While stressing he doesn’t want to ‘moan,’ Sir Terry Wogan’s son has hit out at the difficulties he’s facing in selling his national treasure dad’s £3.75 million home boasting views of Windsor Castle. Mark Wogan says the lack of viewings, let alone buyers, for the mansion he grew up in is “indicative of where we are as a country”.
Mr Wogan bemoaned the law saying inheritance tax must be paid within six months of a death otherwise interest on the tax must be paid, saying: “I think if dad was alive, he would be thinking, ‘Well, why did I go to all the trouble of making sure I handed over a debt free asset to my family?’”
The house in Taplow in Buckinghamshire has been on the market since November but has not had a single viewing.
Lady Helen died last year, passing it on to their children, but the tax bill is so large they cannot afford to keep it. Speaking on ITV ’s Good Morning Britain, Wogan said: “I just think it’s indicative of where we are as a country, the housing market is always a barometer of where we are.
“My brother and I have had a business since 2003 together. We’ve grown businesses, we’ve employed lots of people. We’ve done our absolute best to create a living and a business.
“I’m not a moany person, and I’m not moaning about this situation. I’m just drawing attention to it. You sort of go, ‘Well, why would I bother accumulating it? Why would I bother growing a business? Why would I bother?’
“It sort of takes a little bit of the impetus out of the country. We are a nation of shopkeepers at the end of the day.”
He continued: “It was a fantastic family home for us. Nothing would give us greater pleasure as a family than to be able to hold on to it, but we can’t, because the tax on it is large. And I think if dad was alive, he would be thinking, ‘well, why did I go to all the trouble of making sure I handed over a debt free asset to my family?’
Addressing the fact the tax must be paid before the house is sold, he said: “The tax is the tax, I do believe in taxation. I do believe in fair tax for everyone. But why do we have to pay it up front?”
The gated Edwardian house, named Hitcham Close, offers 6,500 square feet of accommodation, with seven bedrooms and five reception rooms, a tennis court, swimming pool and landscaped gardens, according to the selling agent.
Wogan said: “I don’t want to come across as ‘Poor me, I cannot sell this house’. This is not where I’m coming from.”
He added: “The Chancellor came up in the conversation about this potential mansion tax and somebody said ‘that might slow the property market down’. And I said, ‘Slow it down? It’s dead already.’
“I said ‘I put a national institution’s house on the market with my family, and not so much as a tyre kicker around the place.’ So it’s more about how it’s a reflection of the state of everything.”
Looking for more from MyLondon? Subscribe to our daily newsletters here for the latest and greatest updates from across London.
