Real Estate nightmares
Discussion
the tribester said:
CoolHands said:
Maybe just a place to park your money if youre the family of a dodgy regime
That's what I was thinking. There's been several articles on 'ghost' neighbourhoods in London with multi million pound places left empty, the result of 'hiding' overseas assets, with the resultant influence on pricing.The horse having well and truly bolted, proof of funds and anti laundering checks were finally introduced.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/lights-out-...
Having said that, I have a link with an ultra high end property developer in London. They refit private homes to the tune of multiple tens of millions, which are then left empty most of the year. International clients. The kind of clients who insist that their yacht builder's carpenters do the carpentry in their house because they want the same quality...
Edited by dxg on Friday 2nd July 07:51
Anyone want a piece of musical celebrity real estate, here's Mark E Smith's old house:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/109703012#/
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/109703012#/
RedWhiteMonkey said:
Anyone want a piece of musical celebrity real estate, here's Mark E Smith's old house:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/109703012#/
Wow, that appears to have had quite a Fall.https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/109703012#/
FRG0 said:
Snake skeletonQuhet said:
Escort3500 said:
Harry Flashman said:
RC1807 said:
That is very sad 
Wow. Yes it is. She always reminds me that everyone of her clients has a story to tell... it's never as simple as being homeless, hoarding, or isolated.
FourWheelDrift said:
FRG0 said:
Snake skeleton
but I do like to see a cellar. They're common on the Continent and I'm always surprised that you don't see them more often in the UK; it's a good way of maximising footprint on expensive land. FRG0 said:
Fortunately they have put down protection on the floors, what a terrible shame it would be for that carpet to get damaged. 
Pro Bono said:
TwistingMyMelon said:
Not really that strange, probably someone wealthy/eccentric/ lived there for most of their life then died, then its left for a while/years whilst probate is sorted.
Maybe someone comes in and guts everything/ most things and hey presto. Id imagine it would look OK with carpet/furniture/nik naks.....I also imagine it was all removed due to its "aroma"
Then you have the recluses or people with no heirs..... etc
I noticed there was `No sale history found’. This is remarkable for central London, which was the first place where property registration became compulsory. I assumed that it was a very elderly person who’d lived there for many decades, since long before it became so expensive. Maybe someone comes in and guts everything/ most things and hey presto. Id imagine it would look OK with carpet/furniture/nik naks.....I also imagine it was all removed due to its "aroma"
Then you have the recluses or people with no heirs..... etc
I decided to do some research, starting at the Land Registry, and trawling through various death / probate records / press articles etc - it's amazing how much information there is online now.
I discovered that the flat was owned by a Dorothy Barwell, born 1922. She married, at the young age of 18, Wing Commander Philip Barwell DFC, of 242 Squadron, who flew in the Battle of Britain.
He was the only son of Sir Richard Barwell, a wealthy corn merchant from Ipswich, and when Sir Richard died in a bombing raid Philip inherited what was in those days a sizeable fortune.
He bought his young wife this flat, and they had their first and only child, Robert (`Bobby’) in 1941.
Tragically, however, Philip was killed in action on 1 July 1942, leaving Dorothy a young widow and single mother. Beset by grief she was unable to cope with little Bobby’s demands, and as her own parents had died earlier in the war she had nobody to turn to. Eventually Philip’s family decided to take young Bobby into their care. He was formally adopted at the age of just 3 years old, and she was never to see him again. Sadly, Bobby died in a motorbike accident when he was just 22.
Dorothy, her mind unhinged with grief, and lacking friends or family, gradually became a recluse. Initially her inheritance from Philip enabled her to cope, but the massive inflation of the 1970’s and 80’s reduced the value of her savings, and, too proud to claim benefits, she was eventually reduced to living on handouts from the RAF Benevolent Fund.
Although she struggled to maintain the flat she refused to leave, as it was the only place in the world where she had experienced the joy of family life, and she clung to her memories tenaciously.
She died on 1 July last year, 78 years to the day after the death of her beloved Philip. Her Will left her entire estate to the RAF Benevolent Fund, finally repaying their generosity over the last few decades, but probate was only granted on 15 May, hence the delay in putting the flat on the market.
A sad irony, to end one's life living as a pauper in a £3m property.
I expect it'll be on the Daily Wail in a few days, no doubt uncredited!
Pro Bono said:
TwistingMyMelon said:
Not really that strange, probably someone wealthy/eccentric/ lived there for most of their life then died, then its left for a while/years whilst probate is sorted.
Maybe someone comes in and guts everything/ most things and hey presto. Id imagine it would look OK with carpet/furniture/nik naks.....I also imagine it was all removed due to its "aroma"
Then you have the recluses or people with no heirs..... etc
I noticed there was `No sale history found’. This is remarkable for central London, which was the first place where property registration became compulsory. I assumed that it was a very elderly person who’d lived there for many decades, since long before it became so expensive. Maybe someone comes in and guts everything/ most things and hey presto. Id imagine it would look OK with carpet/furniture/nik naks.....I also imagine it was all removed due to its "aroma"
Then you have the recluses or people with no heirs..... etc
I decided to do some research, starting at the Land Registry, and trawling through various death / probate records / press articles etc - it's amazing how much information there is online now.
I discovered that the flat was owned by a Dorothy Barwell, born 1922. She married, at the young age of 18, Wing Commander Philip Barwell DFC, of 242 Squadron, who flew in the Battle of Britain.
He was the only son of Sir Richard Barwell, a wealthy corn merchant from Ipswich, and when Sir Richard died in a bombing raid Philip inherited what was in those days a sizeable fortune.
He bought his young wife this flat, and they had their first and only child, Robert (`Bobby’) in 1941.
Tragically, however, Philip was killed in action on 1 July 1942, leaving Dorothy a young widow and single mother. Beset by grief she was unable to cope with little Bobby’s demands, and as her own parents had died earlier in the war she had nobody to turn to. Eventually Philip’s family decided to take young Bobby into their care. He was formally adopted at the age of just 3 years old, and she was never to see him again. Sadly, Bobby died in a motorbike accident when he was just 22.
Dorothy, her mind unhinged with grief, and lacking friends or family, gradually became a recluse. Initially her inheritance from Philip enabled her to cope, but the massive inflation of the 1970’s and 80’s reduced the value of her savings, and, too proud to claim benefits, she was eventually reduced to living on handouts from the RAF Benevolent Fund.
Although she struggled to maintain the flat she refused to leave, as it was the only place in the world where she had experienced the joy of family life, and she clung to her memories tenaciously.
She died on 1 July last year, 78 years to the day after the death of her beloved Philip. Her Will left her entire estate to the RAF Benevolent Fund, finally repaying their generosity over the last few decades, but probate was only granted on 15 May, hence the delay in putting the flat on the market.
A sad irony, to end one's life living as a pauper in a £3m property.
Pro Bono said:
TwistingMyMelon said:
Not really that strange, probably someone wealthy/eccentric/ lived there for most of their life then died, then its left for a while/years whilst probate is sorted.
Maybe someone comes in and guts everything/ most things and hey presto. Id imagine it would look OK with carpet/furniture/nik naks.....I also imagine it was all removed due to its "aroma"
Then you have the recluses or people with no heirs..... etc
I noticed there was `No sale history found’. This is remarkable for central London, which was the first place where property registration became compulsory. I assumed that it was a very elderly person who’d lived there for many decades, since long before it became so expensive. Maybe someone comes in and guts everything/ most things and hey presto. Id imagine it would look OK with carpet/furniture/nik naks.....I also imagine it was all removed due to its "aroma"
Then you have the recluses or people with no heirs..... etc
I decided to do some research, starting at the Land Registry, and trawling through various death / probate records / press articles etc - it's amazing how much information there is online now.
I discovered that the flat was owned by a Dorothy Barwell, born 1922. She married, at the young age of 18, Wing Commander Philip Barwell DFC, of 242 Squadron, who flew in the Battle of Britain.
He was the only son of Sir Richard Barwell, a wealthy corn merchant from Ipswich, and when Sir Richard died in a bombing raid Philip inherited what was in those days a sizeable fortune.
He bought his young wife this flat, and they had their first and only child, Robert (`Bobby’) in 1941.
Tragically, however, Philip was killed in action on 1 July 1942, leaving Dorothy a young widow and single mother. Beset by grief she was unable to cope with little Bobby’s demands, and as her own parents had died earlier in the war she had nobody to turn to. Eventually Philip’s family decided to take young Bobby into their care. He was formally adopted at the age of just 3 years old, and she was never to see him again. Sadly, Bobby died in a motorbike accident when he was just 22.
Dorothy, her mind unhinged with grief, and lacking friends or family, gradually became a recluse. Initially her inheritance from Philip enabled her to cope, but the massive inflation of the 1970’s and 80’s reduced the value of her savings, and, too proud to claim benefits, she was eventually reduced to living on handouts from the RAF Benevolent Fund.
Although she struggled to maintain the flat she refused to leave, as it was the only place in the world where she had experienced the joy of family life, and she clung to her memories tenaciously.
She died on 1 July last year, 78 years to the day after the death of her beloved Philip. Her Will left her entire estate to the RAF Benevolent Fund, finally repaying their generosity over the last few decades, but probate was only granted on 15 May, hence the delay in putting the flat on the market.
A sad irony, to end one's life living as a pauper in a £3m property.
Shnozz said:
As I have said before on this thread, when we see these shabby places or those with stacks of crap piled up high, I often feel a twang of sorrow as often a sad tail lurks beneath or some serious illness. Not always like a self-induced house from trainspotting.
I've got a relative who owns 4 houses all now in very shabby condition and all filled floor to ceiling with stuff, some of it rubbish and other stuff brand new unused (but now decades old) that he just bought for buying sake and hoarded away over the years, has around 8 cars and 2 motorbikes that I know of, all unused and rusting away.He's still easily worth over £1m despite all the money he's frittered away and wasted, I reckon if he'd been a bit more astute throughout his life he could have multiplied that several times over.
But there's no sympathy from me, he doesn't appear to suffer from any obvious mental illness or had any past trauma in his life to account for his behaviour.
As far as I can see he just suffers from extreme selfishness and self indulgence, wasting huge sums of money over the years indulging his buying/accumulating of s
t he doesn't need habit, whilst standing by and watching other younger relatives struggle financially.Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff