Gordon Ramsay’s $1.4m loss on stop-gap mansion he bought while builders did up his $13m London home

Some homeowners undertaking renovations carry on living at their property while builders work around them.

Others might rent a cheap flat round the corner.

Gordon Ramsay has, however, provided a glimpse into how the superrich do home improvements.

The Daily Mail can disclose that Ramsay has just sold a house in south London for $15 million – having only bought it last year for $14.5 million – so his family had somewhere to live while their main family home less than a mile away was undergoing improvements.

Although the celebrity chef made a profit of $500,000 on the sale, that figure is dwarfed by the nearly $2 million in stamp duty that he would have handed over when he bought the five-bedroom Edwardian house in January last year.

A friend of the family confirms: “This property was sold some months ago when the renovations were completed on the family home.”

Land Registry documents disclose that the house was sold in May. The new owner is understood to be the boss of an energy firm.

Ramsay bought the house from Gina Coladangelo, girlfriend of former health secretary Matt Hancock, and her estranged husband, the retail boss Oliver Tress.

The price the sweary chef paid provoked astonishment among neighbours.

Not only was it almost double the $7.4 million that Ms Coladangelo and Mr Tress paid in 2015, but it was $4.8 million more than the top price paid previously for any property in their street.

The premium is said to be because Mr Tress and Ms Coladangelo had a basement extension added which included an underground swimming pool.

Mr Tress, who founded the retail chain Oliver Bonas, separated from Ms Coladangelo after CCTV images were published of her kissing and embracing Mr Hancock in his Whitehall office in breach of Covid distancing restrictions, leading to him quitting as health secretary.

Ms Coladangelo, who has three children with Mr Tress, worked for Mr Hancock as an aide at the time. Ramsay, 57, who has an estimated fortune of $350 million, has had his super-basement added to his family’s main home, which he and his wife Tana, 50, bought in 2002 for $5.4 million.

It is now thought to be worth $13 million.

The improvements include a wine store and master bedroom taking over an entire floor.

In the basement, the chef has space for another en-suite bedroom, a study, a plant room, a boot room and a shower room.

The couple have six children including Holly, 24, who recently announced her engagement to Olympic swimming star Adam Peaty, 29.

In 2021, Ramsay sold one of his holiday homes in Cornwall for $14 million in what was believed to be the most expensive sale ever recorded in the county.

He paid $8.5 million for Daymer Bay House in Trebetherick in 2016.

It has six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a swimming pool and a tennis court set on 2.5 acres of land.

Ramsay, who still owns another property in Cornwall, was criticised for saying he did not like the locals – some of whom had complained about his renovation plans in the past – but loved the county.

“Trust me, I love Cornwall, it’s just the Cornish I can’t stand,” he said.

When asked about the remark, he added: “I promise, I did mean it.”

A spokesman for Ramsay, the star of cookery shows including Hell’s Kitchen and The F Word, said he had “made these tongue-in cheek comments many, many times”.