THE mysterious owners of Hampstead Heath-side mansion Athlone House have sold the property after more than a decade of legal wrangling over its future, the New Journal can reveal.

The house, built in 1871 on Hampstead Lane, has been at the centre of planning rows since it was sold by the NHS in 2003.

Its owners applied to Camden Council on two occasions to knock down the mock-Elizabethan pile and replace it with an £80m mega-mansion complete with ballroom and swimming pool.

After the Town Hall threw out their latest plans last year, they appealed and then took a Whitehall planning inspector's decision to a judicial review. All found in favour of the Town Hall – and now the New Journal has learned that the mysterious owners, believed to be a family linked to Middle Eastern royalty, has finally admitted defeat.

We can reveal the house is in the process of being sold and the prospective buyers have already approached the Town Hall to discuss plans to refurbish and restore the building, with a small extension included.

Campaigners had battled to ensure its owners stuck to a legally binding agreement that allowed them to build flats in the house's gardens – if they restored the building.

The new owners are understood to have told the council they will honour this and hoped to have drawn up designs by the summer, when they would seek planning permission to start work.

Highgate ward Green councillor Sian Berry said: “It is great news that the owner, who has caused so much trouble, has finally passed it on to someone who wants to keep and restore the house.

“It is still a shame that Athlone House was sold by the NHS and will be a private home when it served the public so well for so many years – but we welcome the new owners sticking to the original agreement and saying they will restore it, as they are legally obliged to.”