A couple say their dream of retiring to the seaside has been ruined after a builder left their bungalow unfit to live in.

They say the experience with their home in Rottingdean, Brighton, has affected their health.

Last month Brighton County Court ordered builder David Lane, of Locks Hill in Portslade, to pay Claudia and Jai Mirchandani £9,510.22 after he failed to carry out the work he promised. He was also ordered to pay £914.40 costs The court ordered the money be paid by January 19 but Mr Lane has since declared himself bankrupt.

Claudia Mirchandani said: "It has absolutely ruined our life. It has been very bad health-wise for us. Rottingdean is a beautiful place and we thought we could spend our retirement here. But you can hardly even get in there, it's so full of rubble."

Now the Mirchandanis do not know if they will ever get their money back. An official receiver is dealing with how much Mr Lane's creditors will get.

Unsatisfactory work cited in the case included timber beams in the ceiling which were nailed instead of screwed in place; beams which were left cut short and were not flush to the walls; skirting boards that were poorly scribed together; and wallpaper that was left peeling off the wall.

The bathroom was stripped out but never completed while piles of debris were left all over the house and outside.

Mr Lane said the work would have been made good once he came to the stage of decorating. He claims he was not given a chance to finish because the Mirchandanis ordered him out of the bungalow.

He claimed the timber beams did not fit because of the age of the property and because the ceiling and walls were not straight.

The Mirchandanis say it could be months or years before they can afford to pay another builder to turn their bungalow into the home they dreamed of.

Mr Lane, 52, said: "There are two sides to the story. It was quite a complex job and I was working during the winter months.

"The heating had been taken out by a previous contractor. It was a cold spell and everything froze so it was difficult.

"There were money problems coming from her side which held the job up. She demanded the keys back from me, so I couldn't carry on.

"In the end I ran into financial problems. If she had been a little more reasonable, the job would have got done.

"My whole life has been rearranged. I've got a wife and three children. I'm in a very, very bad situation.

"She's left with a bungalow she can't live in and I've lost the only trade I've ever worked in."