You can buy it, you just can’t live in it.

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It’s the $58m home that’s even worse than the Hotel California – you can buy it but you can’t move in.

According to the New York Post, Harry Macklowe, one of New York City’s most brazen developers, has listed his Hamptons home facing exclusive Georgica Pond — with neighbours like Steven Spielberg — for $38 million ($A58.17m).

There’s just one catch. It’s uninhabitable.

That’s because the mansion lacks a certificate of occupancy, and the new owners won’t be legally allowed to move in.

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Macklowe illegally cleared land on the property and built additions without permits, endangering the wetlands and garnering fines for more than 21 violations that haven’t been paid for five years, East Hampton Village officials say.

The off-the-books renovations on his Hamptons home echo his 1985 move to hire a mob-run company to blow up four buildings on West 44th Street in the middle of the night without city permits, hours before the city started to enforce a ban on razing single room occupancy buildings.

The demolition put people’s lives in danger, officials said at the time. Macklowe paid a $2 million fine, but escaped indictment because “criminal intent” could not be proven, the Manhattan District Attorney said at the time.

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Harry Macklowe and Linda Macklowe attend the 2015 Guggenheim International Gala Dinner. Picture: Getty

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“It’s insane. He ripped out decks and did whatever he wanted. He illegally cleared land and built without permits — just like he did on West 44th Street,” an inside source said.

“The house is also highly leveraged to the hilt,” the source added. “There is no justification for asking $38 million. The house comes with legal complications and it’s not even on the pond. “

The insider estimated: “It’s worth no more than $12 to $15 million.”

The East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals declined to retroactively approve Macklowe’s illegal acts, and so Macklowe sued them. The case is ongoing.

For now, East Hampton Village building inspector Thomas Preiato confirmed to The Post that Macklowe “can sell the house, but no one can occupy it.”

“He had a certificate of occupancy for the home back in 2017. But it is no longer valid because of all the fines he hasn’t paid,” Preiato said.

The inspector added: “He put the wetlands in danger. We have a wetlands code for a reason. It’s concerning.”

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This can all be yours, to look at.

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The home was built too close to the wetlands.

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You could just hang out here.

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Power couple list semi after $76m mansion splurge

In 2019, The Post reported that officials said Macklowe had built on the property illegally, and not paid fines that came after the fact.

Macklowe declined to comment when reached by The Post at the time. He also declined to comment on the home going up for sale.

His previous spokesperson said he no longer has a full-time flack: “He hires them on a per project basis.”

Top broker Paul Brennan, of Douglas Elliman, who shares the Macklowe listing with Elliman’s Martha Gundersen, declined to comment.

The four bedroom home comes with a pool and sits on 2.7 acres at 64 West End Ave. in East Hampton. It is surrounded by preserved land, the listing notes.

Macklowe paid $10.35 million for the home in 2017, then proceeded to clear land and build too close to wetlands — all without permits, village authorities say.

At the time, he lived there with Patricia Landeau, now his wife, while he was in the midst of an ugly divorce from Linda Macklowe, who still lives across the pond — so close that the exes can see each other from their homes.

64 W End Ave, East Hampton, NY 11937

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Some of the most valuable real estate on the planet.

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While that proximity to an ex might make some people uncomfortable, Macklowe isn’t one of those people. He also plastered a 42-foot photo of himself with Landeau on the supertall building 432 Park Avenue, which he had helped develop — but where he never closed on a unit.

(He recently eluded foreclosure on his units there, at least temporarily, by having an entity he controls declare bankruptcy.)

The Post previously reported in 2019 that Macklowe admitted to the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals that he didn’t have the permits he needed for construction and to clear the wetlands, but he did it anyway.

You can camp next to Steven Spielberg. Picture: Getty

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Macklowe’s then-lawyer, Richard Whalen, told the zoning board, “The great majority of the improvements that we’re coming to you for approval for have already been done. They were built without the benefit of a building permit, or variances or a wetland permit from this board.”

The work was done within 150 feet of wetlands in violation of the code, according to a the East Hampton Star.

“More than 21 charges have been filed several times since 2019, and there is a stop work order issued from Feb. 11, 2019, but they were done at that point. They had gotten what they wanted,” Preiato said.

“It’s tough. It’s been going on for a while. Someone is feeling some kind of entitlement, like they aren’t subject to the codes, but when you are impacting bodies of water, it’s more serious than a patio too close to the line.”

Macklowe was also in a dispute with former neighbour Martha Stewart back in the ’90s over plantings on her property.

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Parts of this article were originally published in the New York Post and are republished here with permission.

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