The new owners of a luxury home on Sandbanks will have to pass an interview with their multi-millionaire neighbours before they can buy it.
Businessman Ashley Faull is building two seafront homes on one large plot on the exclusive Dorset peninsula; one for him and his wife and the other which he intends to sell for £4m.
But just meeting the hefty asking price won’t be enough for prospective buyers as Mr Faull, 51, has made it a condition of the sale that he will hold an informal interview with them first.
He and his wife Heather want to make sure the couple will get along with their new neighbours.
Businessman Ashley Faull is building two seafront homes on one large plot on the exclusive Dorset peninsula; one for him and his wife and the other which he intends to sell for £4m. Pictured, plans for the property
An aerial of Poole Harbour, Sandbanks.
And he said he is even prepared to sell the brand new three bedroom property called ‘Sunshine’ for less than the asking price if it means selling to the right buyer.
Mr Faull, a former ITV executive and founding director of a TV shopping group, said: ‘Having good neighbours is very important to my wife and I.
‘We are still good friends with our previous neighbours from Primrose Hill in London over ten years ago and are also very friendly with the neighbours we have in Dorset where we have lived since.
‘We would rather sell this stunning new house for a bit less money to people we think we will get along with and would refuse to sell it to anyone where we thought the opposite, frankly regardless of the amount offered.
‘We are insisting on meeting anyone who wants to purchase ‘Sunshine’ so we can have a mutual informal interview over a coffee with them.
‘Sometimes just having money is not enough.’
There is no set criteria for the new owners to meet but the Faulls said they don’t intend to sell the property to anyone who will use it for holiday lets.
Mr Faull and his wife moved to Dorset when he sold his stake in his previous business for £194m in 2006. He then set up a successful jewellery and pawnbroker business.
He bought a pair of semi-detached houses on the ‘pan handle’ of Sandbanks for £4m and won planning permission to demolish them and build one large lavish home a decade ago.
The plot sat empty for years until Mr Faull changed his mind and decided to split the land in two and build two four storey properties side-by-side.
The Faulls will have a 45ft x 38ft luxury home that will have four bedrooms, two studies, a large open plan kitchen/living/dining area, a snug, cinema room, gymnasium and garage for two cars.
The smaller house next door will be 45ft x 20ft and have three bedrooms, a study, open plan kitchen/living/dining area, a snug and either a cinema room or a gymnasium.
Both properties, which are about 2ft apart, are situated on the narrow strip of land on Sandbanks and will have two-way views of the beach and Poole Bay on one side and Poole Harbour on the other.
The views mean the Faulls and their new neighbours will enjoy spectacular sunrises in the east in the mornings and sunsets in the west in the evenings.
Adrian Dunford from estate agents Tailor Made is handling the sale.
Mr Dunford said: ‘The plot has been split so that the house for them is two thirds of the site and they are selling the house on the other third for £4m. It’s their dream home.
‘That stretch of Sandbanks has always been the most popular because you have a two-way view – looking out on Sandbanks beach and the sea in one direction and Poole Harbour the other way.
‘A house a few doors down holds the record for the most expensive per square foot. It’s 4,000 sq ft and sold for £5m, which works out as £1,250 per square foot.
‘It’s all about the view, without the view that house would only have sold for about £2m.
‘When you have that sort of view which is so fantastic, you’re buying with your heart not your head. It isn’t about how much it is.
‘You wouldn’t go into a Ferrari show room and ask what it does to the gallon.
‘These two houses have been designed to make the most of that view. It’s a very funky design, ultra-modern and lots of glass.
‘When it’s finished people will walk in and fall in love with it, price is almost secondary.
‘Although it will be for sale for £4m they will have to pass an informal interview. Mr Faull wants to know his neighbours are people he can get on with.’
Sandbanks homeowners include former football managers Harry Redknapp and Graeme Souness, computer magnate Sir Peter Ogden and celebrity interior designer Celia Sawyer.