You can live opposite Queen Elizabeth II for £47,000 per week
A palatial mansion opposite Buckingham Palace is available to rent for £2.4m for a year, provided the resident purchases the property if they like it.
The "try before you buy" £47,000 per week rental arrangement gives potential buyers a test run before committing to the £76.5m price tag. In addition to the Grade II-listed mansion, residents have access to a sister penthouse for guests or staff.
The 15,000 square feet (sq ft) mansion at No. 6 Buckingham Gate was once the home of HSBC founder and P&O chairman Sir Thomas Sutherland.
Converted into offices in 1925, it has now been restored into a luxurious private residence. The penthouse originally belonged to Viscount Gladstone, son of Prime Minister William Gladstone.
The mansion is split over seven levels and has a health spa, gym and eight-person lift to all floors. At 2,000 sq ft the master bedroom suite is more than twice the size of the average three-bedroom home in the UK.
Becky Fatemi, managing director of Rokstone, the estate agent handling the deal, said: “This prestigious try-before-you-buy offer is ideal for an ultra-wealthy international family from overseas who, relocating to London, decide that they want to rent the mansion and penthouse initially, prior to making a decision to purchase them outright.
“The deal works for both parties, giving the new tenants a London home and time to get to know the property, yet also providing the vendor with rental income.”
Try before you buy deals on prime London properties have become more common in recent years due to the large cost of stamp duty on prime properties and uncertainty around Brexit, according to Rokstone.
Fatemi said there have been 14 of these deals for values over £60,000 per month in the last five years.