BBCThe owner of a multi-million pound penthouse on Park Lane, central London, has been in an eight-year legal battle with companies owned by the late Mohamed Al Fayed and his family, the BBC has found.
The dispute began as a wrangle over a legal agreement relating to the installation of a new lift more than 20 years ago.
Since then, it has escalated into a row alleging leaky roofs, botched refurbishments and claims that a noisy lift was “maliciously” run at night to disturb the penthouse owner’s sleep.
Lawyers for both parties declined to comment.
The row at the exclusive Mayfair address – documented in High Court filings – shines a light on the way some business dealings were conducted in Mohamed Al Fayed’s empire in the years before he died.
Throughout his life, he was known for his combative approach, frequently resorting to legal action to resolve disagreements.
The luxury penthouse at the centre of this dispute is owned by Alan and Rosaleen Hodson. He is a property developer whose company has built thousands of homes in south-east England.
It is on the top floor of 55 Park Lane, known as “Hyde Park Residence”, a large apartment building in a prime spot – right next to the exclusive Dorchester Hotel.
The building’s website promises “an atmosphere of warmth and calm with the best of London living”. A four-bedroom apartment is currently on sale for £8.5m.
In 2003, the Mail on Sunday described the address as having “sensational” views across Hyde Park and a “marble entrance foyer [that] has to be seen to be believed”.
However, walking past the building gives a different impression. Some might consider it a little shabby for such a premium location, with peeling paint and a missing sign above the door.
Hyde Park Residence has been owned by the Fayed family since the 1980s, through Prestige Properties (PP), a company based in Liechtenstein.
This has been “under the control and held for the benefit of” Mohamed Al Fayed’s estate and family since his death in 2023, according to the accounts of a subsidiary company filed in the UK. Al Fayed’s widow Heini Wathen-Fayed is a director of this subsidiary called Hyde Park Residence Ltd, which manages some of the apartments.
Dave M Benett/Getty ImagesAl Fayed’s son Dodi, who died in a car crash alongside Princess Diana in 1997, reportedly used to have a flat there.
When Mohamed Al Fayed owned Harrods, he would sometimes let managers and directors live in the block, and the neighbouring building, 60 Park Lane, which he also owned.
In 2024, the BBC spoke to 13 women who said Fayed sexually assaulted them at 60 Park Lane. Four of them said they were raped.
Leaky roofs
The first issue emerged soon after Mr Hodson bought the penthouse in 2004, according to court documents seen by the BBC.
Mr Hodson made extensive improvements to the apartment when he moved in – modifying the kitchen, upgrading the roof terraces, and putting in a new lift so he wouldn’t have to use a flight of stairs to access the property.
An agreement giving him legal ownership of his new lift – by updating his lease – wasn’t honoured by Liechtenstein-based PP, Mr Hodson claimed.
Like many large buildings, the ownership of Hyde Park Residence is complicated.
The freeholder of the building is the Grosvenor Estate, which has extensive landholdings in central London. The Al Fayed family’s company PP has the right to use it for the next 110 years.
This leasehold arrangement, though time-limited, is considered a form of ownership.
Grosvenor should have been asked for permission before these improvements were started. But permission was not requested – although it agreed in 2006 to grant permission retrospectively for a payment of £100,000, which Prestige Properties paid.
Then, in 2014, Mr Hodson began to be bothered by noise from two of the buildings’ lifts. Despite his complaints, the noise grew worse, he argued, until in 2015 the building managers agreed to suspend use of one of the troublesome lifts at night.
And in 2016, the two parties fell out further. PP demanded that Mr Hodson contribute £80,000 towards the money paid to the Grosvenor Estate, some years earlier.
The following year, the Hodson’s took PP and two other Fayed-controlled companies to the High Court asking for a list of grievances to be met and damages paid.
Among the issues, Mr Hodson said that he had wanted to extend the flat, adding a floor. He had spent £180,000 developing a plan, but PP denied him permission to build it, despite initially encouraging the plan – his lawyers claimed.
PP’s lawyers argued the company hadn’t given Mr Hodson permission to extend his property. They said that, as a property developer, he should have known that he wouldn’t get permission without paying PP, as the landlord, millions of pounds.
Mr Hodson said that as a result of this dispute, PP allowed people to start using a noisy lift again, disturbing his sleep, which he thought was a “malicious and deliberate” response to a letter of complaint. He said on one night the lift was used 23 times between midnight and 02:00.
He also complained of poor repair work, which he said left him with a leaky roof and damage to his roof terraces.
The dispute still hasn’t been resolved. In March this year, there was another court filing from Mr Hodson claiming “the roof is still leaking. The lift is still making excessive noise… The corridors and lobby have never been finished following refurbishment.”
Lawyers for PP argue in reply that the noise from the lift is at “acceptable levels” and deny that it was restarted maliciously. They admit water leaked but say their clients have taken all reasonable steps to stop it.
PP is counterclaiming £344,000 in ground rent, plus another £286,000 of interest and costs.
The sums are trivial compared to Mohamed Al Fayed’s wealth, estimated at £1.7bn at the time of his death. And it is remarkable that a dispute of this kind should have dragged on for so long.
But Al Fayed was known for never giving an inch to those he fell out with – and that approach seems to be continuing even after his death.
Alan Hodson, Heini Wathen-Fayed, PP, and Grosvenor Estate declined to comment.
