Your Move estate agency employee sues firm for constructive dismissal and sexual harassment after boss allegedly offered him a blowjob if he hit targets
An estate agency firm took rewards for good performance to another level if allegations made in a Croydon courtroom this week are to be believed.
According to The Sun, Sarah Thompson, 51, who works at Your Move’s regional headquarters in Chessington offered to perform a sex act on a national financial services director at the same firm if he hit his targets.
Paul Elworthy, 45, alleges Miss Thompson stated: “If you bank £180,000, I’ll give you a blowjob” at a boozy senior consultants’ reward lunch. He added: “This was said to me in the presence of a number of people. It made me feel very uncomfortable”.
Giles Barrett, a fellow employee at Your Move – a firm that describes itself as “Britain’s most visited estate agent” – has backed up Elworthy’s claim and though the company and Miss Thompson strenuously deny the claims, a judgement is expected shortly.
Apartment in mansion block in Sloane Square for sale for £6.2 million in spite of needing updating; it is within the building from which a Mayor of Chelsea lived and departed to his death on RMS Titanic
A third floor flat in a portered mansion block on Sloane Square has gone on sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons in spite of being decorated like a relic from the 1980s. It is situated above Hugo Boss’ flagship store and within Grade II listed Wyndham House, the building from which a former Mayor of Chelsea went to his untimely death aboard the RMS Titanic in 1912.
Previously priced at £6.5 million ($8.4 million, €7.7 million or درهم30.9 million) when marketed by Russell & Simpson in February 2016, the 2,684 square foot lateral apartment includes a 30-foot long reception room, 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and features such details as ornate ceiling friezes and plasterwork and working fireplaces. A larger 5 bedroom flat within Wyndham House sold for the staggering sum of £12 million ($15.5 million, €14.2 million or درهم57 million) in July 2015 according to Land Registry records.
Wyndham House resident and Mayor of Chelsea from 1909 to 1911 Charles Head (1869 – 1912) perished aboard RMS Titanic, his body was never recovered but a sundial was erected in his memory in nearby Cadogan Place Gardens
Aside from being one of Chelsea’s grandest residential blocks, Wyndham House was at home to one of the victims of the Titanic maritime disaster in the early 1900s and it was from here that Charles Head, Mayor of Chelsea between 1909 and 1911, went to his death in April 1912. Head, a Cambridge educated barrister turned director of Head & Co. insurance brokers and underwriters at Lloyds of London, was a well known supporter of the arts, a councilor from 1906 and had only married 18 months earlier. He travelled alone on a £42 first class ticket (the equivalent of £4,400, $5,700, €5,200 or درهم20,900 today) on the Titanic’s maiden voyage and bizarrely had taken out a £25,000 insurance policy “against ocean accidents”. His precaution left his widow very well provided for given such a sum was the equivalent of £2.6 million today ($3.4 million, €3.1 million or درهم12.4 million).
Kushner family exposed for promoting their links to the Trump presidency to flog flats (with visas) to Chinese investors
Yesterday, The Washington Post, in revealing that the Kushner family are hawking properties complete with investor visas, illustrated yet another appalling example of what is fast becoming the shadiest presidential dynasty in history.
According to the paper, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s sister, Nicole Kushner Meyer, was in Beijing on Saturday to promote a New Jersey apartment complex named Kushner 1 to “a ballroom full of wealthy Chinese investors”. The event, which had been promoted with a brochure tagged: “Invest $500,000 and immigrate to the United States”.
Of the way in which the Kushner family behaved, Richard Painter, former chief White House ethics lawyer in President George W. Bush’s administration remarked:
“It’s incredibly stupid and highly inappropriate. They clearly imply that the Kushners are going to make sure you get your visa… They’re [Chinese applicants] not going to take a chance. Of course they’re going to want to invest”.
Unsurprisingly, journalists found themselves evicted from the shindig. The Kushners’ reasoning? “The presence of foreign reporters threatened the ‘stability’ of the event. This is not the story we want”.
Pictured above (left to right): Nicole Kushner Meyer, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump Kushner and Donald Trump.
Son of Kensington MP Lady Borwick’s curious connections to the people who ensured both Brexit and the election of Donald Trump revealed
On Sunday, Carole Cadwalladr of The Observer published a lengthy and well researched article that, amongst other things, examined the connections between The Hon. Thomas Borwick – the son of the Conservative hereditary peer The Rt. Hon. The Lord Borwick and Kensington’s Member of Parliament Lady ‘Call me Victoria’ Borwick – and the controversial US hedge fund titan and backer of Donald Trump, Robert Mercer.
A director of a multitude of companies, in spite of being just 29 years old, “new media expert” Thomas Borwick – whose mother was forced to apologise “after using City Hall resources to promote her husband’s [now defunct] electric vehicle business” in 2009 – it now transpires, was not only Vote Leave’s chief technology officer but previously worked with SCL/Cambridge Analytica and AggregateIQ. Borwick currently touts himself to his 202 followers on Twitter as the founder of a political canvasing consultancy named Kan.to, an organisation that he boldy claims “will out-organise, out-plan, out-leaflet, out-twitter, out-work and out-vote all of its opponents”.
Mercer, one of the owners of the far-right Breitbart News Network as well as being a major shareholder in Cambridge Analytica, is a man whose “sinister” connections to both Trump and Nigel Farage have rightly been widely criticised. On that basis, that the son of fervent Brexiteer Lady Borwick – a woman whose constituents voted 69% to ‘Remain’ and whose domain was home to a greater proportion of EU nationals than any other London borough in 2016 – has links to this billionaire and his activities should only encourage the voters of Kensington to ditch her and her out-of-touch party.
We urge Kensington based readers to support Annabel Mullin of the Liberal Democrats on 8th June. This principled lady is the only person who can realistically unseat Lady Borwick and she is the only candidate who will support the beliefs the majority in this constituency continue to hold dear.
Grade I listed Georgian mansion in Worcestershire for sale for the first time since the 1720s
Few houses remain in the ownership of the same family for three hundred years, but an example of such, Ombersley Court at Ombersley in Worcestershire, has just been placed on the market for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million).
Designed and built for the 1st Lord Sandys by the master builder Francis Smith of Warwick between 1723 and 1730, Ombersley Court was substantially alerted by the landscape architect John Webb in 1809. Grade I listed and featuring impressive entertaining spaces, the 27,449 square foot house comes with a 13,188 square foot Grade II* listed stable complex and 39 acres of land. A further 11 acres and a three bedroom cottage are available as separate lots.
Richard Michael Oliver Hill, 7th Baron Sandys of Ombersley (1942 – 2013) accompanying the Queen on her inspection of the Yeoman of the GuardAn image of Ombersley Court before the service extension that provided kitchen and staff accommodation (right) was demolished in 1964
“With the death of Lord Sandys in 2013 the house passed to Lady Sandys but following her recent death, concerns were raised and rebutted via letters in Country Life that this wonderful house would be forced (for complicated reasons) to become a care home; a fate which would have despoiled this jewel of a house. Instead, for the first time since it was built in 1724, it has been placed on the market. This is a house created by one of the finest craftsmen of the early-Georgian period, with connections to a wider, distinct Midlands architectural tradition which epitomises all that one would hope to see in a country seat”.
“As an important house which deserves respect, one hopes that the new owner will appreciate this remarkable situation and that perhaps the best approach would simply be to buy the house and contents and perhaps another couple hundred acres to truly secure an Arcadian ideal, one which would be hard to better anywhere in the country”.
Pint sized studio house for sale for £70,000; it’s unmortgageable and undoubtedly “one of Britain’s smallest detached properties”
A glorified garden shed in Edgeley, Stockport has gone on sale for £70,000 ($90,900, €82,600 or درهم333,800). Available only to cash buyers as it is “not deemed a suitable security for mortgage lending purposes”, the 176 square foot “bijou studio unit” is described “as niche as it gets”.
Marketed by Joules Estate Agents as “the smallest house we have ever sold” and as one “with the biggest heart”, the property consists of a living room, kitchen and shower room with an open plan bed deck over access via a fixed ladder.
Outside, ‘The Studio’, as it is known, has a small courtyard garden with raised beds and a toolshed. Joules describe that “as an oasis hidden from view”.
17th century Buckinghamshire farmstead requiring complete renovation for sale for £5 million
A 17th century farmhouse just 28 miles from Central London has gone on sale for £5 million ($6.5 million, €5.9 million or درهم23.7 million) in spite of being “in need of updating” through agents The Frost Partnership.
Dean Farm at Jordans, near Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire was built on the site of a 12th century farmstead and includes not only a listed 4 reception room, 5 bedroom main house but also a 2 bedroom annexe and a 2 bedroom and a 1 bedroom cottage. Within the grounds are a 117-foot long listed tithe barn, a listed granary, a gardener’s studio and a double garage.
The semi-rural freehold property stands on a plot of 6.4 acres of gardens and paddocks and comes with a further 3.7 acres of leasehold land.
The 1,503 square foot flat in Penywern Road, Earl’s Court is described as “spectacular” and “at tranquil oasis with an atmosphere and grandeur reminiscent of one of Britain’s great countryside estates” by selling agents Russell Simpson.
Featuring a grand reception room, a bar, a dining kitchen, two bedrooms and two bathrooms, the share of freehold property is situated within a stucco fronted building that gives little indication of what lies within.
Conversion of “one of Europe’s first purpose-built office blocks” for sale; £3.5 million Grade II* listed Georgian house in Bath literally straddles a canal
Some people dream of living beside a lake or a river, but a Grade II* listed detached property recently placed on the market in Bath gives anyone with £3.5 million ($4.2 million, €4.5 million or درهم16.6 million) to spare the opportunity to literally live above a man-made waterway.
Cleveland House – originally known as Canal House – stands on top of a bridge and tunnel that straddles the Kennet & Avon Canal and in spite of being built as “one of Europe’s first purpose-built office blocks” has a look that is very much “Georgian domestic”. The limestone ashlar, three-storey building was constructed to the designs of one of Bath’s greatest architects, John Pinch the Elder (1769 – 1827), between 1817 and 1820 and served as the canal’s management headquarters until 1864.
Converted next to residential usage and then requisitioned for government use in 1939, the building again reverted to office usage. A property developer named Trevor Osborne then acquired it and commenced a transformation into what is described as “a truly exceptional Bath residence” in 2015.
Aside from 7,218 square foot of accommodation, including 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, what makes Cleveland House truly remarkable are its entertaining spaces. The 30-foot long former company boardroom, complete with a 20-foot high newly repainted domed ceiling, is now the house’s drawing room and in addition there is a formal dining room and a library. Whilst a fully prepared cinema room and wine cellars are housed in the basement, other points of note are a large, newly built family room, a first floor roof terrace and garaging for four cars.
Seriously expensive waterfront building plot goes on sale outside San Francisco; it comes with plans for the perfect home for a tech titan
14.5 acres of forested land with 2,000 feet of frontage to San Francisco Bay shoreline has gone on sale for what could be one of the highest prices ever for a single residence building plot in Northern California.
2800 Paradise Drive in Tiburon, Marin County comes with planning permission for a 16,000 square foot main residence, a 2,200 square foot guest house and a 700 square foot caretaker’s cottage and is also described as ‘The Bluff Point Estate’. It is situated six miles east of the US 101 Tiburon Boulevard interchange and is described as being “within minutes of downtown Tiburon and the Golden Gate Bridge”.
A rendering of the proposed house at 2800 Paradise Drive, Tiburon Peninsula, Marin County, California, CA 94920, United States of AmericaAn aerial view of the entire plotReal estate investor Maxwell Drever pictured at the adjoining Drever Estate, Paradise Drive, Tiburon in 2012
The last remaining piece of land of this size to remain undeveloped in this area is adjoined by the palatial Drever Estate – which, according to SF Luxe’s Damion Matthews, was marketed for $37 million in 2010 (the equivalent of $41 million, £31.7 million, €37.6 million or درهم150.6 million today) by Concierge Asset Management chairman Maxwell Drever and his wife, Janice. It is described as providing an opportunity to create “a world class super low density single owner residential estate”.
Offered by Bill Bullock and Lydia Sarkissian of Global Estates Decker Bullock Sotheby’s International Realty, 2800 Paradise Drive is vacant, entirely fenced and has a dirt fire access road. It includes native oak, bay, eucalyptus and pine woodland, sandy beaches and proposed designs by Booth Hansen architects of Chicago illustrate a 6 reception room, 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom residence that will come with “an art gallery entrance, a swimming pool, a terrace garden and a photovoltaic renewable energy (solar) collection area”.
2800 Paradise Drive will likely be sold to a Bay Area tech titan seeking the ultimate in “privacy and security”. They’ll need to have £36.3 million ($47 million, €43.1 million or درهم172.7 million) spare (before building costs).
