An advertising executive who refused to pay her ex-boyfriend his share of the flat after he spent thousands on renovations has been left with a £200,000 bill.

Chloe Thomas, 28, and Gareth Powell, 31, had planned to make a healthy profit when they embarked on an overhaul of the 'uninhabitable' property in Wandsworth, south London.

Miss Thomas had enough capital to buy the £315,000 home, while Mr Powell was due to carry out the work.

Advertising executive Chloe Thomas, 28 (left) has been left with a £200,000 bill after refusing to pay her ex-boyfriend Gareth Powell (right) after he spent thousands renovating her property

But Mr Powell was left without a penny when the couple split in 2014 because the property - now worth around £450,000 - was solely in her name.

Mr Powell then sued his former partner, claiming he had been promised one third of the profit if they ever broke up.

But Miss Thomas turned down a £35,000 settlement offer, instead choosing to fight her case through the courts.

She has now been ordered to foot the £150,000 legal costs, as well as pay Mr Powell £50,000, after Judge Heather Baucher found in his favour.

Handing down the ruling at Central London County Court, the judge said: 'Accepting the offer would have saved the whole trauma of this case. And I do say trauma - it is a very sad case.’

Speaking afterwards, Mr Powell said he had been hurt by his ex-girlfriend's refusal to give him his rightful share.

‘I was completely in love with Chloe,’ he said. ‘We had a strong relationship and I trusted her implicitly. We had great plans for the future - buying a home to renovate was only the start.

‘I had borrowed funds and invested a lot of time and effort into the property. I thought I knew Chloe well, but now I realise that I didn’t know her at all.’

Miss Thomas's mother told the Evening Standard: 'We are very disappointed with the court’s decision, we thought we were going to win. She has been very distressed by the whole thing.'

The court heard the couple, who had been together for eight years, decided to buy the flat in 2012.

They agreed that, because he was unable to contribute to the purchase price, Mr Powell would use his skills to renovate the apartment.

He told the judge how there was very poor water pressure and no heating and that the couple suffered a freezing winter when they moved in.

Chloe Thomas, 28, and Gareth Powell, 31, had planned to make a healthy profit when they embarked on an overhaul of the 'uninhabitable' property in Wandsworth, south London (pictured). Miss Thomas bought the £315,000 home, while Mr Powell was due to carry out the work

Using cash loaned by his parents, Mr Powell then spent more than £14,000 on materials to bring the flat up to scratch.

He installed a brand new kitchen before converting the dilapidated bathroom into a wet room.

He told the judge that he had been approached by Miss Thomas’s mother Heather in February 2013 and asked to sign a contract, which would guarantee him a third of the profit if they split.

He claimed that he had discussed the contract with Miss Thomas and that they both decided to sign.

But, giving evidence in court, Miss Thomas, originally from Buckinghamshire, denied she was ever part of any such agreement, saying she was vehemently opposed to her mother's suggestion.

I was completely in love with Chloe. I thought I knew her well, but now I realise that I didn’t know her at all Gareth Powell

She said that she was furious when she found out her boyfriend had signed it.

In court, her mother said she had arranged for the contract because she wanted to protect her daughter 'if things went bad’.

She said that, when Miss Thomas made clear that she did not want to sign, her mother tore up the copy that Mr Powell had signed.

Giving judgment, Judge Baucher said Miss Thomas was ‘no wallflower' and that she did not accept her evidence that she did not know about the contract.

‘I reject the contention that Chloe knew nothing about the proposed agreement. She accepts her mother raised the matter,’ she said.

‘Her mother says she did not discuss it with her daughter, but I don’t accept that evidence. Her daughter must have known.’

She added: ‘I find it was destroyed by Heather Thomas in the vain hope the contents would never surface if the relationship between the parties faltered.’

The judge also said that messages exchanged between the pair after the split showed Miss Thomas had promised she would stick to their agreement.

‘Miss Thomas was accepting, firstly that there was an agreement, and secondly that she was going to fulfil it because she knew full well the terms,’ she said.

‘Given my findings of fact, there was a clear intention by both parties to be bound by the agreement.’

Experts valued the flat at £445,000, meaning Mr Powell should get just short of £50,000 for his share of the profit, reimbursement of cash he spent on the work and interest. It is believed Miss Thomas still owns the property.