The owner of a multi-million pound penthouse on Park Lane, central London, has been in an eight-year legal battle with companies owned by the late Mohamed Al Fayed and his family. The dispute began as a wrangle over a legal agreement relating to the installation of a new lift more than 20 years ago. Since then, it has escalated into a row alleging leaky roofs, botched refurbishments and claims that a noisy lift was “maliciously” run at night to disturb the penthouse owner’s sleep.
The luxury penthouse at the centre of this dispute is owned by Alan and Rosaleen Hodson. He is a property developer whose company has built thousands of homes in south-east England. The penthouse is on the top floor of 55 Park Lane, known as “Hyde Park Residence”, a large apartment building in a prime spot – right next to the exclusive Dorchester Hotel.
Hyde Park Residence has been owned by the Fayed family since the 1980s, through Prestige Properties (PP), a company based in Liechtenstein. This has been “under the control and held for the benefit of” Mohamed Al Fayed’s estate and family since his death in 2023. Al Fayed’s widow Heini Wathen-Fayed is a director of a subsidiary company called Hyde Park Residence Ltd, which manages some of the apartments.
The first issue emerged soon after Mr Hodson bought the penthouse in 2004. Mr Hodson made extensive improvements to the apartment when he moved in – modifying the kitchen, upgrading the roof terraces, and putting in a new lift so he wouldn’t have to use a flight of stairs to access the property. An agreement giving him legal ownership of his new lift – by updating his lease – wasn’t honoured by Liechtenstein-based PP, Mr Hodson claimed.
Then, in 2014, Mr Hodson began to be bothered by noise from two of the buildings’ lifts. Despite his complaints, the noise grew worse, he argued, until in 2015 the building managers agreed to suspend use of one of the troublesome lifts at night. And in 2016, the two parties fell out further. PP demanded that Mr Hodson contribute £80,000 towards the money paid to the Grosvenor Estate, some years earlier.
The following year, the Hodson’s took PP and two other Fayed-controlled companies to the High Court asking for a list of grievances to be met and damages paid. Among the issues, Mr Hodson said that he had wanted to extend the flat, adding a floor. He had spent £180,000 developing a plan, but PP denied him permission to build it, despite initially encouraging the plan – his lawyers claimed.
PP’s lawyers argued the company hadn’t given Mr Hodson permission to extend his property. They said that, as a property developer, he should have known that he wouldn’t get permission without paying PP, as the landlord, millions of pounds. Mr Hodson said that as a result of this dispute, PP allowed people to start using a noisy lift again, disturbing his sleep, which he thought was a “malicious and deliberate” response to a letter of complaint.
He also complained of poor repair work, which he said left him with a leaky roof and damage to his roof terraces. The dispute still hasn’t been resolved. In March this year, there was another court filing from Mr Hodson claiming “the roof is still leaking. The lift is still making excessive noise… The corridors and lobby have never been finished following refurbishment.”
Lawyers for PP argue in reply that the noise from the lift is at “acceptable levels” and deny that it was restarted maliciously. They admit water leaked but say their clients have taken all reasonable steps to stop it. PP is counterclaiming £344,000 in ground rent, plus another £286,000 of interest and costs. The sums are trivial compared to Mohamed Al Fayed’s wealth, estimated at £1.7bn at the time of his death.
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