19 November 2024, 16:16 | Updated: 19 November 2024, 16:31
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South Coast News
Pink Floyd legend David Gilmour is attempting to sell a £10 million mansion which he doesn’t legally own.
78-year-old Gilmour recently uncovered a legal oversight which showed that the six-bedroom property he and his wife Polly Samson have lived in for years is actually owned by the Crown, The Daily Mail reports.
He is now suing the government to amend the mistake, so he can sell the property.
Gilmour first bought Medina House, a converted women’s public baths overlooking the sea, in 2011 through his former company Hoveco Ltd.
He was sole director of the firm, which dissolved in 2014, but due to an oversight ownership wasn’t transferred to him.
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Alamy
UK law states that unless business assets are transferred before a company is dissolved, the assets instantly became ‘bono vacantia’ – vacant goods – and belong to the Crown instead.
Gilmour has lived in the property with 62-year-old Samson for years, and says the house was not put into his name due to an accidental error.
He has now gone to the High Court in London, where he is suing the Attorney General.
His request is for a court order which would transfer the house into his name, so he can finally sell it.
Legal experts have stated that this problem is extremely rare.
Nick Brett, Partner at Brett Wilson LLP told MailOnline: “Imagine thinking you own a house for over a decade, particularly one worth £10-15 million, but then when you want to sell it, you discover you can’t because in fact technically legal ownership may have passed to the State.
“It must have come as a huge shock when he found out. It’s an extraordinary situation that is also incredibly rare.”
Medina House spans 6,284 square feet and features a courtyard, covered garden, four bathrooms and four reception rooms, which are set across three floors.
In addition, there is a wine store, a snug, a library and a reception room which includes a dining room measuring 49 feet.
His legal action is the latest development in the property saga thats has been beset with issues.
The original property was a Turkish baths known as Medina Baths and was constructed in Victorian times.
However, after the bath, it’s men-only neighbour became disregarded and was occupied by squatters.
Then the building was demolished following two fires.
Neighbours protested when Gilmour and Samson, 61, tried to turn the bathhouses into a mega mansion family home.
Some neighbours complained that the light to their own properties would be affected as the new building was higher than its predecessor.
Gilmour and Samson’s plans were criticised, and called “appalling and disrespectful”, with opponents labelling the plan ‘Polly’s Folly’.
However, Brighton & Hove Planning officer Liz Arnold said that while some residents would receive less light, this was counteracted by the benefits to the conservation area in bringing a derelict site back into use.
In 2017 the plans were approved by a single vote.
Once the house was constructed, many neighbours began to change their mind about the property and conceded that an eyesore had been transformed.
It’s closeby to Hove’s so-called ‘Millionaire’s Row’ at the end of Western Esplanade which has welcomed several A-listers over the years, such as Adele, David Walliams and Fatboy Slim.
The Gilmours put Medina on the market for £15 million in 2022 but later reduced the price to £10 million.
At this stage the legal complexity was revealed, meaning it could not be sold until that issue was resolved.
With assets exceeding £16 million, Gilmour won’t be troubled by the legal costs needed for his court action to regularise ownership of the property.