Homes gossip

Actor

Royal jeweller Theo Fennell is furious that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is "dumping" problem families in a house next door to his Earl's Court home. "The other day we had 20 Colombians milling around," he complains. "The council told me that they have to accept a quote of asylum-seekers and other categories from other London boroughs." Fennell's house is worth about £1.2 million.

Mark McGann, of the ubiquitous acting family, wants to find a tenant for his newly refurbished, two-bedroom flat opposite Woolwich Army Barracks. McGann, who appears as the guest lead in a two-part episode of The Bill to be televised in the autumn, is letting the apartment in the Grade II listed building through The Art Of Living for £700 a month.

Actress Elizabeth Hurley, owner of a £2 million South Kensington house with her ex-boyfriend Hugh Grant, could be tiring of London. She has been looking at houses with large gardens in the £600,000 price range within the Home Counties. "Liz turned up with her mother and seemed quite taken by one property," reports one agent.

The building works at Crosby Hall on Chelsea Embankment, the £30 million Tudor palace of controversial tycoon Christopher Moran, are nearly over after seven years. "I've still got some stone lions to carve, security measures to install and the knot garden to finish off," he says, "but I hope to be fully moved in by next spring."

Enzo Apicella, responsible for designing top Sixties restaurants such as Alvaro's and the Club dell Arethusa, has finally deserted Chelsea after more than 30 years. He has sold his minimalist cottage for £610,000 and moved into a £325,000 two-bed flat in Ransome's Dock, Battersea. "A woman came up to me recently in Battersea Park and said, 'Oh dear, I hope you're not going to destroy Battersea like you did the King's Road.'"

Newsreader Julia Somerville is flat-hunting in Primrose Hill. If she does manage to find a suitable property, she'll be in good company, with Joan Bakewell and Alan Bennett in the neighbourhood. But it'll cost. A Chalcot Square house - on the market through David Birkett - fetches a hefty £2,500 a week in rent, while a two-bedroom flat starts at about £350,000.