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‘Try before you buy': the new property trend loved by the super-rich
'Madame,' Marcel Proust wrote to his noisy upstairs neighbour in the summer of 1915, 'I had ordered these flowers for you and I am in despair that they are coming on a day when… I feel so ill that I would like to ask you for silence… causing them to lose all their fragrance… and bristle with nasty thorns.'
For many of us the ills of close-quartered London living are just as prosaic as they were for the French writer over a century ago, delicately navigating the upstairs harpist's playing and her dentist husband's drill, as he flattered them into a peace that would let him finish In Search of Lost Time, his masterpiece.
However, a new trend might hold the answer, for the uber-wealthy at least. Prime and super-prime real estate agents — broadly defined as those selling properties over £5 million and £10 million respectively — are seeing a rise in high and ultra-high-net-worth individuals negotiating the right to 'try before you buy' — renting a luxury home before taking the purchasing plunge.
Francesca Fox, the director of lettings at Sotheby's International Realty, says the trend started last year but has accelerated 'like wildfire' in 2025, driven mainly by international clients looking to relocate to London but increasingly concerned by high property purchase costs in the UK, potential changes to the non-dom rules, international wars and the whims of their own governments' attitudes to taxation and business. With such slings and arrows, it makes sense to keep their roots shallow, for now.
It's not just Sotheby's that has spotted this trend — Knight Frank agrees it's on the rise. Tom Smith, the head of super-prime lettings, says that in the last fifteen months four properties have sold to their former tenants, with two more looking to buy having tried the approach. That might not sound like much, but this is a very small, niche market. Tom says that about 10 to 15 per cent of his clients are having these conversations now, whereas, 15 months ago, it 'just wasn't happening'.
The deals can be structured in a few ways — a simple gentleman's agreement, a right of first refusal where a keen renter can buy if the owner decides to sell, or a purchase right built into a tenancy agreement, often with an agreed price or terms, but sometimes with the final price set once the tenant 'triggers' their option. As can be imagined when you're spending many millions, things are pretty bespoke — despite the growth in popularity, there's lots of flexibility in how these agreements are structured.
Fox estimates that 80 to 90 per cent of the homes on her books were originally listed as sale only, but now she is offering them to rent. Tenants tend to test-drive their homes for no more than 24 months before deciding to buy, usually after 6 to 12 months. The majority of homes are rented furnished — if people are uncertain about long-term plans they don't want to invest in blinds, bookends and artworks. Although Fox says several super-prime homes have recently sold with the furniture included too, and those sellers have themselves gone on to rent fully furnished homes while they decide whether to buy a new place or relocate. Flexibility is the name of the game in today's market.
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Psychologically this desire to try before we buy makes sense. We put far more effort into assessing risk — and therein avoiding loss — than we do into trying to gain something, says the consumer psychologist Dr Helen Watts. The type of person we are matters too. 'Some people are very high on what's called an external locus of control. And this means that if something goes wrong they find it much easier to say, well, it wasn't really my fault, it's to do with the environment,' she explains. 'But others have a high internal locus of control, where they feel that everything that goes wrong or right is to do with themselves.' It's these people, Watts thinks, who feel the pain of a loss more personally and are thus more likely to give a product — or a £20 million townhouse — a renting whirl first.
And what of the properties themselves? Buyers are usually looking for six to eight bedrooms, Fox says. A lot of properties have pools, cinemas and private gardens. The wellness craze is driving an interest in spa facilities too — cold water pool plunges, saunas and, increasingly, hammam spas. The latest must-have is a private driveway because of the high rates of car theft, though some are mitigating that risk by simply hiring chauffeurs.
One property on offer from Sotheby's is an eight-bed, nine-bath, 8,825 sq ft home on Sheldon Avenue in Highgate, north London. If a triple-height reception hall with a sweeping staircase and two galleried landings is your thing, it's available to rent on a short let basis for £25,000 a week. There's also a two-storey orangery and a pool.
Another property currently looking for a tenant — and hopefully one who will ultimately buy — is 1 Hanover Terrace. With 6,730 sq ft of living space it's a touch larger than the average London home's 850 sq ft. Plus, there are six bedrooms and nine bathrooms, a cinema, gym, sauna, double garage and a separate mews house for staff — or all the friends who'll try to come and stay with you when you're living in Regent's Park.
Its owner — the Addison Lee founder, Sir John Griffin — moved in in 2013. 'Living there is very peaceful. The view of the lake is mesmerising.' And has he had any problems with noisy neighbours? 'None whatsoever. If anyone misbehaves, I am sure that Damian Hirst [a neighbour] could place them in a tank.'
Approaching his eighties and in search of a quieter life in the countryside, Griffin listed the mansion for sale at £29 million in 2022. It failed to sell and can now be rented for £75,000 a month. To top it off it was designed by John Nash in 1811, who also has Buckingham Palace on his CV.
There are some potential downsides to all this flexibility. 'From a psychological point of view it can be very draining,' says Watts, highlighting how easily we now return everything from a cashmere jumper to a floor lamp — many of Ikea's items now have a full 365-day returns policy. 'We are in this perpetual state of questioning 'do I still want to own this?' and that can be quite wearing for consumers.' And what might have become of Proust if he had rented first, ditched his apartment at the first pluck of a harp string and spent more time writing. In Search of Lost Time, Volume Two perhaps?
