Downton Abbey was an historical TV drama released on 26th September 2010. It centres around the aristocratic Crawley family who live in a Yorkshire country estate between 1912 and 1926 and depicts the lives of the Crawley family and their domestic staff.
In the sixth and last series, we see the rise of the middle class and the decline of the aristocratic way of life as taxes are raised and the costs of running large estates increased. Many aristocratic families went bankrupt and were forced to sell off their land and possessions to pay off their debts.
Set in the 1920s their problems seem very quaint, but the lessons of history as they relate to large estates are often repeated.
I have advised many families over several decades and see the same problems cropping up repeatedly. The traditional way to own a substantial estate is…
…for the eldest male to inherit both the house and the business – such as a farm, and for the other children to make their own way in life
But this format is often resisted by families who want to treat their children fairly – but if families want to keep the mansion for the children to share or leave it to one without the funds to maintain it, disaster will ensue.
The Johnson family decided to leave the house to the eldest son and the substantial farm to the second. The result was that the house fell into disrepair as Arnie the eldest son who inherited the house struggled to maintain it without sufficient income to support it. Meanwhile the second son, Archie, who lived in a modest home but had considerable income lived in comparative luxury.
In another case, uncle Anderson left the mansion and its possessions in trust for his nephew John, the eldest son who worked hard all his life to build up significant reserves to fund the maintenance and repair of the house which was his pride and joy. On the death of Uncle Anderson John inherited the house, but his wife of many decades declared that she was not prepared to live in the mansion because it was uncomfortable, cold and draftee. She issued a divorce petition.
The divorce was protracted and messy, but ultimately the Judge declared that the house was John’s, even though it was held in trust, so he was unable to sell it, and the significant funds he had accumulated to pay for the upkeep of the building and its maintenance should go to his wife!!
The same problems crop up everywhere in the world.
Patrick bought an estate in Mexico which was his pride and joy. He and his wife, Mary would visit at every opportunity and when the children were young would take them there for long holidays with their friends.
Patrick assumed – like so many founders of fortunes with substantial estates, that ‘happy days’ in Mexico would continue for the family and so he left the estate to his wife and three children, Matt, Jen and Damien.
But by the time Patrick died his three children were married with children of their own and each had a very different attitude to the Mexican estate, one wanted to keep it, one wanted to sell it and one wanted to sell part. Mary, Patrick’s widow was distraught to see her family so divided and it pained her that they could not bear to be in the same room, let alone the same estate.
Then of course there is the tricky topic of taxation.
I was instructed by Mubarak and his wife Jane to review the ownership of their three homes in London. He bought his Mayfair home twenty years ago and it had gained in value by six million pounds, the second home was in Knightsbridge which he had bought last year, and this had not gained in value and the third was in Kensington which he was about to acquire.
I told him that under UK tax law, there was a relief from capital gains tax at 28% on the gain on a home which was a main or only residence, but this relief was only available for people who were resident in the UK.
Patrick had two daughters living in London and he was happy to transfer the ownership of a home to each of his daughters, provided they could not sell them. However, if he gave his Mayfair home to his daughter capital gains tax would be payable on the gain as if it had been sold at market value. He could however keep it and avoid capital gains tax if he still owned it on his death.
However, the entire value of the property would then be subject to inheritance tax at 40%. This could be avoided if he then left this home to his wife in trust. After his death the home could then be sold the proceeds taken offshore and the tax avoided since there is an exemption for gifts between spouses and for property gifted which is outside the UK if the settlor was non-UK domiciled at the time.
The other two houses could be given one to each daughter in trust, so they could not sell it and provided he lived seven years, no tax would be payable on the capital value of the properties on his death. Tax planning is still possible, legal and well worth the exercise.
The third area in which value can be haemorrhaged out of homes is in paying excessive fees for their maintenance and upkeep. It is not unusual to see staff or administrative personnel charge excessive fees, take backhanders from contractors, steal or in other ways take advantage.
This is where good governance comes in.
Jacob had a stunning chalet in Switzerland and a villa in Portugal. He appointed a local firm to maintain each one and they contracted with third parties to clean, maintain and provide domestic staff when Jacob and his family came to stay.
Jacob’s personal assistant Josh was reviewing the accounts of the homes one day and was surprised to see that the cost of maintaining and running the Portugese home was considerably more than the cost of the Swiss home. I was appointed by Josh to review the outgoings and contractual arrangements.
It was clear from a review of the accounts that the Spanish contractors were being paid considerably higher fees than the contractors in Switzerland.
We reviewed the contracts and put the work out to tender using local private client professionals which we drew upon from our extensive network of private client professionals in Caroline’s Club. Through our network we were able to find an independent property manager to review all the works and services which were required on an ongoing basis and to make sure that each was operated in a professional and honest manner.
Good governance is the monitoring and review of every professional involved in the management of each asset class through effective contracts and regular reporting. Done well it can save millions and lead to considerable peace of mind.
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