David Reuben, the billionaire property developer, has become the latest wealthy individual to reportedly leave the UK.
According to reports from The Times, Reuben has left the country for Monaco, where his younger brother Simon is already based. The two brothers took second place in this year’s Sunday Times Rich List with a fortune of almost £30 billion.
The siblings initially made their fortune in commodities before venturing into super-prime London real estate. Their company, Reuben Brothers, is currently renovating Piccadilly’s Cambridge House and Admiralty Arch, which are both soon to open as luxury hotels.
Related
David Reuben’s personal net worth was estimated by Bloomberg as $13.1 billion in their ‘Billionaire’s Index’, published today.
[See also: Beckhams and Reform donor among newly recognised British billionaires]
Who has left so far?
Reuben’s departure comes just weeks after the news that the hedge fund billionaire Chris Rokos would also be exiting the UK, and setting up residency in Greece. Rokos was most recently listed by the Sunday Times as Britain’s third-highest taxpayer, reportedly paying £330 million in tax in the most recent financial year.
Lakshmi Mittal reportedly set up residency in Switzerland in November 2025 according to The Times. His net worth in Bloomberg’s ‘Billionaire Index’ was put at $38.7 billion, making him the 59th richest person in the world.
Content from our partners
A series of high-profile wealthy UK individuals have taken steps to leave the country since the abolition of the non-dom tax regime – first introduced by the Conservative government of the time in March 2024, and finalised under Labour in April 2025.
In addition to the end of the non-dom regime, the UK’s tax authority HMRC recently wrote to billionaires with a UK tax footprint, seeking information on their finances. HMRC was criticised by a House of Commons committee in 2025 for the lack of information it held on how much tax was paid by billionaires in the country.
James Quarmby, head of the private wealth team at Stephenson Harwood, told Spear’s: ‘I think for those wealthy people who presently feel under attack by both the government and public opinion, this will be seen as another unwelcome burden. These types of things matter to clients, who can’t help getting stressed by HMRC enquiries, no matter how wealthy they are.’
Quarmby added that the letters may be ‘self-defeating for UK plc’ given the number of high-profile billionaire exits in the last year.
[See also: Why are the super-rich leaving the UK?]
Not everyone is as convinced, however, that the departures so far represent a UK ‘mass exodus’.
Reliable data on the number of exits is difficult to come by. In 2025, a Henley & Partners wealth migration report which was widely cited as evidence of a ‘millionaire exodus’ received scrutiny. The thinktank Tax Policy Associates argued that the numbers contained within the reports relied too heavily on LinkedIn data to be a reliable reflection of individuals’ tax residencies.
Undoubtedly though, there are concerns amongst UHNWs that the upcoming budget on 28 October may contain tax increases on wealth, with chancellor John Healey under pressure to raise money given the UK’s tight financial situation.
Rumours of a ‘windfall tax’ on global banks in London prompted a response from UK Finance, a trade body representing businesses and finance organisations. The organisation said there was ‘considerable concern’ from international banks it spoke to that ‘excessive taxation of individuals working in the sector may incentivise relocation to other jurisdictions’.
UK Finance’s communications director, Andy Donald told Spear’s in September that there was uncertainty from business as to what to expect from Healey’s budget: ‘We’ve got the budget in five weeks time, but we don’t know what the government’s going to do. They’ve been quite tight-lipped.’
