Billionaire Lists £250-M Mansion After Declaring "UK’s Gone To Hell"

A billionaire shipping tycoon who declared that the UK had “gone to hell” has put his £250-million London mansion up for sale after fleeing Britain.

Fredriksen (leftmost) said Reeves’s tax policies have driven him to relocate to the United Arab Emirates. I Photo: Dario Cantatore / NYSE Euronext / New York Stock Exchange Facebook

John Fredriksen, a Norwegian marine magnate, is reportedly selling his 300-year-old Georgian manor in Chelsea just weeks after criticizing Chancellor Rachel Reeves for abolishing the non-dom regime, The Telegraph reported.

The property, known as the Old Rectory, is one of Britain’s most expensive homes, featuring two acres of gardens and 10 bedrooms spread across 30,000 square feet.

It is now set to hit the market with a £250-million price tag, with viewings already underway, The Times reported.

Fredriksen—who was previously the UK’s ninth-richest individual with a £13.7-billion fortune—bought the property in 2001 for around £40 million. The 81-year-old businessman, originally from Oslo, Norway, said Reeves’s tax policies had driven him to relocate to the United Arab Emirates.

“The entire Western world is on its way down,” he said, adding that the UK is “starting to remind me more and more of Norway. Britain has gone to hell, like Norway.” He also criticized the U.S. under Donald Trump, calling the former president’s trade war “completely hopeless.”

The sale comes amid forecasts that the UK will lose more millionaires this year than any other country—likely fueling further high-end property sell-offs.

Last year, Reeves raised taxes on the global elite by abolishing non-dom status and tightening inheritance tax rules. The non-dom policy had allowed foreigners to pay tax only on their UK income, shielding global earnings from taxation.

According to Henley & Partners, the UK is projected to lose 16,500 millionaires this year due to the changes—up from 10,800 in 2024.