Thread by @thisisinsider

[THREAD]👇

The 66 mansions on London's 'Billionaires Row' – the Bishops Avenue – are worth a combined $620 million.

@billbostockUK investigates the homes once lived in by swindlers, exotic royals, industrial tycoons...and briefly @justinbieber.

insider.com/inside-london-…

The first few mansions on the street already became known as 'Millionaires Row' as early as the 1930s. Its early residents include Hollywood star Gracie Fields, and Prince William's godfather Constantine II.

The road very quickly gained a reputation for excess.

Today, these incredibly pricey homes stand empty. Research by Insider found that 60% of them are owned by shell corporations registered in foreign tax havens like Panama and the Bahamas.

Hard to scrutinize, the homes are magnets for those keen to stash large amounts of money.

This is why The Bishops Avenue is both the poshest and shabbiest neighborhood – next to the beautiful mansions bought at exorbitant prices, are homes falling apart.

The Towers has been uninhabited for years, and is now rotten and overgrown.

insider.com/london-billion…

Shell corporation owners, unlike regular buyers, can buy and sell their homes without paying heavy taxes to the UK government.

Buying shares of an offshore shell company means the tax due on either side of the sale (the seller's 28% tax and the UK Stamp Duty Tax) is zero.

Author @SalmanRushdie lived at 9 The Bishops Avenue in secret for almost a decade under the protection of the UK government.

This was after Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a call to kill him.

insider.com/london-billion…

Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal put his $20.5 billion wealth to use when he bought the Summer Palace – an 11-bedroom mansion worth $11 million.

But he struggled to sell it in the early 2000s, and spent years renting it out at $16,000 a week.

insider.com/london-billion…

.@justinbieber even rented Heath Hall for $140,000 a month during his iconic 'Purpose' tour in 2016, and joined in with the distinguished Highgate School's soccer training on the playing fields at the end of the road.

insider.com/london-billion…

Explore more houses and their histories of luxury, scandal and murder, with our interactive map here 📌

insider.com/inside-london-…