street around two years ago, claimed that the Scaffold House had helped her secure a 5pc discount on her purchase.
“I definitely got a lower house price,” she said.
“Before buying it, my solicitor went on Google Maps and saw the property and told me it will have a detrimental impact if I try to sell.”
She said her patience with the house was starting to wear thin.
“Life’s too short. I try to let it go over my head and think one day it will be done,” she said.
“But every morning when I wake up that’s what I see and it’s not particularly pleasant.”
Paul Belo, a parish councillor who lives nearby, said: “You can’t live in a place and upset so many people.
“I’m fed up. It’s an eyesore, they need to go on a good neighbour course.”
Ms Smith, an NHS mental health nurse, has declined to comment.
She lodged the appeal with the Planning Inspectorate – which adjudicates in such cases – because she said her work and financial commitments had slowed her progress on the flat.
It is understood she has been trying hard to speed up the renovation work.
Neighbours acknowledge that she and her partner are often seen at weekends and in the evenings working on the Letton Road house.
Some in the area are sympathetic to their plight.
“It doesn’t bother me,” said one neighbour.
“If they want to spend another 10 years doing it, that’s fine. I’d just be sick of the sight of it if it was mine.
“I’m frustrated along with them more than anything because I know they want this to finish. I know they don’t want this hassle at the end of the day.”
Another added: “I’ve got used to it. If it takes them another seven years, it takes them another seven years.”
A council spokesman said it was “awaiting formal notification from the Planning Inspectorate regarding the determination of the appeal”.
