£9bn inheritence

most of the buildings they own (in Central London) they own the freehold of.

other investors are keen to own these buildings so they buy long leaseholds from Grosvenor, typically these are for 125 years.

as the freeholder Grosvenor typically charge a 10% per annum of rents receivable for owning that long leasehold.

after 125 years the building reverts to Grosvenor and then its rinse and repeat.

they very rarely sell anything. its a great business model.
 
CREATIVE!11 said:
Why do we still have Dukes in this country?

And why do they own tons of land still?
Click to expand...

Their ancestors were given their titles hundreds of years ago which included them being handed down to their heirs. They own all their land because it's been handed down over generations, there's no way to legally take land off an estate.

Plainly the entire system's ridiculous though, inheritance at that level of wealth shouldn't happen. You should be taxed at about 90% over a certain threshold - something like £25m-£50m
 
Last edited:
How the west was won :D

He plainly said that it was an advantage having an ancestor that came over with William the Conqueror was useful.

Having another who married and got two farms near London as a dowry was also useful.

Building up a property portfolio from that land and keeping the land title was good business sense. There are plenty of families who just ran up huge debts on their estates and blew the lot.
 
doodah said:
Wow, that's impressive! £1bn to £9bn though not as good as Trump turning $1m into $10bn :p

I shudder and drool at owning that many acres anywhere let alone Mayfair and Belgravia!
Click to expand...

Don't forget the more money you have the more money you will make, not only this, it is who you know as well. Trumps father had the contacts Trumps used this contacts to make money, Westminster.
 
CREATIVE!11 said:
Correct.

This is all just because some plank got coughed out of a specific vagina.

So he gets handed 9 billion worth of land. Nothing to do with capitalism.
Click to expand...

His predecessor only handed him one billion so he did well to turn it into 9 billion though.
 
Greebo said:
His predecessor only handed him one billion so he did well to turn it into 9 billion though.
Click to expand...

Not really. If most of the value of the estate is tied up in land/property in premium locations in London it's not hard to believe that it's gone up in value by an order of magnitude during the 30 odd years he's had it without having to lift a finger.
 
Greebo said:
His predecessor only handed him one billion so he did well to turn it into 9 billion though.
Click to expand...

Hardly... Inflation accounts for most of it, so in reality the actual increase has been more like 2-3 billion, which is then just accounted for by increase in land value.

Gee, what a surprise in bloody Mayfair.
 
gjrc said:
most of the buildings they own (in Central London) they own the freehold of.

other investors are keen to own these buildings so they buy long leaseholds from Grosvenor, typically these are for 125 years.

as the freeholder Grosvenor typically charge a 10% per annum of rents receivable for owning that long leasehold.

after 125 years the building reverts to Grosvenor and then its rinse and repeat.

they very rarely sell anything. its a great business model.
Click to expand...

They sometimes get their hand forced when leaseholders invoke their right to buy the freehold. The Duke got a bit miffed when that legislation came into force.

They've since introduced 20 year leases on some prime residential properties with assurances that leaseholders can renew as short leases don't allow the right to purchase the freehold. Surprisingly there is demand for these... as per the debt thread in GD some people from all walks of life like to spend and present an image of having more wealth than they really do... thus for some minor millionaires paying a mid seven figure sum instead of an eight figure sum for a 20 year lease in order to get an Eaton square addres is somehow worth it... after all your dinner party guests don't know you got it at a knockdown rate and will eventually have nothing to show for it.
 
Dis86 said:
It's basically historical theft.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the Elizabethans stole it from the Tudours who stole it from the Plantagenets who stole it from the Normans who stle it from the Saxons who stole it from the Britons who stole it from the Celts who stole it from the Neolithic peoples.

It's a bit hard to return it to the originally owners though - they've been dead for 5 thousand years.
 
CREATIVE!11 said:
Why do we still have Dukes in this country?

And why do they own tons of land still?
Click to expand...

Unlike the French who know how to have a good revolution, the English Civil war was somewhat inconclusive and muddled in its conclusion. Not that the French Revolution immediately settled down, but it was pretty clear the aristocracy were done for. (A substantial number of their heads were cut off for a start).

In large part that's because our Civil War wasn't really a peasant's revolt (we had one of those too, didn't go well) but a power-struggle between rival groups. The United Kingdom being not very, the Scottish were helping "Bonneh Prence Charleh", the French were sticking their nose in on alternate weekends and pretending they had no interest on others... It was a big old mess and ended up with a great deal more compromise factions resulting in a stronger parliament, a king with less power, but a lot of the aristocracy retaining their wealth and estates even though political power was moving away from the monarchy.

So the modern dukes are just dukes because they inherited their title and the wealth doesn't come from their being dukes directly, so much as it does that their parents, grand-parents, great-grandparents... were all rich and they're just good at keeping it in the family.

Though the royal family themselves do get a nice fat stipend. That was effectively the negotiation for them giving up political power. "You don't interfere but the state will agree to give you X amount per year" sort of deal. And the deal was in perpetuity (bad planning, imo).
 
Last edited:
amigafan2003 said:
Yeah, the Elizabethans stole it from the Tudours who stole it from the Plantagenets who stole it from the Normans who stle it from the Saxons who stole it from the Britons who stole it from the Celts who stole it from the Neolithic peoples.

It's a bit hard to return it to the originally owners though - they've been dead for 5 thousand years.
Click to expand...

In which case it should be given to the state.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom