Makiyah Al Jaber has lost a High Court battle over an £8.3 million London mansion after arguing that her billionaire husband had gifted her the property under Islamic custom. The dispute centred on whether the family home, despite being registered in Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber’s name, was actually owned by his wife and therefore protected from claims against his business debts. The ruling has left her facing the possibility of losing the residence where she has lived for more than three decades and raised their three children.
Why the billionaire sheikh’s wife lost the London mansion ownership battle
The case concerned a property on Winnington Road in Hampstead Garden Suburb, north London. According to The Independent, the house is valued at £8.3 million. It sits on a street that overtook the nearby Bishop’s Avenue, widely known as Billionaires’ Row, as Britain’s most expensive residential street in 2025.Makiyah Al Jaber maintained that the mansion belonged to her in practice, even though the legal title was held solely by her husband. She said the house had been purchased specifically for her in accordance with an Islamic custom under which a husband is responsible for providing a home for his wife, with the property understood to belong to her.Her argument became particularly important after financial claims against her husband threatened the family residence.
The business debts behind the property dispute
The Independent reported that Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber’s company, MBI International & Partners Inc, an offshore business based in the British Virgin Islands, went into liquidation in 2017 after having ceased trading.A High Court judgment in 2023 established that the company’s liquidators were owed money by the sheikh in connection with valuable shares transferred out of the business in 2016, before its liquidation. The debt subsequently grew to approximately £80 million.The liquidators sought to secure repayment against the London mansion. An interim charging order was placed on the property in 2023, although further related legal proceedings delayed a final decision for almost three years.The couple disputed the attempt to use the house to settle the debts, arguing that its ownership should not be treated as belonging to the sheikh simply because it was registered in his name.
What Makiyah Al Jaber told the court about the house
During the hearing, Makiyah Al Jaber explained that her husband had asked her to choose a house and promised to purchase it for her. She said she had always understood that the property was hers and that he could not sell it, even if their marriage ended.According to The Independent, she presented three separate arguments in support of her claim. The first was that the house had been provided to her under Islamic custom. The second concerned her contribution to the property over the years, including managing renovations and maintaining the home for the family.She also argued that she had relied on the understanding that the house belonged to her, leaving her at a disadvantage after moving to London from Saudi Arabia in 1992 and building her family life there.
The judge rejected the Islamic custom argument
Deputy Master Joanna Valentine rejected the claim that the house was beneficially owned by Makiyah Al Jaber. The judge explained that legal ownership normally determines beneficial ownership unless evidence establishes a different arrangement between the parties.The court was not satisfied that the claimed Islamic custom had been established through sufficient evidence. The judge said she had not received expert evidence explaining the existence or extent of such a custom and could not simply accept the wife’s account as proof.She also stressed that even if such a tradition existed, the important question was what the husband and wife had actually understood and agreed about ownership of this particular property.The judge found that the sheikh had treated the mansion as his own asset in previous legal proceedings. That history weakened the argument that he had intended the house to belong to his wife in a legal sense.
Renovations and years of family life did not establish ownership
Makiyah Al Jaber also argued that her long involvement with the property should give her a share in its ownership. She said she had overseen repeated renovations and improvements, adapting the house to accommodate the family’s changing needs.The court accepted that she had managed maintenance and repairs and had devoted considerable time and effort to the home. However, those contributions did not establish an agreement between the couple that she would own the property.Her final argument was that she had suffered a disadvantage by relying on the belief that the house was hers. She said she had given up the opportunity to acquire another property and had invested years in maintaining and improving the mansion.The judge was not persuaded that this amounted to the necessary disadvantage under the legal principle she relied upon. She noted that the family’s financial resources had been provided by the husband and found insufficient evidence that the wife had suffered a loss.
The London mansion could still face a sale
The ruling established that the property belonged to Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber both legally and beneficially, according to The Independent. The judge subsequently made a final charging order against the mansion, allowing it to serve as security for the business debt.However, the decision did not immediately mean that the property would be sold. The judge explained that a separate order would be required before a sale could take place to satisfy part of the outstanding debt. She also indicated that Makiyah Al Jaber’s long occupation of the house could be considered if a sale were pursued.The ruling leaves the family residence exposed to the financial claims against the sheikh.
The couple ordered to share the legal costs
The court also addressed the substantial expenses arising from the ownership dispute. The liquidators’ legal costs were reported to be approximately £744,000, a figure that the sheikh’s legal representatives described as exceptionally high.Both husband and wife argued that the other should be responsible for paying the costs. Makiyah Al Jaber maintained that her husband should bear the expense because he was her spouse, while the sheikh argued that he had merely supported her position.The judge ordered them to be jointly responsible for the costs and directed that 40% of the liquidators’ bill, amounting to just under £300,000, be paid upfront.