From Grand Designs gone wrong to faulty foundations, unexpected subsidence and crippling infestations, when property disasters strike, the effects can be devastating. Sometimes it's down to bad planning, but in other cases, houses are inexplicably struck down by natural disasters and unexpected events. Most recently, an unexplained fire even burnt a film producer's new £5.2 million ($6.5m) mansion to the ground. Talk about bad luck... Click or scroll on and let's take a look at our round-up of some of the worst property nightmares.

After splashing out on your dream home, the last thing you'd expect is to see it turn into a fiery inferno mere months later. Unfortunately for Oren Aviv, film producer of flicks including National Treasure, that's exactly what happened. While the movie mogul was away, flames sadly devoured his beautiful 1920s house in Southampton, New York.

Aviv had purchased the nine-bed, nine-bath Hamptons mansion just six months previously for around £5.2 million ($6.5m) according to Zillow, and no doubt enjoyed a luxurious summer wandering its rolling 2.5 acres, lounging by the pool or entertaining guests in the property’s many glamorous living areas.

However, at approximately 12:24 am on Friday 9 December 2022, a fire broke out in the home, quickly blazing through the entire property. Fortunately, no one was in the house, as it was under construction at the time, and no injuries were reported, but the property itself was deemed "100% a loss" by fire spokesman Chris Brenner, The New York Post reported. Mysteriously, the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Japanese knotweed may look like harmless greenery, but the pretty plant that was introduced to the UK by the Victorians has a dark side. The plant's roots are almost impossible to destroy and can cause structural damage. This can affect property prices, or mean that sellers can't shift their homes at all. 

 The invasive plant is incredibly strong and has even been known to grow through concrete and drains. It's no surprise to learn then that Japanese knotweed can damage driveways, compromise brickwork and even destablise house foundations if it's left untreated.

Getting rid of the weed can feel like an impossible task and demands professional help, which can be expensive, time-consuming and sadly not always successful. For more on this aggressive plant, check out our essential guide to Japanese knotweed and discover steps you can take to tackle infestations.

Damp is often found in neglected or water-damaged properties. It not only compromises the fabric of a building, but it can also be incredibly dangerous for your health, causing symptoms such as shortness of breath, throat irritation, a runny nose and red eyes. This certainly proved true for one woman...

Imogen Groome revealed in Metro that damp in her rented property had led to extreme symptoms, including throwing up blood. "I’d reached the point where I woke up every morning to a sore chest, and breathing felt like I was taking in air through a straw." Imogen was suffering from an allergic reaction to the damp in her living spaces.

Woodworms may seem harmless but an infestation can pose a serious safety risk. These pesky insects are the larvae of wood-boring beetles who lay their eggs in damp wood. Once the larvae have developed into adult beetles, they burrow through the wood, giving the timber a pockmarked appearance and weakening the structure of your home.

Unsurprisingly, the presence of woodworms in your home can affect the price of your property. This is because the affected timber has to be replaced, while the rest of the woodwork needs to be treated with insecticides to kill the remaining larvae—an expensive but necessary process.

Subsidence is one of the most serious problems that a house can suffer. It's caused by the ground underneath your property sinking and moving, destabilising the foundations. In extreme cases, this can create a 'Leaning Tower of Pisa' effect that's structurally dangerous.

One of the key warning signs that your property may be suffering the effects of subsidence is a noticeable crack in the walls. A crack that is wider than a penny and can be seen externally and internally suggests that a building could be at risk of sinking and treatment from a professional company should be sought.

Risk factors that can increase the likelihood of subsidence are clay soil, which shrinks and contracts below your home in hot weather, or plants and shrubs sited near your home's foundations, which can dry out the earth and cause it to shift. Properties built in mining areas are also at higher risk due to underground movements.

This building in Lewisham in London was spotted looking a little unstable by a passerby. Shortly after, the entire building—worth around £700,000 ($866k)—crumbled, with the roof falling in and the building collapsing in on itself. Neighbours described the noise as sounding "like a bomb had gone off", and those in the property next door were evacuated amid structural concerns.

Local architect Ted Aston, 55, told the Evening Standard: "The roof of the building was leaning over the street, the corner of the road was cordoned off and they weren’t letting anyone near it." The reason that the house caved in, though, soon became obvious...

Ted explained that police had found that all the internal walls had been removed prior to the collapse. He explained: “These buildings are nearly 100 years old and even though some partitions appear to be non-load bearing, some of the partitions become part of the whole building." It just goes to show that you should always double check before demolishing an interior wall. 

On the more extreme end, firefighters were called to this London street to find that one side of a six-bedroom two-storey house in West Hampstead had completely caved in, sadly reducing much of the Victorian terrace home to rubble. 

Terrifying pictures were released by London Fire Brigade as part of their on-scene report. They described the collapse as being from "roof to basement", and it's clear to see how dramatic the damage was. Consequently, they had to evacuate 10 people from the surrounding houses amid safety concerns.

The house was last sold for £640,000 ($791k) in 2006 but was listed for sale again in 2013 as a six-bedroom home. Planning permission had also been granted to excavate the basement, though it's unclear whether this was ever carried out, or whether construction work may have contributed to the structural failings.

Local residents said the abandoned house had been boarded up for a couple of years, but shortly before the collapse, builders had been observed venturing inside the property. It's still not clear exactly what happened, but it looks like the house had been gutted prior to the disaster.

Home builders often face difficulties during ambitious construction projects, from running into money problems to unexpected delays, but this has to be one of the saddest tales we've heard. This eco house, which featured on the TV show Grand Designs, burned down on New Year's Day 2018, leaving its owners understandably in shock. 

The house was built entirely of reclaimed materials, including glass and timber, and was insulated with sheep's wool. But, crucially, it was also built using straw. This meant that the fire, which was started by a freak electrical accident, completely devastated the property.

The owners hoped to rebuild their pioneering eco house, which they had been working on for six years. Unfortunately, they didn't have insurance as it was still under construction, so a kind friend set up a JustGiving page to help the couple raise the funds to resurrect their masterpiece. 

The picturesque town of Cockermouth in Cumbria in the UK has suffered from several extreme flooding over the years. One of the most devastating incidents was in 2009, when the river Cocker rose by two-and-a-half metres when 314 millimetres of rain fell in a single 24-hour period.

Many residents lost everything to Mother Nature as flood waters destroyed homes and left silt and mud deposits as they receded. The freak flood led to an army of contractors and utility workers descending on Cumbria to rebuild the infrastructure and get residents back into their homes.

These devastating floods completely destroyed the bottom floors of the worst-affected homes. There were 25,000 insurance claims following the floods, which helped to cover the repairs for some. Yet, for those who wanted to cut their losses and sell up, property values plummeted, while insurance premiums for future flood cover reached almost impossibly high levels.

There's nothing more shocking than the ground swallowing up your home from under your feet. Ellen Miller, from Apopka, Florida, was shocked when a sinkhole formed inside her home. “I wasn’t sure what all the sounds were until I got up and saw the big, huge cracks in the walls, and they were just enormous,” Ellen Miller, 69, told News 6. 

Due to Florida's geological makeup of soluble limestone rock and limited drainage, the state is very susceptible to sinkholes. A 40-foot sinkhole opened up under Summer Bay Resort near Disney World in Clermont, Florida. Despite swallowing a huge portion of the building, there were thankfully no injuries or deaths reported. 

In November 2013, the rear portion of a residential home was consumed by a sinkhole in Dunedin, Florida. According to reports, the large sinkhole began to form between two houses and grew to about 30 feet wide by 30 feet deep. It even took a powerboat that was parked on the driveway!

It's not just Florida that's prone to sinkholes. This mega hole appeared in the Chinese city of Guangzhou in 2013, near to a subway construction site. It measured about 1,000 square feet across and was around 30 feet deep. The dangerous crater swallowed several buildings but luckily no one was hurt.

Nevertheless, the devastation was huge and three substantial buildings were completely destroyed by the sinkhole. Five shops were also lost to the natural phenomenon and power was knocked out in many of the nearby residential houses.

Engineers in Guangzhou worked through the night to resurface the area and the hole was filled in with concrete. Many assumed the destruction was over, but unfortunately, a second cave-in occurred just a day later and the entire area was roped off as unsafe. 

The sea can also wreak havoc on homes. This property was drawn into the ocean during a tidal surge in Hemsby in the east of England, just before Christmas 2013. A huge storm lashed Britain, unleashing the worst tidal surge in 60 years. Three homes were lost to the sea at Hemsby and seven more were damaged.

Residents were evacuated from some of the worst-affected houses, but others chose to remain and have suffered further destruction from similar tidal events. The residents lost a bid of £2.3 million ($2.8m) for government-funded flood defences, but in 2015 they raised enough money for partial sea defences. Sadly, it doesn't seem to have been enough, as more buildings enter the danger zone and teeter precariously on the cliffs.

It's a homeowner's worst nightmare when an act of God damages your property beyond repair. Hurricane Sandy left an aftermath of devastation after it hit the northeastern coast of America in 2012. This house, in Union Beach in New Jersey, was ripped in half as the storm passed through.

New York was badly hit by the hurricane and the damage took months to repair. This devastated house in the Rockaways area folded in half under the pressure of the storm. All along the beach, there were red tags reading 'do not enter, dangerous', even months after the hurricane had hit.

Pictured here is a home damaged by Superstorm Sandy along the beach in the Rockaways in the Queens borough of New York City. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the extreme weather caused an estimated £66 billion ($82bn) in damage across the US, making it the fourth-costliest weather disaster in American history after Hurricanes Katrina, Harvey and Maria.

A sprinkling of snow can be beautiful on a property but this deep freeze proved to be disastrous for local homeowners. A huge storm hit, Hull, Massachusetts one weekend in late January 2005. The area was covered with ice, causing major damage to property as it melted and refroze.

Nearby in Scituate, Massachusetts, a row of coastal homes were covered with a thick layer of snow and ice thanks to the same major storm passing through. The buildings were completely iced over and, thanks to their traditional wooden cladding, were unfortunately badly affected by the weather.

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