TV presenter Jamie Waller, star of Homes Under the Hammer and Beat The Bailiff, is facing his own property nightmare.

Dubbed Britain’s best known debt collector, Mr Waller looks set to make a loss as he auctions off a half-finished development he has spent years and hundreds of thousands of pounds on.

Mr Waller, 31, bought The Old Pump House, a former RAF water-pumping station in Faringdon, for £440,000 at auction in Banbury in 2006.

The three-acre plot came with two derelict 1940s military buildings, but had planning permission for a two-storey three-bedroom house.

One of the buildings had a two-mile-deep borehole underneath it that had to be sealed before work could begin.

Mr Waller, who runs debt collection company JBW Group, also planned to add a single-storey annex with three more bedrooms, and another building with an indoor pool.

Architects’ drawings of the finished project valued it two years ago at £2.6m, but although the main house is completed, the annex and pool building remain incomplete.

The presenter, who has also appeared on TV shows such as The Enforcers and Cops and Bailiffs, negotiated a deal with banks to borrow 70 per cent of the cost of the project. But after the property crash in 2008, the bank revised down the valuation estimates and refused to advance more money.

Mr Waller said: “The bank were paying for the development, but they stopped releasing further funds last year.”

The property is lot number eight in the auction at Banbury Cricket Club in Bodicote on Wednesday, with a guide price of £675-725,000 and a £700,000 reserve.

Mr Waller, who has spent about £300,000 on the property, stands to lose between £100,000 and £400,000 on the project.

He said: “I will probably lose money on it when you take into account mortgage payments, architects’ fees and other costs.

“Three years ago, I would have been really upset, but my life is going in a different direction now.

“My business was still quite small then and I had every intention of getting out of London and moving to the country.

“Since then, my business has grown massively and my partner Zoe and I have bought an expensive house in London.

“The Faringdon property is just sitting there, which is why I have decided to sell.”

JBW Group has an annual turnover of £13m and employs 145 people in three offices around the UK.

London-born Mr Waller worked as a bailiff for five years and first appeared on television in the BBC TV series The Bailiffs. He started JBW shortly afterwards, when only 24.

The Old Pump House still needs £300,000 spent on it, but could be a long-term investment, according to Mr Waller.

He said: “My business is growing by 30 to 50 per cent a year and I don’t have time to spend on being a property developer. ”

Although he lives in London, Mr Waller also owns a house at Henley.