Evelyn Waughs mansion for sale.

[JellyBeanFactory]

Evelyn Waughs house is up for sale. However, you can't view it as current tenants (who pay £250pa) won't let anyone in.

I wonder if it looks like the photos anymore!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/129582860

So they wanted to buy this property. They set up a company with their rich friend to get a mortgage and buy the property. One the property was purchased they resign as directors of the company and are permitted to live there on a peppercorn rent as common law tenants of the company.

Presumably the rich friend was paying the mortgage through the company until recently when it appears he hit financial difficulty and the mortgage was called in by the bank.

Why on earth do these chancers think they have the right to remain there? If they are common law tenants it sounds as if they have very few rights.

So it seems that the tenants bought via a company of which Blain was also a shareholder. The company (controlled by them as shareholders, so they do in effect own it via the companies and would be entitled to leave it in their wills via shares in the companies) took a £2.1m mortgage to buy it. Company then granted them a lease. Jason Blain’s separate lawsuit as part of that mandarin oriental bill looks like the trigger for the bank to call in the debt - so actually it’s possible that these two are being beaten with a stick for Jason blain’s doings - todays report suggests that they had the means to pay off the mortgage and offered to do so buy it sounds like the bank want to offset some of this cash against debts run up by Blain in a separate court case? Be careful who you go into business with!

@Ginmonkeyagain but they are the significant controllers of piers court capital / piers court holdings, not Blain. Their own company granted them the lease.

I thought Evelyn Waugh's real house was Combe Flory. I remember him living there and then it was passed down to Auberon - I think he bought out his siblings.

Not really a mansion. Just a nice big Georgian country house. Mansions are much more grandiose.

@Vermin ahh I see. So the unrelated financial situation of one of the company directors bought the whole lot down crashing down?

If they had the money to repay the mortgage one wonders why they didn't just get a a normal residential mortgage? Seeing as they own a rather valuable flat in London as well one wonders if this is some sort of "tax efficient" situation that has come back to bite them?

I would love to see inside.

Yes - I suspect it’s exactly that on tax efficiency- blain had done it before and offered to show them the ropes? He’s presumably the subject of an order re: the mandarin lawsuit that either meant the bank could offset or his shares in the companies were called in as assets to cover that debt. I feel desperately sorry for them is that’s the case! Would explain her absolute insistence that it wasn’t for sale

Surely someone will buy it, knock it down, and then build 200 horrible overpriced rabbit hutches. That's all anybody seems to do with available land now. Usually, the only question is how many ghastly new builds can they squeeze on the site.

Hmmm I feel less sorry for them TBH. They own a pretty valuable London flat so won't be homeless. It seems to me they have naively or greedily engaged in complex financial set ups to try and save on tax they could probably well afford to pay.

It's a listed building so is supposed to be protected. Don't know if that extended to making it difficult to build over the grounds.

The squatter is bonkers. Saying as she has no kids she wants to leave it to the Evelyn Waugh society when she dies. She seems to think she owns it!

I suspect that the ‘buyer’ is also connected to this pair of chancers ( plenty of money in her partners homeland for property transactions. Money cleansing will be involved somehow, as the mortgage to a respectable private bank can now be paid off with the ‘auction proceeds’. So of course no one will be moving out.

Hmm interesting point. It is true most "normal" buyers would not touch this with a bargepole once the situation with the current occupiers became apparent.

Curious to know who's bought it under the circumstances

Yeah I'm thinking this. Shady dealings appear to be pretty familiar to this couple.

Off point but yes JKR didn’t much like the town of Dursley and used it as the surname of Hayy’s relatives.

id love to know the full story behind the tax dealings here.

No EW didn't write Brideshead here but in a hotel in Devon while recuperating from a war injury. Moved to Combe Florey from here.

That was my thought too....I'm fascinated by the whole saga and am looking forward to what happens next.

There was another news article about this house. Apparently the tenants have a less protected tenancy, so I don't see how they can possibly dig their heels in.