the Grosvenor estate, the landowners , did not want to lose ultimate control of their land . The Grosvenor family maintains to this day ownership of a lot of the lucrative land ( those magic 300 acres) in Mayfair.

It is important to relaise that London at this time was divided into a number of estates owned by individuals: not only was there the Grosvenor estate, but there were also, for example, the Cavendish-Harley estates ( owned by the Duke of Devonshire); the Portman estate ( the Portman family);The Bedford estate( the Duke of Bedford) to name but three.You wilI ,I am sure recognise Portman,Cavendish and Bedford as being the names of various squares and streets in different parts of London: they were so named after their owners ;-)

I'll repeat again( it was in my orginal post above !) an extract from Volume 40 of The Survey of London which explains the leasing arrangments in Grosvenor Street which were in place in the 18th century:

Grosvenor Street was one of the earliest streets to be laid out as part of the Grosvenor family's development of their Mayfair lands. The very first building agreement, concluded with the estate surveyor, Thomas Barlow, in August 1720, was for a large parcel of land which included the south-side frontage of the new street between Davies Street and the estate boundary.

The rest of the street was built under a number of agreements made between 1720 and 1725, some of them covering only single house plots. The leasehold terms offered to builders varied from one part of the street to another. On the north side to the east of Davies Street the term was eighty years...

and

Barlow was granted one lease of the south side between Davies Street and the estate boundary for ninety-nine years, but his sub-leases to other builders of the individual house plots here were usually for eighty years.

Between Davies Street and Grosvenor Square, however, on both sides of the street the leases were invariably for ninety-nine years and it was here that in general the grander houses were erected.

However, please do not draw any conlusions that the term" leased" used in in this context is to be equated with the phrease "of lesser value". The fact that these houses were leasehold did not affect their value over much (as today) because of their desirable location( Remember the Estate Agents mantra: Location, Location,Location)

Turning to Mr Gardiner, we are not given much indication in these present chapters as to the type of interest Mr Gardiner has in his property, save for this passage from Chapter 25:

Mr. Gardiner was a sensible, gentlemanlike man, greatly superior to his sister, as well by nature as education. The Netherfield ladies would have had difficulty in believing that a man who lived by trade, and within view of his own warehouses, could have been so well-bred and agreeable.