‘UK’s gone to hell’: Billionaire puts $500 million London mansion up for sale By Michael Bow July 22, 2025 https://www.smh.com.au/business/ban...ndon-mansion-up-for-sale-20250721-p5mgpa.html A billionaire shipping tycoon who said the UK had “gone to hell” has put his £250 million ($517 million) London mansion up for sale after fleeing Britain. John Fredriksen, a Norwegian marine tycoon, is reportedly selling his 300-year old Georgian manor in Chelsea just weeks after criticising Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, for abolishing the non-domicile tax regime. “The entire Western world is on its way down.“: John Fredriksen at his offices in London.Credit: Alamy Stock Photo The property, known as the Old Rectory, is one of Britain’s most expensive houses with two acres of gardens and 10 bedrooms across 30,000 square feet. It is set to be put on the market with a £250 million price tag – with viewings already taking place, The Times reported. Fredriksen, who was the UK’s ninth-richest man with a £13.7 billion fortune before he announced his departure, bought the property in 2001 for around £40 million. The 81-year-old businessman, who is originally from Oslo, Norway, last month said that Reeves’s tax raid had encouraged him to leave the UK and move to the United Arab Emirates. “The entire Western world is on its way down,” he said, while the UK is “starting to remind me more and more of Norway. Britain has gone to hell, like Norway”. The sale comes amid predictions that the UK is poised to lose more millionaires this year than any other country, which may fuel more high-end property sales. Last year Reeves raised taxes on the global elite, abolishing the non-dom status and tightening inheritance tax rules. Non-dom rules had allowed foreigners to only pay tax on their UK income – largely shielding their global income from any taxation. According to Henley & Partners, the UK will lose 16,500 millionaires this year because of the changes, up from 10,800 last year. The property, known as the Old Rectory, is one of Britain’s most expensive houses with two acres of gardens and 10 bedrooms across 30,000 square feet. Among those who have left or are leaving include Richard Gnodde, who is one of London’s best-known bankers who became Goldman’s vice chairman in January, as well as the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal and property tycoon brothers Ian and Richard Livingstone. Fredriksen made his fortune building up a fleet of oil tankers and other ships around the world. Since leaving the UK, he has shrunk his presence including closing the London headquarters of his shipping group Seatankers Management, which was based in Sloane Square. He has also blasted the US under Donald Trump, saying the president’s trade war was “completely hopeless” and said Norway was “dull”. “I gave up on them a long time ago,” he said. “I gave up in 1978, when I moved. It has only gotten worse. Norway is completely uninteresting,” he said, adding that “Norway is good for those who work for the state.” Telegraph, London
Property and possessions are way overrated. Just live in a small studio apartment in minimalism. I always roll my eyes at people who need to live in extravagance. Insecure mofos. Psychologically inferior, weakened, souls.
What a moaner I own a place in London and have not raised rent in two years and don't expect to anytime soon but to be fair, it was an overpriced area. I'm renting to an embassy, a private tenant may have asked for a reduction. Honestly, I'm not sure what these ultra rich have done for anybody except show off some cars, they pay less income tax than many doctors. Maybe one day somebody will test a nuke in Dubai and that would be a lot of redistributed wealth.
Well, we don't know if he does, many shipping jobs are not portable anyway and office could be anywhere already. Cooks and cleaners? He won't be paying them more than others would. But I have fingers crossed that Dubai gets twinned with Hiroshima someday.
Any main residence profits are tax free. So for most people it makes sense to buy the biggest place they can comfortably afford the mortgage on. This guy made a £200 million tax free profit. The new buyer will have to pay £30 million in stamp duty tax on a £250 million purchase. While he probably paid around 1 or 2 million in stamp duty on £40million back in 2001, stamp duty rates were lower back then. I think 4% of the purchase price, while these days the tax man wants 12% on mansions.
Good example of what libtards fail to understand, people can leave. https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryro...llion-home-in-london-as-wealth-exodus-swells/ The move to sell the famous property comes one month after Fredriksen blamed the abolishment of non-domicile tax status (which previously allowed non-citizen residents to only pay British taxes on the money they earned in the country) for his decision to leave the U.K.
Since forever in the UK. The UK also doesn't currently have annual property taxes. This guy would have been paying just a few thousand pounds/dollars a year in council taxes for collecting his garbage etc. The only major tax he would have paid on that property would have been the one off stamp duty when he bought the place. Something like 4% in 2001. Although it is 12% these days for properties above 1.5million..