Ask anyone who’s ever renovated their home and they’ll tell you that keeping the neighbours onside is key.

The combined hassle of builders’ noise, skips parked in sought after parking bays and the general dust and dirt that’s part and parcel of what can be a very messy process makes for challenging times.

And while you’ll one day have a bigger, better home to show for it, this won’t be so for the people next door or across the road – the one’s being woken up by a noisy truck delivering something absolutely essential (but not to them) at 5.45am.

An ongoing flow of great communication and gratitude is necessary throughout any build if good relations are to be maintained, something one chap seems not to be aware of, despite being one of the biggest names in property.

Yes, if you think St Albans and Harpenden have high end homes, you need to take a look at Christian Candy’s property portfolio.

The tycoon has been rubbing his Regent’s Park neighbours up the wrong way ever since he bought five Grade I listed houses on the same street in 2015, with the intention of transforming them into three luxury homes.

While two are now modest townhouses, the third is widely believed to be the biggest home in London after Buckingham Palace.

Rumoured to be worth in excess of £200m, the 14-bed mega-pad boasts a swimming pool, wine room, gym and yoga rooms, a billiards room, smoking room, library, and a bar complete with grand piano.

It’s the new private garden – which was until recently part of a one way street – that’s really got the neighbours’ backs up, however.

After an initial refusal by planners, Candy’s appeal was successful and he was granted the right to turn the strip of road into his personal outside space.

It’s what the building’s architect, John Nash, had planned when the terrace was built in 1825, argued Candy, who paid £26.5m for the extra land.

Naturally, the neighbours - many of whom campaigned very vocally against what Candy had planned – are furious.

They say that the ongoing works are unsafe and at least one has moved to escape the chaos.

If the worst comes to the worst Candy’s always got his new ‘family safe room’. Designed in case any burglars break in, it could also serve as a handy place to hide from irate neighbours.