Landowners have been ordered to stop building works including putting up fencing, walls and gates without planning permission.
Buckinghamshire Council said there had been a breach of planning control on land at the White House, Lee Road, Saunderton near Princes Risborough.
This included the “importation of waste” without planning permission and engineering works, such as the movement of hardcore and the laying of hardstanding.
Bucks Council served a ‘Temporary Stop Notice’ at the site, which was formerly the Chiltern Hotel and Restaurant and before that, the Rose And Crown pub.
Failure to comply with the notice puts an individual at risk of immediate prosecution and a fine of up to £20,000.
The notice was effective immediately from September 14, the date it was issued, and ceases to have effect after 28 days.
It was served to the ‘owners and occupiers’ of the land at the White House, as well as J Hawes Ltd, a London-based company run by Jack Charles Hawes.
It says: “Having regard to the extent of the works undertaken, it is clear that there is capacity for further harmful unauthorised development on the land.”
Planning permission to turn the former hotel a family home was granted to Arafat Akhtar in 2014.