Ananova:

A Chinese court has ordered that a villa left isolated in the middle of a man-made 30ft pit be bulldozed within three days.

The villa has been standing in the pit in Chongqing city for more than three years because of a dispute between developers and the owner.

Owner Wu Pin, 49, said: "The developers cannot meet our demand, which is to give us a shop of the same size. Instead they offer 2.4 million yuan (£160,000), which we don't want."

The compensation fee was raised to 3.5 million yuan (£230,000), but the owner still refused to agree to leave to make way for a new development.

The developers, Zhengsheng Real Estate Company and Nanlong Real Estate Co, sued Mrs. Wu and pleaded for the court to issue an order to bulldoze the house.

With the owner absent from court, the judge at Chongqing Jiulongpo district court decided that Mrs Wu must leave her villa within three days, at which point it will be torn down, reports Legal Daily.

"Although we don't live there, it is still our property, and they have no right to tear it down without our permission," says Wu.

The developers want to turn the area into a £40m 'Broadway' square, including apartments and a shopping mall.