A divorcée who refused to leave her banker ex-husband’s £6m London home after they separated is locked in a legal “test case” over his insistence she pay him rent.
Jayne Richardson Derhalli and Kerim Derhalli shared a five-bedroom house in Kensington and an 18th-century estate in Devon. He moved out in 2014 and, as part of a divorce settlement in 2016, agreed to pay her £6.4m, and more after the sale of their former home, which was in his name.
The sale was delayed when the property market stalled after the EU referendum, leading to a court case over Mrs Richardson Derhalli’s refusal to move out or pay £600,000 rent.
Mr Derhalli has now appealed against an earlier decision that his former wife could stay rent-free at the property until it was sold.
Michael Glaser, QC, for Mr Derhalli, argued that the ruling, if allowed to stand, could open the floodgates for divorcing partners to claim rent-free occupation of their former family homes.
