The UK’s most expensive house – a 45-room “private palace” overlooking Hyde Park – is up for sale nearly three years after it was sold to a Chinese billionaire for more than £200m.
The Guardian understands that at least five prospective buyers toured the seven-storey Knightsbridge property since it was quietly put on the market in the last few weeks.
Sources familiar with the sale process said “Middle Eastern royal families and super-rich American investors” were among those who have looked round the 2-8a Rutland Gate property, which was built as four grand family homes in the 1830s before being converted into one vast residence in the 1980s.
The property was sold for a record £205m in January 2020. The estate agent who brokered the deal announced the buyer was Cheung Chung-kiu, the founder and chairman of CC Land Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed company that owns property in China and the UK, including the “Cheesegrater” office block in central London.
However, the Financial Times earlier on Friday reported that five sources had identified Hui Ka Yan, the founder, chairperson and majority shareholder of Evergrande, as the ultimate owner. Evergrande, which has been plunged into crisis over mounting debts and falling property prices, did not respond to requests for comment.
Hui has been quickly selling an array of assets, including other properties across the world and two private jets, as he grapples with the crisis at Evergrande.
Planning permission has been granted to redevelop the property, which has fallen into disrepair since its former owner Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, of Saudi Arabia, died in 2011, into an eight-storey, 5,760-sq metre (62,000-sq-ft) “private palace”.
Plans for the building show it will have a triple-height ballroom and a two-level basement for a collection of luxury cars. Agents said the property, which has slightly more living space than the size of an American football pitch, could be worth as much as £500m when completed.
In the planning application, agents for the property said it was “heavily dilapidated” and that he would like to “undertake works of repair, refurbishment and alteration to return the building into beneficial use as their London family home”.
Westminster city council granted the application just months after it imposed a ban on new “Monopoly board-style” residences so as to free up space for more affordable homes.
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The property, which has lain vacant for at least 10 years, previously was granted planning permission to be converted into 13 flats.
The council said it was unable to stop this project going ahead as the site had been a single dwelling and planning rules allowed it to be replaced. The council also confirmed that the owner would not be obliged to contribute to the construction of any affordable homes in the borough, as is the case with most large-scale private property developments.
The house is just south of Kensington Gardens and 68 of its 116 windows have a park view. The interiors were created by the French designer Alberto Pinto.
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