Multi-millionaire Reade Griffith has been ordered to pay more than £800000 to …

Reade Griffith ordered to pay fee to install two-storey basement
Build will house pool and spa and likely add £10million to house value
Experts said the levy is unprecedented for homeowners and is normally reserved for large-scale developments
Basement equivalent to eight average-sized new-build family homes
Kensington and Chelsea Council said it will be used for affordable housing

By
Larisa Brown and Ben Spencer

PUBLISHED:

01:06 GMT, 22 August 2013

|

UPDATED:

10:12 GMT, 22 August 2013

Multi-millionaire Reade Griffith has been ordered to pay more than £800,000 to build two-storey basement

A hedge fund manager has been ordered to pay a fee of more than £800,000 to create a huge two-storey underground basement below his mansion.

The unprecedented levy on a basement excavation has shocked property experts and appears to mark the beginning of a council fightback against the creation of ‘iceberg homes’ in exclusive areas.

Multi-millionaire Reade Griffith, 48, and his wife Elizabeth, 42, plan to build a vast subterranean extension underneath two adjoining Kensington townhouses at an estimated cost of £4million.

Housing a swimming pool, spa and ‘treatment ‘area’ it is likely to add £10million to the value of the property.

At about 900 square metres, the basement would be the equivalent to eight average-sized new-build family homes.

But due to the sheer scale of the extension, Kensington and Chelsea Council asked for a one-off fee of £825,000 when it granted planning permission earlier this month. According to planning documents seen by the Daily Mail, the fee will go towards affordable housing elsewhere in the borough.

Such payments – known as ‘Section 106 agreements’ – are normally confined to large-scale commercial developments of housing estates. It is highly unusual for them to be applied to single private planning applications.

Their extension to domestic homes could be seen as a new tax on wealthy homeowners, who already pay 7 per cent stamp duty on property purchases over £2million, and could enrage well-heeled residents looking to expand their properties in exclusive parts of London.

Kensington and Chelsea Council ordered the Section 106 payment to grant permission for the build

Kensington and Chelsea Council ordered the Section 106 payment to grant permission for the build that will add up to £10million to Griffith’s mansion (pictured)

The
project has been applied for in the name of Mrs Griffith, who owns one
of the properties. Her husband, founder of Polygon Investment Partners,
once one of London’s most high-profile funds, owns the neighbouring
house through a company. The two properties have 13 bedrooms between
them.

The proposed
development will see the build of a ‘double level basement extension
under both buildings and extending under the small front and rear
gardens whilst respecting the tree protection areas’, according to
planning documents.

Architects’ drawings show how the vast
house will include a plunge pool, spa pool, a cinema room, games room,
bar and even a wine store.

Both of the houses are listed as
‘buildings of local interest’ in an area that has ‘become highly
desirable as a residential location’.

The
proposal reads: ‘Our clients wish to create two dwellings suitable for
contemporary living, and to enhance the appearance of the buildings by
reinstating lost architectural detailing and adding an appropriately
designed first floor extension’.

Stuart
Robinson, head of planning at the CBRE, the global property agents,
said the move by the council to ask for a fee to build the extension was
unusual.

Plan that shows how the vast extension would look when it is completed

He said: ‘This is completely off the scale. You don’t normally get these agreements with residential applications.’

Gary Sector, legal director for law firm Addleshaw Goddard, said the sum appeared to be ‘unprecedented’ for a domestic renovation.

The planning application reflects the trend for London’s most wealthy homeowners to extend downwards after being faced with the high cost of moving house and the perception among many overseas buyers that London houses lack sufficient space.

Planning requests for ‘dig-downs’ have soared in Kensington and Chelsea in the last decade, rising from 13 in 2001 to 307 in 2012.

Some boroughs are now starting to fight back against giant basements amid fears about the noise and disruption caused.

Alan Waxman, founder of Landmass London, a residential designer and developer, said owners were unlikely to be put off by the council’s levy.

He said: ‘If they are building around 1,000 square metres that could be worth some £10million, so even if it cost £4million to do and the fee is £800,000 the owner could still double their money.’

The comments below have not been moderated.

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perfectly fair IMO

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crazydave
,

gloucester,
22/8/2013 22:54

I can see both sides of the story. He has worked hard to build up a fortune that he has already paid loads of tax on ( I assume he did it as a moral proud diligent Brit and not like Starbucks, Amazon, Vodafone, and probably a few clever councilers themselves who have money hidden off shore) and also the fact the families around will have to suffer while it happens. The bit I really loath though is that the councils always look at any opportunity to grab as much hard earned cash off the public as they can and always see it as an opportunity to grab more. That is why the high streets are dead as nobody can afford to have an independent business because the councils treat it as a personal socialist money bank. Its only large companies who councils fawn over can afford this, and they hardly pay any tax.

–

A land far far away
,

England as it was, United Kingdom,
22/8/2013 22:29

Socialism reveals its ugly face. How do you charge a fee just to improve your own property and then use it to for low income housing? Does he still have to pay taxes on the profit when he sells it? Serious double taxation there.

–

ChipOC
,

Boerne TX, United States,
22/8/2013 21:26

An Englishman’s home is his castle, now that castle is a good earner for jealous councillors.

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Terry Hudson
,

Swalecliffe,
22/8/2013 20:43

“Just read the story he owns both houses so only building underneath his own houses not a neighbours – Dwerg”,

Just read the article yourself as he owns neither building. One belongs to his wife and the other to a company which is a subsidiary of one in which he is a shareholder, albeit a majority one.

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melville
,

Newton, United Kingdom,
22/8/2013 19:48

Rather than profiting from it the council should have turned it down

–

Eye in the sky
,

northampton, United Kingdom,
22/8/2013 19:20

The council will probably spend it on themselves not for the public good.

–

VisceralRage
,

London, United Kingdom,
22/8/2013 17:48

Just read the story he owns both houses so only building underneath his own houses not a neighbours

–

Dwerg
,

London, United Kingdom,
22/8/2013 17:23

A pity the article doesn’t mention how he managed to get the right to build underneath neighbouring property. Did he have to pay neighbours for this or was it just a matter of applying for planning consent regardless of what neighbours wanted? If the latter then what if the neighbours also said they wanted to extend under their own property? Answers anyone?

–

Join Republic
,

A Better Place, United Kingdom,
22/8/2013 17:18

They even have servants quarters like it’s the Victorian era – see for yourself on the planning documents that a site called Hovelled dot com got hold of.

–

andyharrison
,

London, United Kingdom,
22/8/2013 16:08

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