Boris Johnson’s property portfolio: where will Boris and Carrie live after Downing Street?

Boris Johnson may still intend to live in his apartment in 11 Downing Street for the time being but, after announcing his plans to resign as prime minister, he and his wife Carrie may be wondering where to set up their next family home.

The Johnsons’ 2020 renovation of their current home in Downing Street came under intense scrutiny after it emerged Tory donor Lord Brownlow had paid for some of the refurbishment.

A leaked copy of a quote for works, obtained by The Independent, shows initial plans for the refurbishment would have seen a total cost of over £200,000. The infamous ‘gold’ wallpaper was expected to cost in the region of £2,000 on the £208,104 estimate.

The final cost of the project is thought to have been closer to £112,000, however. The Cabinet Office has a £30,000 budget each year for the upkeep of 11 Downing Street. The additional costs involved in the refurbishment have since been paid for by Mr Johnson.

As the Cabinet Office has part paid for some of the work and furnishings it remains to be seen what the Johnsons will be able to take with them to their new home when a new Conservative party leader is announced.

Here are the other properties still owned by the couple which could become the family-of-four’s next home.

Camberwell, south London

The couple were living in a flat in a restored Grade II-listed house overlooking Brunswick Park in Camberwell, south London, when Mr Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019.

A month earlier, neighbours called police over reports of a domestic disturbance.

Since the couple lived there they have not only expanded their family by two – with children Wilfred and Romy now two and seven months old respectively — they have also bought a townhouse in the same area.

On 19 July 2019, the couple paid £1.2 million for a four-bedroom, red-brick Victorian terrace home arranged over three floors.

It spans more than 2,000sq ft, with two reception rooms, four double bedrooms and two bathrooms.

They revealed their ‘late 2019’ engagement in February 2020, when they also announced that they were expecting their first child together.

Mr Johnson is thought to have remortgaged and rented out his Camberwell and Thame properties to pay for the 11 Downing Street flat renovations.

Thame, Oxfordshire

The Old Farm House in Thame, Oxfordshire, is a Grade II-listed four-bedroom home. A chocolate-box cottage, the house has a grand fireplace, wooden beams and views across open Oxfordshire countryside. There’s also a separate stone annexe, a tennis court and swimming pool.

The property was bought in 2003 by Boris Johnson and his then wife Marina Wheeler for £640,000.

At the time Mr Johnson was MP for Henley. The couple separated in 2018 and the title of the property was changed into Mr Johnson’s sole name in February 2020, the same month a family court judge gave Ms Wheeler permission to apply for a divorce decree.

In February 2020, when the title was changed, the value of the property was stated as £1.25 million.

Old Farm House came up for rent last April for £4,250 a month, unfurnished, for a period of at least one year.

A let was agreed in May last year so, should the tenancy be nearing an end, the Johnsons could choose to make Old Farm House their countryside bolthole if and when they leave Downing Street.

The Thame home is only 30 minutes’ drive from Chequers – the Prime Minister’s country residence – where Mr Johnson continued his recovery from Covid-19 after being discharged from hospital in April 2020.

The 16^th-century Buckinghamshire manor is a grace-and-favour home used to entertain guests by the Prime Minister during their term in office.

Mr Johnson announced his resignation on July 7 but he intends to stay on as prime minister until a successor is elected, a process which could take months.

The Johnsons had planned to host a lavish party at Chequers this month to celebrate their 2021 wedding, but reports now suggest the location of the party has been moved after criticism of the venue choice.