When an Indian clothing tycoon and his Bollywood actress wife bought a run-down mansion for £21million three years ago, it barely raised an eyebrow among the wealthy residents of Notting Hill.
Soon after purchasing the 200-year-old west London property in 2023, billionaire Anand Ahuja, 42, and Sonam Kapoor, who has 33million Instagram followers, submitted plans to completely gut it.
They proposed to tear out everything internally, keeping just the four outer walls, and build a basement swimming pool as well as a subterranean basketball court.
Save for some disruption and a bit of building noise, the residents living in ‘Hillcrest’ – a block of flats adjoining the property – didn’t think they had any cause for concern.
What followed has been a three-year planning row with objections appeals flying back and forth until the billionaire couple finally got planning approval.
But at what cost?
Fast forward to the present day and the fallout from those objections is clear.
Those same residents have accused their wealthy neighbours of purchasing five flats in their block for a total of around £4million which they say will be used as ‘servants’ quarters’.
Indian clothing tycoon Anand Ahuja and his Bollywood star wife Sonam Kapoor are at loggerheads with residents of a block of flats next to their £21million Notting Hill home
Soon after buying the 200-year-old property in 2023 the couple submitted plans to tranform it
Their plans essentially involved stripping out everything from the property except for the outer four walls – and building a basement swimming pool and a subterranean basketball court
As well as transform the house, a company linked to the couple bought up five flats worth a total of £4million in an adjoining block called ‘Hillcrest’ which residents say will be used as ‘servants’ quarters’ for staff employed to work at the couple’s magnificent property
The residents who spoke to the Daily Mail today claim the five flats bought by a company linked to the couple could lead to undue influence over the management board of their block to approve their renovation designs.
The firm also bought the block’s garage, which is currently used as storage – but could host some of the pair’s car collection.
But when the locals spoke out about their concerns, they claim they were warned in a private meeting with a company spokesman that if they kicked up a fuss the flats would be made available for ‘social housing’.
In an email exchange between residents and Shahi Exports seen by the Daily Mail, it was suggested any publication of an article detailing concerns could allegedly lead to this outcome.
One homeowner told us: ‘We’re being made to feel afraid of speaking out just because they’re powerful.
‘We’ve formed a sense of community here and that’s changing because some billionaires want to make our home another playground.
‘That will change even more if they let people in from what they call ‘social housing’. It’s a weird threat. The whole thing stinks.
‘There’s nobody even living in some of the flats now. Some are being done up. But behind the scenes they have a say on what happens here.
‘How is that acceptable?’
Another resident said legal letters had previously been sent by homeowners from some of the 23 flats at Hillcrest over next door’s plans.
They said: ‘We are afraid of speaking out because we don’t want to get sued by billionaires. They have already made threats after some of us spoke to the press.
‘Their plans were approved by the council two weeks ago so now we are dreading the noise. There is a border wall all the way down this property.
‘They now have four voting shares in our building and there’s only 23 flats.
‘They have had a rotating cast of people, call them staff or servants, who have been changing in one flat all the time.
‘Two weeks ago their building plans were approved. There was a big planning battle and it was taken to an appeal.
‘We imagine work will start imminently.
‘I guess this is the changing face of London. Living next to a billionaire, there is this sense of entitlement.
‘You get the sense they feel they can do whatever they want. And we always had rules about how people can renovate a building and how you are meant to interact with the managing agent.
‘But when people come with this kind of money, they are just not doing what used to be done anymore.’
Their couple are said to have already spent £4.7million on works at the mansion.
Another resident defended the pair, saying ‘this is part and parcel of life in a city like London’, adding: ‘It’s like a storm in a teacup’.
They maintained that their new neighbours have acted reasonably.
Kapoor, 40, has starred in a series of big titles in Bollywood and is daughter of Anil Kapoor, 69, who played the gameshow host in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.
A third-generation Bollywood star, her latest film came in 2023 and she has promoted brands such as Dior and Lancome on her social media.
The Bollywood actress, 40, boasts 33million followers on Instagram and is the daughter of of Anil Kapoor, 69, who played the gameshow host in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire
Tension has been building in that quiet corner of Notting Hill over Kapoor and Ahuja’s grand plans to renovate their £21million west London mansion
The couple are said to have already spent close to £5million on renovations to the property, pictured through its side gate, after a planning row which dragged on for years
Ahuja is involved with his billionaire family’s firm Shahi Exports, a clothing manufacturer.
The power couple also own homes in Delhi and Mumbai, as well as a flat and studio in Notting Hill that featured in an Architectural Digest video.
A representative for the couple said that Kapoor had no direct involvement in the company that purchased the flats and they were acquired for investment purposes.
They were contacted for further comment.
