Avert your gaze! Garish mansions 'built by Romanian criminals' face demolition
YOU may need to squint when looking at these garish eyesores.
Gaudy mansions suspected of being built by Romanian criminals now face demolition as police believe the tacky buildings were illegally built.
Dubbed 'Gypsy palaces' by locals, the properties are adorned with tasteless ornaments like miniatures of the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty.
Drivers who pass the buildings stop their cars to look at the bizarre ideas their owners have dreamed up which includes a roof like a Chinese pagoda.
Authorities are threatening to tear down dozens of such properties as they believe they were made without planning permission and pose safety hazards.
Dubbed 'Gypsy palaces' by locals, the properties are adorned with tasteless ornaments like miniatures of the Eiffel Tower
Police in the Romanian city of Hunedoara believe many of the buildings were constructed on the back of illicit criminal enterprises abroad, including the UK.
Checks carried out earlier this month at the Hunedoara City Hall revealed more than 50 buildings in and around the city never had planning permission.
Some people who live in the 'Gypsy palaces' were not even the rightful owners of the land on which they stand.
Viorel Arion, mayor of Hunedoara, said: "The Court of Auditors recommended us to find a solution so that the owners of these properties comply to the law and pay taxes for them."
However, Mr Arion warned that the legal process of demolition could take a while.
The garish mansions started to be built a decade ago and there are now a few dozen such villas on both sides of a road on the way to the village of Calan.
A man who lives near the 'Gypsy palaces' said: "Drivers stop their cars next to the palaces and are always surprised by the fancy ideas that the owners dreamed up."