A handful of high-profile film roles helped Tom Hardy earn his $30 million net worth. But no amount of cash could keep his neighbors from complaining about one improvement the actor made to his 18th-century London home.
The actor keeps a relatively low profile, despite his £3.4 million home in a popular Richmond neighborhood, except for that one time he chased down (and tackled) a thief who was trying to make a getaway.
Surely, Tom's neighbors appreciated the apprehension of the young criminal, who tried to make his escape via a stolen moped. But their admiration faded once Hardy began renovating his home.
As The Sun reported back in 2017, Tom had renovated his home, which is in the center of the neighborhood. While not all of his permits were in order at the time the renovations were completed, the overall result of the project was successful.
However, neighbors soon began complaining about Tom's chimney. Yes, it was the chimney his neighbors took issue with. The reason being is that the chimney is a bit out of place given the time period that Hardy's home was originally built.
The Sun calls the chrome piece a "distinctive flue," but neighbors called it "a truly awful blot on the landscape" and an "aberration." That's not all, though. Neighbors of Hardy actually wrote letters to their local council requesting that Tom be required to remove the "out of character, out of scale chrome steel chimney."
For Tom's part, he did go back and get the appropriate permits for the chimney, noted The Sun, with a retrospective application for planning permission. That was denied, but a follow-up appeal gave him "permitted development rights."
Long before the chimney became a problem, however, Hardy's neighbors had yet another complaint about the star's home. When he began renovations in 2013, noted The Daily Mail, Tom was supposed to only use tile cladding.
But when an apparent passerby (probably the same disgruntled neighbor) saw Siberian larch timber being brought in to complete the two-story addition, they called the planning department. As it was, the issue wasn't resolved until 2018, at which point a retrospective application granted Hardy the right to keep his home as-is.
Despite all the trouble with his neighbors, Tom doesn't seem likely to move anytime soon. The star seems to enjoy living in a somewhat low-key neighborhood where he can raise his son Louis Thomas, ride his scooter without being bothered, and walk his dog with few paparazzi following him.
There's no such thing as anonymity for Tom Hardy at this point, but at least things have finally settled down with his neighborly feuds in Richmond.