SALE OF FORTUNE
LESLIE’S HOUSE GOES FOR £100K OVER ASKING PRICE Ex-TV host makes £170k profit on home
Former TV presenter John Leslie’s home has sold for more than £100,000 over the asking price.
The ex-Blue Peter and Wheel of Fortune host bought the house in Edinburgh’s upmarket Morningside for £545,000 in 2016.
In June, Leslie, 55, put the detached villa on the market for offers over £ 610,000.
Property records show he has made a hefty £170,000 on the house after it sold for £715,000 last month.
The home, which was built in 2003, has three bedrooms and a back garden boasting views of the city skyline.
Ralph Hendrie Legal’s sales brochure said the house has a garden that “overlooks The Hermitage of Braid and Blackford Hill Nature Reserve with views of Edinburgh”. It added: “Boasting contemporary and generous interiors and impressive outdoor space, this traditional three-bedroom stone-built detached villa offers an exceptionally spacious and flexible family home over two levels.”
Leslie, who also fronted This Morning at the height of his career, once built a home in Richmond upon Thames but was forced to sel l it for £ 3.5million when his career hit the skids. He went from earning about £350,000 a year to “not a penny”. Leslie moved back to Edinburgh and started investing in property to make a living.
The former star renovated several flats and a nursing home in London but was hit hard by the 2008 financial crash.
After renting out his Richmond home for a number of years, Leslie sold it in 2010.
A source said: “Making £170,000 in four years in a property is a very good return. The seller had obviously made some improvement and there was a lot of interest, which resulted in someone paying a high price.”
Leslie bought other properties after moving back to Edinburgh.
One six- bedroom house was bought for £ 1.25million in 2006 and put back on the market for £ 2.5million in 2009. It eventually sold in 2013 for £1.8million.
The former star a lso bought two neighbouring houses, including this house, which was his latest sale.
In June 2019, Leslie was charged with sexually assaulting a then 30- year- old woman in Westminster in December 2008. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge and is due to stand trial at Southwark Crown Court next month.
Neither Ralph Hendrie Legal nor Leslie responded to our request for comment.