Mystery new West Ham signing renting £7,000-a-week Bishops Avenue mega mansion
Alongside a multi-million pound employment contract, one of West Ham United’s newest signings has also added his signature to a rental agreement to the tune of almost £7,000 per week.
The international player is moving to London with his family and has opted for the nine-bedroom mansion on The Bishops Avenue, agreeing to the asking rent, according to Oliver Kent at Vita Properties, who oversaw the deal.
The north London road, dubbed Billionaires’ Row is part of an enclave that has long attracted Premier League players, with Olivier Giroud, Hugo Lloris and Mesut Ozil among those who have called the high profile area home.
Partly this is due to familiarity – “for players coming from abroad, they want to live near people they know from the same country or speaking the same language. They don’t want to feel too isolated when they arrive”, explained Mr Kent.
His client moved to this particular property in part because the previous tenant was a friend and fellow footballer.
The Bishops Avenue is also well-placed for the M1 and the North Circular, making it easy to reach the north and east London clubs' training grounds, as well as the West End.
But as a road its reputation has suffered due to heavy traffic and a disproportionate number of empty properties and absentee owners leaving their mega mansions to crumble and fall into disrepair.
“It’s a funny road, it’s quite congested and a bit of a cut-through from East Finchley all the way up to Hampstead,” said Mr Kent.
It has survived as a premium address largely thanks to prestige by association, with King Constantine II of Greece, François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek, Justin Bieber, and Richard Desmond all having claimed addresses on the road.
“We used to call it a letterhead road, there was an element of prestige and substance behind owning a property on the Bishops Avenue,” he said.
“A lot of properties on Bishops Avenue aren’t built to rent, they are built to sell. Generally footballers like turn key, something that’s got an in-house gym, something gated, private.”
The property in question offers footballer-friendly features including a basement pool, gym, spa and cinema as well as staff quarters, and enough space for the player and his family.
Aside from having the right amenities, you need to get the timing right if you really want a footballer tenant. “If you want to target a footballer for a letting you have to do it in the transfer window.”
According to Mr Kent most incoming players prefer to rent when they first move because they come on a two- or three-year contract but many end up buying for the investment potential.
North London's Premier League owners include Samir Nasri, who bought a flat in Hampstead before moving to Manchester City and renting it out, Thierry Henry, and fellow Frenchman Patrick Vieira, who both retained footholds in the area through transfer windows and retirement.
