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Squatters invade London's billionaires row
Amar Singh and Robert Mendick15 Jul 2009
Squatters have moved into London's billionaires row by occupying a nine-bedroom house worth millions.
The men moved into the empty home in The Bishops Avenue, close to Hampstead Heath, two months ago.
Their neighbours include Lakshmi Mittal, Britain's richest man, whose home a few doors down was briefly put on the market last year for £40 million. Other residents are said to include Prince Jefri, brother of the Sultan of Brunei, and various members of the Saudi royal family.
Today the squatters told the Standard that the owners knew they were in there — and they did not mind. They also warned that other empty houses in the street could be targeted next.
One of the men, a 30-year-old who gave his name only as Eduard, said: “We moved into this place two months ago. After finding the property we contacted the owners and said look your home is empty and falling apart, we can look after it for you. They agreed to the deal."
Who those owners are was not clear. The property's's registered owner, according to the Land Registry, is Evan Enwerem, a senior Nigerian politician, who bought it in 1978 but who died in 2007.
Eduard said: “We knew that this is the billionaires' row and there are other empty places like this here and maybe we can do the same for them.”
His associate, who gave his first name as Katalin, 33, added: “There are three people from our company Prep who are staying here. “More than 10 people have worked on repairing this building. When we came here it was falling apart. The roof was leaking for years and the water had caused so much damage. We've fixed the leak and began renovating.
“This is all with the owners' consent and we have this same arrangement with other places in London.”
Despite their claims that they were improving the home when the Standard looked around ,there was a 15ft mound of rubbish outside it, a garden overgrowing with weeds and beer cans littered across the building.
However the two men insisted that it is in better shape than when they found it and said that even prospective buyers had viewed the property recently.
Katalin added: “The neighbours are very happy we are here.”
The three-floor house, which is in a small alley between two larger multi-million homes, has nine bedrooms, three bathrooms and an open plan ground floor. The squatters revealed that they have access to electricity, running water and even a Wi-Fi connection.
Trevor Abrahmsohn of Glentree Estates, the estate agency responsible for some of the biggest property deals in the area, added to the confusion over the ownership by saying he sold the property to a Nigerian couple in 2002.
He said: “I believe they are still the owners. It's quite an un-extraordinary place and its only claim to fame is that it's on one of the most sought-after streets in the world.” And he said: I would not be surprised if it were worth £30 million.”
Katalin said that they would continue working throughout the summer on the property. “I don't mind being called a squatter but I'm a good squatter.
“We are guardians for a property and not unemployed, we all have jobs and earn money. I live in a home which I rent in west London and my friends who live here have an arrangement.
“We are not all just Romanian, there is a mix; some are French, some are Australian.”
He added: “At this time the economy is bad and you have to save money. So many of these places on The Bishops Avenue are being left like this because the owners do not want to pay for security and improvements. They want to sell their place and what we are doing is helping them sell it.
“There are 100,000 empty homes in London, it is worse if they are just left.”
Reader views (10)
keep up the good job!
love and light!
- Dennis., uk, 16/07/2009 21:01
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The law on squatting needs to be changed to favour the home owner not the squatter. Anyone who 'squats' should be immediately evicted by the police as a trespasser.
- Adam, Harrow, UK, 16/07/2009 08:28
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I cant afford a house, not unless i get made redundant, get redundancy pay and find another job straight away. If there are houses for people to live in then all attempts should be made for all housing to be made available because waiting 5 years for social housing in the UK is not good enough. If it means squatting then so be it.
- Paul R, London, 16/07/2009 07:37
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Oh , how time flies. In my youth we called that road "Millionaires row", now it's a billion. I guess the cost of living continues to rise.
- Jon Vickers, S.C.USA, 16/07/2009 02:16
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Bishops Ave is a triumph of wealth over taste and most of the residents are Russian oligarchs and curry magnates. I imagine these squatters raised the tone of the place.
- Squiz, Islington, 15/07/2009 23:30
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Oooh my heart bleeds..... NOT..!!
What about the rich invading poor neighbourhoods across London and the myriad of UK cities in the name of "Regeneration"...
At least the Squatters are putting an empty house into good use..
Such an act is at least a useful positive move....
When the rich move into their yuppie flats or "Tarted Up Period Residencies" in deprived areas of London all in the name of "Regeneration" (re: Isle of Dogs aka "Docklands: Whitechapel/ Stepney/ Bethnal Green: Kennington... I could go on) they displace local communities predominantly by severely driving up local house prices and by occupying properties that have replaced Council Houses or by renovating period properties.....
Local people on much lower incomes do not stand a chance.... This is a highly damaging and negative act on behalf of the rich....
Given all this if the Rich can "Occupy" deprived neigbourhoods in London and other UK cities then there is no reason at all that the poor cannnot live "Cheek by Jowl" with the rich.....
- James T, Daventry, Northamptonshire, 15/07/2009 22:28
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Now that's all we need.. marauding hippies taking over your street.
- Smiddy Da'Diddy, Barlinnie P, 15/07/2009 21:32
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It's worth visiting Bishop's Avenue to see the pointlessness of vast wealth: no building of taste or comfort, just pointless opulence. Noone British lives there, I'm sure, and because new owners always have to parade their presence by spending vast amounts of money, the street is always parked up with scruffy builders's vans!
- Mdj E10, london uk, 15/07/2009 21:31
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If people are so rich they can leave a house like this sitting empty, then they deserve to lose it.
- Neil, London, London UK, 15/07/2009 20:31
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I notice Jonathan Ross moved in without warning folk in the road too. Rich squatters are even worse than poor obes
- Keith Price, Luton, England, 15/07/2009 20:31
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