A multi-billionaire sheikh and his wife are at risk of losing their £8.3 million London home after a High Court judge rejected their claim that the property belongs to the wife under Islamic custom. The mansion, located on Winnington Road in Hampstead Garden Suburb, is Britain's most expensive street, with average house prices of nearly £12 million.
The dispute arose after one of Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber's companies, MBI International & Partners Inc, went into liquidation in 2017. A 2023 High Court ruling found the sheikh owed a debt to the liquidators, which has now grown to almost £80 million. Liquidators sought to charge the debt against the family home, which is legally registered in the sheikh's sole name.
Makiyah Al Jaber argued that under Islamic custom, a husband must provide a house for his wife, which then becomes her property. She also claimed a beneficial interest through her substantial contributions to the home over 34 years, including overseeing renovations. However, Deputy Master Joanna Valentine dismissed these arguments, ruling that the sheikh owns the house both in law and reality.
The judge noted that the wife had lived in the property for many years and that the husband had told her to choose a house he would buy for her. However, she found no evidence that the property was held on trust for the wife. The couple was also ordered to pay legal costs, which amount to nearly £750,000 on the liquidators' side alone.
The sheikh, 67, is a Saudi-born businessman with Austrian citizenship, whose fortune was estimated at $7 billion in 2013. His wife moved to London in 1992 and raised their three children in the mansion. The property is now subject to an interim charging order, and a final order could lead to its sale to satisfy part of the debt.
