The Earl and Countess of Stradbroke seek $3 million plus for their four-level Richmond warehouse The Malthouse

The Earl and Countess of Stradbroke are seeking $3 million plus for their four-level Richmond warehouse The Malthouse.

Known as the Aussie Earl, Keith Rous and his wife Roseanna bought the then derelict Richmond building – formerly used to store maltings for beer brewing – for $300,000 in 1995. The remains of the ovens and hoppers were still in evidence with the ovens still standing.

But the property now comes with four bedrooms, four bathrooms, formal dining room, and full-floor living room.

Outside there is a one-bedroom self-contained retreat along with space for eight cars.

Abercromby's director Jock Langley seeks offers on 45-47 Lyndhurst Street by December 8.

Rous, a Sydney businessman, inherited the British title in 1983. The famed Aussie earl consequently moved to Blighty to take possession of the family property, only to be involved in long and bitter litigation with a cousin.

Title Tattle recalls first coming across the then Kogarah debt collector in the late 1980s when his debt collecting agency had just reported a $6,976 loss for the year.

In 1989 he sold his Paddington home to Sir Eric and Lady Neal.

The  family trace their estate ownership back to the 1544 purchase by Sir Anthony Rous of Dennington of the Henham estate. Keith’s son Hektor runs the Henham estate.

The Rous family recently secured planning permission to build a new Henham Hall which will be a hotel and apartment/leisure development.

The Harrow-educated Keith Rous emigrated to Australia in 1957 to make his fortune through industrial relations, debt collection, sheep farming and real estate.