he controversial ruler of Dubai has acquired a land and property empire in Britain that appears to exceed 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres), making him one of the country’s largest landowners, according to a Guardian analysis.
The huge property portfolio apparently owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum and his close family ranges from mansions, stables and training gallops across Newmarket, to white stucco houses in some of London’s most exclusive addresses and extensive moorland including the 25,000-hectare Inverinate estate in the Scottish Highlands.
The Guardian has mapped these expansive private holdings linked to Sheikh Mohammed, who is vice-president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, using Land Registry records and company filings.
The exact scale of his British landholding is not known because most of the properties connected to him are owned via offshore companies in the tax havens of Guernsey and Jersey. That raises familiar questions about the secretive nature of large amounts of property ownership in Britain, and whether it is structured in ways to avoid paying UK taxes when the properties are sold.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...heikh-mohammed
Perhaps Im being xenophobic but I think we need to do something about limiting the amount of land and business foreigners and foreign companies run by state agencies can buy.
During covid and this housing crisis .. I feel like its rich people and investments just buying up homes making it impossible for us 9-5 people to compete in this market.
Anecdotally my well to do brother and some of his well to do friends all just went up to Bethany Beach and just bough houses. He bought his home without even seeing or touring it. Money laying around? Fuck it buy a second house. Just weekend getaway things for 600k to a few mil. That just inflates the market and makes its unattainable for native Bethany Beach residents.
My little brother sold his home above asking on day 1 to some foreign guy out of NYC. That guy never toured or viewed the home.
Rich people are just plucking up houses for shits and giggles and investments and rentals.
Meanwhile Im looking for a single family home in the 500k range and everything is inflated and over valued. Gotta wait for some collapse at this point.
Frustrating.