THE owners of Caterham's most notorious blot on the landscape have been fined a "pathetic" £1,000 for letting the building fall into rack and ruin.
The Rose and Young building in Croydon Road, which critics say has been a dilapidated eyesore for the past 18 years, is currently boarded up, graffiti-riddled and has weeds growing out of its roof.
The owner, Caterham Properties, was prosecuted on Monday for failing to comply with a legal notice issued by Tandridge District Council last July which required it to carry out radical upgrading, or demolish the structure.
Neither of these tasks has been carried out.
But the small financial punishment was met with dismay from campaigners looking to sort the building out once and for all.
The council's prosecutor Andrew Komosa said: "For many, many years this building has been an eyesore.
"It's irrelevant that one or two minor repairs were completed in recent months.
"It is an offence not to comply with the entire legal notice."
The court heard the company's connections are spread far and wide.
Its registered office is in Derby, its sole director, John Moore, is in Dublin and its agent, Liam "Bill" Power, is based in South Africa.
But Mr Komosa said the saga had taken a twist on the eve of the trial.
He told the court: "Last Friday we learnt at Companies House that Mr Moore's directorship had been terminated.
"February 11 was the deadline for the tidying up of the building.
"We are treating their action as a ploy to try and get the time period extended."
After the hearing Harestone Hill, Caterham, resident and district councillor Hilary Turner branded the fine "pathetic".
She said: "A fine of £1,000 a day would be more like it."
But some hoped the conviction could see the start of real action being taken against the company - perhaps even daily fines.
John Harvey, who compiled a 83-name petition in February calling for the notorious building to be demolished at once, said: "I'm pleased that a fine was imposed.
"The council is running out of bureaucratic action it can take against this company, so the day is nearing when direct action - more than likely demolition - is the only alternative."
Failure to comply with the demand can lead to further prosecution, with any fines being continuously imposed on a daily basis.
Caterham Valley parish councillor Mark Jones said: "The noose is tightening for Caterham Properties.
"And to not even attend the hearing shows a lack of respect for the people of the town."
The company was prosecuted for failing to remove graffiti from the boarded-up windows, rear walls and vehicle workshop elevations.
No one from Caterham Properties attended the hearing, at which its guilt was proven in its absence.
The company was fined £1,000 and was ordered to pay the council's £796 costs.
Caterham Properties was unavailable for comment as we went to press.
