Iranian elite have left London’s ‘billionaire’s row’ a ghost town

The cronies of the former Supreme Leader of Iran killed in a US airstrike have snapped up 13 mansions on London’s billionaire row, leaving them to rot, the Metro can reveal.

For decades, The Bishop’s Avenue, in Hampstead, has been a safe haven for dictators and the mega-wealthy but very few of the shipping magnates, oil barons and families of exiled political elites actually live there.

The wide tree-lined north London street has homes designed by architects to reflect every whim of their super-rich owners. 

The result is a mishmash of Greek Temple-inspired mega mansions next door to mock Tudors, many left in ruins like their historic counterparts. Locals now call it a ‘ghost road’.

Despite the properties and land still being worth millions, the majority of the houses are occupied only by private security guards patrolling around the clock in hi-vis jackets and radios.

As the war in the Middle East rages on, the Iranian elite – including right-hand men of former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – allegedly have invested in land and houses on the avenue in the past decade. 

The homes, listed in the land registry, are primarily in Arden Court Gardens and White Lodge Close, which are next to each other. The land at the back of the gated compound is also owned by Iranians connected with the regime, the Metro understands. 

A banker has brokered the deals to buy properties on behalf of figures in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, ultra-loyal members of the regime.

The deals were reportedly done through shell companies to protect the identities of the Iranian elite involved, it is alleged. 

The houses and land, worth in excess of £75m, are unoccupied with overgrown gardens and bowls for guard dogs strewn across the drive. 

There are signs warning that security is patrolling with huge padlocks secure the gates. In the grounds of one there is a makeshift security checkpoint but there are no vehicles to be seen on the plot. 

A private security guard on another stretch of the road for a mansion owner who is overseas told Metro that there was little movement at the Iranian owned properties. 

He said: ‘You don’t see much activity. I didn’t know the Iranians owned it to be honest. It’s messy in there but to be honest, not many people live here; it’s a ghost road. 

‘You see builders and gardeners with their banks. It used to be Ferraris and Maseratis everywhere but not anymore. The Russian oligarchs have gone and so have the other rich people.’

The Bishops Avenue, which includes 110 properties close to Hampstead Heath, has long been viewed as an opportunity for those funnelling money out of unstable countries.

The son of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi splashed out around £10m on a house on the avenue. 

Saif al-Islam’s home featured a pool and cinema room, but he lost the property after a legal dispute, and it was targeted by squatters. 

The fear of squatting is being countered in many cases by the dozens of security guards patrolling the avenue around the clock.

The Conservatives have demanded an investigation into fears Iran is among hostile countries using the UK as a safe haven to hide their wealth, with The Bishops Avenue property deals a prime example. 

Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said: ‘The UK has turned a blind eye to the fact that senior figures in the despotic Iranian regime have been parking their wealth and assets in London while brutally repressing their own people, sponsoring terrorism and attacking our allies.’

Businesses in East Finchley, the closest shopping area to The Bishops Avenue, told Metro that the exodus from the exclusive road had ‘sucked the life out of the area’. 

A bakery worker told Metro: ‘The people on The Bishops would come to East Finchley as we are closest.

‘More importantly for us they had a big staff who would come here sometimes to shop for the household or have a coffee, whatever. Now there’s nothing there it’s an empty zone, what a waste.

‘It shouldn’t be allowed just to hold onto a property for profit and in some cases never live there. We used to have Rolls-Royces and Bentleys pulling up and they would spend money.’

A pub worker added: ‘It stands to reason, fewer people in the area, fewer customers. We would get some staff from the houses in and occasionally an oligarch. Now that road is dead, it’s stuck in time, faded glory.’

Former London Assembly member for the area, Andrew Dinsmore, said the super-rich were ‘turning bricks into gold’ at the expense of the local community. 

He said: ‘I didn’t know the Iranians had bought there but it doesn’t surprise me at all. 

‘For years the super-rich have been buying homes and land there and leaving them empty knowing that it’s an investment.

‘Hitting them with a mansion or second home tax costs them £5,000 a year which is nothing to them.

‘There are many people in need of homes and these places are just empty. They are buying bricks which effectively turn into gold for them because of the London property market.

‘It’s people from all over the world. When the situation was dicey in Hong Kong people bought homes in Bishops Avenue in case they needed to leave, knowing it was an investment. 

‘There were also a lot of Russian oligarchs.’

On the impact on local businesses, he said: ‘These empty homes mean fewer customers for the local shops, pubs and cafes in nearby East Finchley.

‘These super-rich, absentee property owners offer nothing for the local community. Government policy needs to change to ban these homes laying empty so people can get richer.

‘For many rich people (like in Iran) it’s an insurance policy owning one of these houses.’

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