Abstract:
Recently, a set of latest on-site photos of Xu Jiayin’s London mansion have been circulated online. The pictures are quite absurd. The porch and steps of this mansion adjacent to Hyde Park are packed to the brim with all kinds of dried flowers, branded shopping bags, old furniture, toys, umbrellas, and tents, piled up like a flea market. A 57-year-old homeless man has lived here for about three years, using the mansion’s porch as his warehouse and residence.
But the value of the house itself is not low.
According to previous Caixin reports, the mansion has a usable area of 5,760 square meters, seven floors, 45 rooms, four elevators, an indoor swimming pool and 116 windows, 68 of which overlook Hyde Park. The last transaction was worth 210 million pounds, or about 1.884 billion yuan, setting a British residential transaction record at the time.
The property rights are registered under the name of a company controlled by Ding Yumei, the "ex-wife" of Xu Jiayin, the former actual controller of Evergrande Group. When the transaction was completed in 2020, the publicly reported buyer was the family office of Hong Kong real estate developer Zhang Songqiao, but the actual buyer was Hui Jiayin. After Evergrande's debt crisis broke out in 2022, the two were said to have "technically divorced."
Many self-media made use of the topic, saying that Xu Jiayin's mansion was "occupied" by homeless people. They also quoted the British "adverse possession" system and claimed that homeless people could become homeowners after living there for a long time. But the truth is less exaggerated.
It is understood that the homeless man did not enter the interior of the mansion, but only set up temporary shelter on the exterior porch and steps of the house. As for the so-called "adverse possession", registered land usually needs to be occupied for at least 10 years before it is eligible to apply. After the application, the owner and relevant interested parties will be notified and can object. The homeless man only moved around on the porch, and there was no evidence of entering or controlling the interior of the mansion, which was far from the legal threshold for obtaining ownership of the entire property.
Under UK law, it is illegal to enter and occupy a home without permission and is punishable by up to 6 months in prison and a £5,000 fine.
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