One from the hip hop property woes file now, and 50 cent was in court yesterday to testify in his legal action against a Connecticut engineering company called BVH Integrated Services.
He claims the firm was negligent when it investigated on his behalf a property he subsequently bought. He hired BVH to assess what kind of repairs and renovations would be required on a Connecticut mansion, the former home of Mike Tyson, which Fiddy bought off the boxer's ex-wife. He says BVH estimated $500,000 of repairs were required but, he alleges, he has spent $6 million renovating the property since moving in, half of that on basic repairs that, he argues, BVH's assessment should have identified. The rapper is suing to reclaim some of the extra costs he incurred in relation to the property, arguing he would never had bought it in the first place had BVH's report more accurately predicted the further investments that would be required.
Speaking in court, Fiddy said this week: "I thought was necessary because I didn't know what it would take to keep the house uptight and up to speed. I would have never bought had I realised it would require millions in repairs and renovations".
Defending BVH, the engineering firm's lawyer Michael Byrne argued the big discrepancy between his client's estimate and the real costs of renovating the property were because the hip hopper had chosen "extravagant and costly upgrades", implying that had Fiddy been more budget conscious when renovating the mansion he could have done all the required work more in line with BVH's proposed budget.
But a contractor hired by BVH to do part of its assessment admitted his investigation wasn't in depth, adding that he wasn't asked to conduct a thorough review of the property, and there wasn't enough time to do so anyway. John Wilcox told the court: "It was not intended to be an inaccurate estimate, it was intended to be a loose order-of-magnitude estimate. This house was not a high-quality, mansion-quality house. It was not built that way. It was relatively inexpensive construction. There was no way to do a comprehensive review in the time we had".
The mansion featured on the MTV 'Cribs' show in 2007, around about the time Fiddy was trying to offload the property. Apparently it has 19 bedrooms, 37 bathrooms (for some inexplicable reason), a recording studio, helicopter pad, pool and spa with grotto, a cinema, and nightclub complete with a swing dangling from the ceiling. Just the bare essentials then.