Necker Island

Necker is thirty hectares, seventy-four acres, of scrub and rock in the North Sound of the British Virgin Islands, three nautical miles off Virgin Gorda. It was uninhabited when Richard Branson bought it in 1978 at twenty-eight, and the sale carried a condition worth stating because nothing else in this register carries one: he had to build a resort on it within four years. Most estates here hold land in order to keep it empty. This one was handed over on a covenant to do the opposite, and the covenant was met.

The island takes guests by whole-island buyout rather than by the room, which makes the unit of sale the territory itself. Capacity is published at forty guests across fifteen rooms after the last rebuild, and elsewhere at forty-eight adults and six children across twenty-four bedrooms. It has been destroyed twice: the Great House burned in August 2011 after a lightning strike during Tropical Storm Irene, with twenty guests inside, and Hurricane Irma tore through the buildings and vegetation in September 2017. Both times it was put back, the Great House to the original design with the room enlarged.

A covenant to build, not to withhold. The seller required development within four years. Set against the estates on this shelf that publish caps on their own construction, Necker is the same instrument pointed the other way.

The island is the unit. Taken whole rather than by the room, the ground stops being a setting for accommodation and becomes the thing being let. Very few holdings in this register are sold that way.

Sources

• Published history and the owner's own account - island of seventy-four acres, about thirty hectares, in the North Sound three nautical miles north of Virgin Gorda; bought in 1978 from its colonial-era owner on the condition that a resort be built within four years; opened to private rental in 1984
• Independent coverage - the Great House burned on 22 August 2011 during Tropical Storm Irene with about twenty guests inside and was rebuilt by 2013 to the original design with an enlarged Great Room; Hurricane Irma destroyed or badly damaged much of the buildings and vegetation in September 2017

Verification

Official source

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Sources disagree

capacity is published as forty guests in fifteen rooms, and as forty-eight adults with six children across twenty-four bedrooms. The purchase is reported in both pounds and dollars. No figure is carried for capacity.

Property confirmation

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Booking

Private Resorts arranges each stay on request, quoting the rates available for the resort and dates. No benefit should be assumed unless it is confirmed in writing for the individual reservation.

Classified by The Resort Collection House · The Register · Edition 2026 · LHL-E-035
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