Chelsea manor listed for £250million becomes one of London's most valuable after owner quits London because 'Britain has gone to hell'

Daily Mail​

20-07-2025

A valuable Chelsea manor is set to be listed for an eye-watering £250million after its billionaire owner quit London, declaring that 'Britain has gone to hell'.
John Fredriksen, the UK's ninth richest billionare, moved his business out of the UK capital last month after it had emerged he had closed the Sloane Square headquarters of one of his private businesses - Seatankers Management.
Now, his luxury 300-year-old Georgian manor is said to be hitting the market. Nestled on Chelsea's oldest street in west London, the Old Rectory comes fit with a private ballroom and a near two acre garden, one of central London's largest.
Mr Fredriksen, 81, is understood to be packing up his multi-million pound home, boasting up to 10 bedrooms across 30,000 square feet, the Times has reported.
Local residents have alleged that more than a dozen domestic staff have been let go, while discreet viewings of the grand mansion are also set to be arranged.
Experts believe that a listing of the prestigious home is unlikely to appear on popular property listing sites but instead will be sold in an 'off-market' private deal delivered by specialist agents.
A spokesman for Fredriksen declined to comment on whether The Old Rectory was on sale, alongside whether any domestic staff had been let go, according to The Times.
The Norweigan-born shipping tycoon, who has an estimated wealth of around £13.7billion, has been publicly critical of Britain's poor economic prospects, particularly following Labour's controversial non-dom tax raid.
Local residents have alleged that more than a dozen domestic staff have been let go, while discreet viewings of the grand mansion are also set to be arranged. Experts believe that a listing of the prestigious home is unlikely to appear on popular property listing sites
He is said to be spending most of his time running his successful business empire from the United Arab Emirates, rather than the UK.
At a shipping event in June, Mr Fredriksen told Norweigan title E24 that Britain was 'starting to remind me more and more of Norway', adding: 'Britain has gone to hell, like Norway'.
He continued: 'The entire Western world is on its way down.
'People should get up and work even more, and go to the office instead of having a home office.'
Mr Fredriksen purchased the Grade II-listed riverside mansion from Greek businessman Theodore Angelopoulos in 2001 for £37million.
In 2004, he reportedly turned down former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's £100million offer for the house.
Having first gotten into oil trading in the 1960s and then buying his first tankers in the 1970s, Mr Fredriksen left Norway in 1978.
The oil tanker magnate went on to make his fortune during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
The oil tanger magnate (pictured) moved his business out of the UK capital last month after it had emerged he had closed the Sloane Square headquarters of one of his private businesses - Seatankers Management. In an interview with E24 in June, he said that 'Britain has gone to hell'
John Waters, director of independent buying agency Robert Bailey Property, told The Times that 'many' of the UK's wealthiest home owners that have left the country in recent years have chosen to rent overseas, rather than sell their properties.
They do so, he said, 'in the hope that the UK tax system will in the future become less unfavourable'.
Mr Waters added: 'They feel they have little choice due to the end of non-dom status and the prospect of all their global assets being subject to UK inheritance tax.'
In April, The Labour Government abolished the non-dom tax status in April, which is where UK residents whose permanent home or domicile for tax purposes is outside the country.
Then, just a month later, it was revealed that the UK has suffered the biggest fall in billionaires on record.
The number dropped to 156 this year from 165 in 2024, representing the sharpest decline in the Sunday Times Rich List's 37-year-history.
'Our billionaire count is down and the combined wealth of those who feature in our research is falling,' Robert Watts, compiler of the Rich List, said when it was published last month.
'We are also finding fewer of the world's super rich are coming to live in the UK.'
Research by New World Wealth has also suggested that the UK has lost 18 dollar billionaires over the last two years - more than any other country in the world.
However, putting an exact figure on the number of billionaires leaving the country is complicated by the difficulty of calculating an individuals' wealth and working out their tax residency if they do not make this information public.
The drop in Britain's billionares also came after the Autumn Budget last year that included several controversial tax changes.
Since April, employers have had to start paying higher National Insurance contributions for their staff.