Monthly Archives: July 2023

Exploring Luxury: A Closer Look at London’s High-End Real Estate

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From grand townhouses to dreamy penthouses to stylish apartments offering enviable views of the picturesque city skyline, London has it all. These properties, the most sought-after and appealing, offer a tranquil retreat from the hustles and bustles of the city.

Let’s take a look at some of London’s high-end real estate options.

Ebony Court, The Bishops Avenue


Ebony Court is an exquisite community development with 14 elegant and spacious flats with a gated landscape. It is one of the most prestigious residences in London. In addition to 24 hour concierge service, common leisure facilities include an indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi, gym etc. Each apartment is spacious and vibrant, with bedrooms that have en-suite facilities, utility rooms, family room, terraces, private lift access, a private garden and underground parking space.

West Heath Drive, NW11


This luxurious apartment, is the only one available in this boutique block of only seven, is situated close to Golders Green and Hampstead. This beautiful three bedroom apartment with en suite bathrooms also has a private rear garden, adding to the desirability quotient. It comprises spacious accommodation with large living rooms that have direct access to a terrace and a beautiful conservatory (with glass) that leads to the private garden.

Winnington Road, N2


This detached freehold residence, with 5-6 bedrooms, is a vision to behold behind the sweeping driveway, beautifully maintained and certainly desirable for those that are keen on a luxurious living experience. Spanning 946 sq m, the four floors of the residence also include an indoor swimming pool, oversized utility room, bespoke library and a separate entrance for tradesmen. While the home cinema room is an attraction for all, the ground floor houses a large drawing room and dining room with double French doors leading to the patio that overlooks a landscaped garden.

Allingham Court


A prestigious development in the majestic Bishops Avenue, this lateral garden apartment has spectacular interior design, including a big terrace which directly leads to a beautifully landscaped garden. The bedrooms are larger than average, including a large bathroom in the master bedroom and two other full suites, a large reception hall, a utility room and a fully equipped kitchen. In addition to underground parking, the property also has a big swimming pool, sauna and gym.

Hampstead Lane, NW3

As appealing as it can get, this desirable family home is nestled behind electronic gates and a deep driveway, right opposite the sprawling Kenwood House grounds and Hampstead Heath. The four-floor mansion offers luxuries, including an indoor lift with access to all floors, a spa, a bespoke kitchen with French doors leading to terraces, a grand reception hallway, a drawing room with access to the terrace and a dining room. Other facilities include a gym, entertainment room, cinema, music room, wine cellar, relaxation lounge etc., in addition to the five bedroom suites located on the top floor.

Finding the perfect luxury real estate property can be quite challenging. But with Glentree, your journey towards owning one of these luxurious properties in London can be an effortless and fulfilling experience. With a deep understanding of the high-end real estate market, Glentree can guide you effortlessly through the process of acquiring these opulent properties.

Gove’s Urban Renaissance Plans Deserve Support

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Just what are they putting in the taps at Wasteminster?

It seems that those in charge of housing policy need a nice, secure room, padded, for their own safety. As you know from these columns, the government’s approach to Britain’s housing crisis is schizoid, at best.

This week has been a proper corker.

First, our esteemed Prime Minister vows to lay off planning reforms, in a desperate bid to placate the ‘revolting’ back bench MPs and nimbyists. This is despite his promise to build a million homes by the middle of the decade, what a lovely soundbite, but still a fanciful aspiration at best.

Then Mr. Gove bursts onto centre stage and pulls a sparkling urban regeneration scheme for 20 cities out of a hat. Is this real or are we at Billy Smarts Circus?

No wonder we’re confused.

Gove’s ambitious plans for 50,000 homes in Cambridge were unveiled and immediately proclaimed “dead on arrival” by Andrew Browne, MP for South Cambridgeshire. The latter’s concern is that Cambridge will run out of water.  When will the ‘ludniks’ of the various water companies around the country at last organise a ‘water grid’ along the lines of the electricity supply arrangements, so that there will be proper distribution of water across the country instead of the present, parlous, system, where one county is like the Sahara and the other a monsoon?

He will need all the help he can get to avert an inter-party civil war.

More worryingly, the recent by-elections have shown the direction of travel of the electorate, and it appears that it’s moving away from ‘Toryville’, even though Sir Kier’s ‘Motley Crew’ could be even worse for the country.

I think that the duo of Sunak and Hunt need to change their appetite palette from mild Korma to ring burner Vindaloo, since their present timid approach to urgent government reforms is far too ‘librarianesque’ and needs to be ‘kicked up a notch or twelve’!

The festering lack of housing issue, asphyxiating regulations (as a legacy of the EU), and the intractable problems of burgeoning immigration, quite apart from hyperinflation and the cost-of-living crisis, will not be solved by timidity and restrained political correctness.

At this juncture, teetering on the edge of the political abyss, they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. You would need an electron microscope to try to find the hallelujah moment of the last four years of Tory rule, apart from the undoubted vaccine success.

Whatever you think about ‘Bumbling Boris’, his shambolic, rock-star persona was electorally very effective and as such, a good deal of Tory MPs can thank him for their present jobs.  Should loss of short-term memory deny them the truth, whatever his shortcomings may have been (and there were many), you cannot deny this undoubted record; two mayoral elections in lefty London, the Brexit vote, Leader of the Party, the Prime Minister’s job, a landslide victory in 2019 and even the Uxbridge by-election result which demonstrated that his following lingers beyond his political demise and is still tinged with stardust.

Admittedly, the ill-fated timing of the ULEZ policy by the hapless London mayor, greatly contributed to Tory success, but even so, Boris’s legacy in the constituency is tangible and real. No other politician would have such a collection of local ‘Only Fans’. Although Sunak and Hunt may be perfectly competent, their charisma bypass of plain vanilla is not going to excite the blue and red wall voters of the next Election.

If the Tories don’t awake from their sleepwalk then, by default, the lackluster opposition are going to be handed the ultimate, underserved, electoral prize. Effectively it will be Dad’s Army trying to defeat a German precision, well-armed battalion of troops.

It’s quite an achievement to make the dull-as-dishwater Sir Keir Starmer look like a winner by comparison, but I do hope that Mr. Gove succeeds with this housing initiative. Yes, he’s Johnson’s nemesis, but he’s an unstoppable force of nature and will make things happen if he is allowed.

Let’s encourage this measure since the sooner the housing problem is addressed, the better off we will all be.

Time to ditch the Death Tax

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The Tories are afraid.

Very afraid.

It’s taken them a while to realise that when Labour are polling 18% ahead of them, something is amiss. Moreover, the results of the three by-elections speak for themselves and MPs in precarious seats are updating their CVs. No wonder the Conservatives are grubbing around for scraps they can throw the Electorate. One such tasty morsel is that of ditching inheritance Tax.

Described by Labour politician Roy Jenkins (1920 – 2003) as ”…a voluntary levy paid by those who distrust their heirs more than they dislike the Inland Revenue” it’s routinely cited by Conservative voters as the least popular tax (as if there was ever such a thing as a desirable one).

It ranks somewhere below a bout of dysentery and being trapped in a lift with Rachel Reeves. Kicking its sorry backside to the economic kerb would mark Rishi’s Reprobates out as proper conservatives that allow us mere citizens to keep our own money – now there’s a radical idea.

A Loathsome Predator

The loathsome predator attacks its victims twice over. John O’Connell chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance commented that the ‘death tax’ was “…unfair, unpopular and immoral and has a detrimental impact on economic decision-making through an endless list of exemptions”.

Australia, New Zealand and Israel have already ditched their hated IHT, realising that it crimps middle-class aspirations and just sends entrepreneurs and wealth scuttling off somewhere more agreeable.

While those countries are ‘getting on with it’ economically, the Tories have been chewing over the idea since 2019, when Sajid Javid hinted that scrapping IHT was “…on his mind”. Well, that’s nice.

Frankly, we’ve been down that platitudinous path before, because like nuclear fusion, time travel and the revocation of Stamp Duty, those four years haven’t arrived. It remains to be seen whether the Tories will deliver, or whether it’s an empty manifesto bribe.

Majoring in on Minor Things

It seems the government is majoring in minor things. What’s wrong with the ability of families being able to leave their estate to their beneficiaries so that the money can be used to buy property, or anything else they fancy? The innumerate Treasury would earn considerable taxes on this consumption and will recoup some of this lost tax as the capital re-circulates into the system. At only £7 billion in receipts, the tax is barely enough to cover Therese Coffey’s cigar money and getting rid of it would earn the government a host of ‘likes’.

For example, Glentree is dealing with a number of elderly people who have sold their family house and are choosing to rent an alternative home on a long-term basis, to avoid the grievous financial harm of IHT.

The quid pro quo of giving away any tax-free capital growth (if there is any) is that the upkeep of this property becomes the responsibility of the landlord. More importantly, it keeps any private, hard-earned wealth out of the thieving hands of the next Labour Party, who like all good socialists, want to tax everything at a minimum of 100%.

By these people not purchasing an alternative property, the Exchequer is denied Stamp Duty. However, if there was no Inheritance tax this circumnavigation would not occur in the first place. It seems that whoever is Chancellor needs a Laffer Curve wrapped around their neck and pulled tight.

Raising the Threshold

Another idea is to raise the threshold that triggers Inheritance Tax from the £650,000 (for a couple) so that only the super-wealthy have to empty one of their offshore accounts.  This would rake in more readies for HMRC and would please the baying mob of lefties that want to eat the rich for breakfast after stealing all their assets.

In fact, it was Boy George Osborne who did something right for once (literally) and tried to introduce this plan. Unfortunately, this was reversed in subsequent budgets as the Tories transitioned to Blaironomics.

Property Market Being Walloped

At present, the residential property market is being walloped by the interest-rate thugs at the Bank of England. The Old (and increasingly batty) Lady of Threadneedle Street has imposed no less than 12 consecutive rate increases this year, raising it to 4.5% in May 2023. Ominously, borrowing costs are now at a stratospheric level not seen since the 2008 property catastrophe.

Ordinary people are battling Interest Rate hikes and the dramatic rises of mortgage interest loans, so any mitigation of the IHT would be a welcome bonus. It might also keep a few Tory MPs in their jobs.

Sunak, you have been warned!