Anders Fernstedt describes life outside a £210 million London mansion

Anders Fernstedt has lived for more than three years on the portico of an unoccupied mansion at 2-8A Rutland Gate in London’s Knightsbridge district, according to a DW profile published on October 19. His account describes how local businesses and a nearby charity help him live outside a house that sold for £210 million in 2020.

Fernstedt, who is from Sweden, told DW he first saw the portico as shelter for a night. He has never been inside the property. Instead, he sleeps beneath its roof, with an umbrella sheltering mattresses and bedding. He told DW that the arrangement has worked through both winter cold and summer heat.

How Fernstedt came to Rutland Gate

Before moving to the portico, Fernstedt lived in a tent and in temporary accommodation. He told DW he encountered violence in temporary housing and people with severe addictions. The portico gave him a place to settle, although his home remains outdoors at the entrance to a privately owned building.

The support behind his daily life

Fernstedt told DW that relationships with nearby bakeries and cafes provide unused food, while florists give him flowers and local contacts let him use power. DW reported that he also visits a homeless charity in nearby Victoria for showers, donated clothes and social contact. He described his life to DW as being ‘completely off money.’

The reception in the neighborhood is mixed, DW reported. Some neighbors object to Fernstedt’s presence, while others welcome him or believe someone living at the entrance may deter thieves and vandals. Fernstedt said he tries to keep his space neat and quiet.

An empty house amid London homelessness

DW identified the mansion’s 2020 buyer as Hui Ka Yan, founder of the Evergrande group, and reported that it was registered in his wife’s name. The house has remained unoccupied. Fernstedt’s presence outside it was already the subject of an independently reported Guardian profile in June 2026; the October account describes his continuing life there, rather than a new move to the property.

The contrast sits against wider pressure on London housing. Citing figures from the homelessness charity Crisis, DW reported that 4,392 people were recorded sleeping rough in London between April and June, up 4% from the same period a year earlier and 58% from a decade earlier. Those citywide figures describe the scale of rough sleeping, rather than Fernstedt’s individual circumstances.