Sanctions and London property

[DetailMouse]

For a while now, it's been said that one of the reasons London property is so expensive is that it gets snapped up by Russians who rarely use it.

If there are sanctions against those Russian owners, what happens to their assets? Are they just deprived of the use of them for now or are they actually confiscated? Is that legal or could it be challenged later? Like some assets confiscated by the Nazis are now been returned/compensated?

Is there a possibility of Russian owned property flooding the market, either as a result of sanctions or of Russians trying to avoid sanctions? And if so that, presumably, would be big enough to have a real effect on the market and economy?

Russioan billionaire's flats won't be sold on homes under the hammer at knockdown prices. They'll be confiscated for now. And if sold, at market price.

first they will investigate if the money used to purchase the said properties is dirty ill begotten money. that level of forensic investigation will take time.
nothing will happen in the mean time same as the yachts and planes but with flights in and out being cut back they may have difficulty accessing it.
they may as well fear for their security and may have been "called back" to attend matters in their home country.
it's just like when drug money is used to by homes they need a warrant.

If they are on bishops avenue then it's a disgrace they have been left to rot!

@Whammyyammy

Russioan billionaire's flats won't be sold on homes under the hammer at knockdown prices. They'll be confiscated for now. And if sold, at market price.

That's my point though. If the market is flooded "market price" will change, but I was interested in the know on effect for more ordinary properties.

Very doubtful it will have any impact at all. They're all top end mansions, I don't see 20 odd multi million pound mansions being sold affecting normal housing stock

My understanding is that, at the moment, they aren’t talking about confiscation of assets at all. They are putting a travel ban in place and freezing financial assets. So those Russians who are sanctioned won’t be able to sell their homes. Or live in them. Or retrieve any rent deposited into a bank in the UK.

There is a law that’s supposed to help with cleaning up dirty money that could result in some assets being seized. It was supposed to be brought in ages ago but has been consistently back burner Ed until the current crises. So if that goes through, there might be some assets seized and sold.

I think it’s a mistake to think that London’s housing crises is really down to Russian oligarchs buying up mansions on Bishops Avenue. It’s large investments in commercial (including residential rental) property through shell corporations. The freezing of assets, if it manages to unweave the obfuscation of ownership, could cause problems for those renting such properties if there are outgoing the landlord needs to pay but can’t. I would like to assume that there are plans in place for this, but given what a shit show the government is, it seems unlikely.