A country mansion that used to be home to Adele could be turned into 13 new homes.

The award-winning singer-songwriter reportedly left Lock House in Partridge Green because she thought it was haunted.

The 36-year-old rented the property for six months in 2012 from Nicholas Sutton.

Mr Sutton put the mansion up for sale in 2018 for £7.25 million but no one snapped up the building despite the asking price being slashed several times.

He said the comments Adele made about the property being haunted “upset the marketing of the property to this day”.

Formerly a convent, the Grade II listed Victorian property has ten bedrooms, an indoor and outdoor pool and a helicopter pad.

Mr Sutton has now submitted a planning application to Horsham District Council to convert Lock House into 13 new homes.

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Plans would see the property redeveloped into five houses, the garage and flat replaced with another house and seven other houses built on the site.

In a planning statement, Mr Sutton said: “The property has been used as a single-family residence since the applicant purchased the property in 2003 and converted it from the Convent of the Visitation to a residence.

“The application seeks to sensitively convert Lock House to five dwellings together with the enabling development of seven dwellings by the existing tennis court in a period style coach house and the replacement of the existing garage block with flat over with a new Gothic style cottage.

“The proposals will secure the long-term future of this Grade II listed building, ensuring the preservation into perpetuity and overall, the proposals result in heritage benefits.

“Overall, the proposals will result in significant benefits in planning terms, and not least the delivery of much needed new housing within the local area.”

The property has had a history of troublesome tenants following the departure of Adele.

According to planning documents, the tenant who moved in after the superstar was found to be disingenuously operating Lock House as a residential retreat with 11 guest bedrooms and a fitness bootcamp.

Mr Sutton then had a three-year battle to regain the property from another tenant who had not paid their rent.

“The property was then rented through Savills to an individual that Savills credit checked as a high-net-worth person from Monaco,” documents said.

“A two-year tenancy agreement was signed. The tenant only ever paid the first quarter’s rent and thereafter it took three years for the applicant to regain possession following the tenant seeking postponement for their gender re-alignment surgery.”

Mr Sutton said the building is in “urgent need” of £2 million worth of investment to preserve it.

He said the roof is failing and needs to be replaced at a cost of £911,000, the original crittal windows need to be restored and re-glazed and the central heating also needs to be replaced.

“It has been demonstrated that Lock House, a Grade II listed building is in need of urgent capital expenditure of £2m to conserve the heritage asset,” he said in a planning statement.

“Through extensive market testing over 13 years it has been demonstrated that there is no demand for Lock House as a single residential unit.”