John Griffin, the founder of London taxi company Addison Lee, has sold his six-bedroom mansion overlooking the western edge of Regent's Park for £11.5 million, according to Bloomberg. The sale price is just over half of the £20.7 million he paid for the property on Hanover Terrace in 2013, resulting in a £9.2 million loss.
Sale follows tax tribunal defeat
Mr Griffin, who sold his business to the Carlyle Group for about £300 million in 2013, completed the sale less than a month after losing a drawn-out battle with UK tax authorities. The entrepreneur had been in a long-running dispute with HMRC over his tax residency, arguing he should qualify for non-domiciled status between 2013 and 2020, which would have exempted income earned abroad.
A person familiar with the process said the sale of the mansion was provisionally agreed ahead of the tribunal ruling in September, which went against Mr Griffin. It is not clear whether the decision to accept the cut-price offer was linked to the ruling.
Property history and market context
The mansion is part of a Regency-era terrace designed by architect John Nash. It has been on sale before in recent years: in 2021, it was listed with an asking price of £32 million, with the listing describing the home as among the grandest and most prestigious in London. It was withdrawn from the market following a number of price cuts before being re-listed this year at £13.5 million.
Earlier this year, The Holme in Regent's Park sold for a profit of about £56 million, less than two years after it was brought out of receivership for £139 million. However, much of the rest of London's prime market has suffered in recent months, with many of the city's priciest properties buffeted by a series of tax changes and economic and political shocks.
Prime London market subdued
According to a forecast by Savills, the recovery of nominal price growth for London's most expensive properties is not expected to take place until 2028. JLL's residential research data showed that 457 homes worth more than £5 million were sold in central London between July and September, 11% fewer than in the previous quarter.
Nick Gregori, head of research at LonRes, said: "Adding a new prime minister and continuing global uncertainty to the mix has resulted in a subdued prime London market, with the super-prime segment particularly affected."
"The key indicator is simply the number of transactions relative to new instructions, under offers and existing stock – it remains stubbornly low. Uncertainty and a lack of urgency, driven in part by low expectations of future price growth, continue to hinder any potential recovery," he added. "At the top end of the market fewer people need to buy or sell so the issues are amplified. Last year we saw a prolonged slowdown as pre-budget tax speculation started in the summer and carried on all the way to the end of the year."
