I was wondering...On pg. 4 of the american hardcover edition it says, "The wealthy man who owned the Riddle House these days neither lived there nor put it to any use: they said in the village that he kept it for 'tax reasons,' though nobody was very clear what these reasons might be." Is it possible that Malfoy owns the Riddle house and uses it as sort of a Death Eater version of 12 Grimmauld place? Just a question

Well, seeing as Malfoy is rich enough to own such things..it could be possible that he uses it for a sort of Death Eater headquarters. Then again, I don't think it would be that easy to NOT notice a bunch of shady characters going into some mysterious, abandoned old house. We never know though..it could hold the same features as 12 Grimmauld Place. Great, now I'm curious to know..

im pretty sure it also says that frank sometimes notices teenagers in there playing jokes and setting things on fire and what not. that could be the death eaters.

I don't know about the whole, Death Eater teenager thing, but you're entitled to your own opinion.

As for the fact that Frank might've witnessed the Death Eaters going into the house, they could've always Apparated to the spot in the house... just a thought.

Since it never really says WHO the wealthy owner is, the Malfoys could own it. Tashuvsdan, I'm curious too.

IT could be the Malfoy's, but then it could be some random, unimportant muggle. Who knows? But I think Frank would have noticed a bunch of grown men in cloaks and hoods, or basically a black KKK outfit, going into the house. Teenagers are different because they're so loud and obnoxious, being one of them, I know.

That's an interesting theory... but I doubt that it has much to do with anything. Maybe though!

I've always kind of thought that the Riddle House was still owned by Voldemort. I've always wondered about that - didn't the police find **all** of the Riddle family dead, including Tom? (Jr, that is). I was thinking that maybe Riddle faked his own death when he took on the Voldemort persona, but he kept the house as a kind of recuperation place for him - gave someone else instructions to maintain the house in case anything happened to him (which it did). After all, he went back there with Pettigrew, didn't he? Maybe he spread some of the rumours about the house a bit like the Marauders did about the shrieking shack, to keep people away. If Tom wasn't dead, ie, if he became Voldemort, then where did the other body come from? Did he kill someone else and make them look like him or something?

No, the police found Voldemort's dad and grandparents dead, and it was Voldemort who killed them. Well, I'm assuming it was him anyway.

Oh, right...yeah, course he did. I must have just been a bit slow on the uptake there then!! I've just re-read the bit in CoS where Voldemort says that his dad left when he was a baby and his mom died not long after having him. It was a bit confusing though, wasn't it? So he killed his dad and his grandparents...then I suppose Voldemort himself was the rich guy who kept the house going?

Wow - that guy has serious father issues then, doesn't he? At least it makes a change from the serial killer-type mother-hatred that spurns so many psychos in books and films!!! It's quite sad in a way, you know...maybe all this Voldemort stuff could have been prevented - all Tom Riddle ever needed was a hug!!!

Maybe it is a Death Eater hide out, but i doubt it. I think that the rich man who owns it does just use it for tax reasons.

Something about it just isn't right. I mean, maybe things are different in England, but here in the US he would have to pay taxes on the house, and have it appraised, and the cost of the upkeep (Frank), it would be cheaper to use the money for something else or donate to charity for a tax right off. Even if it isn't a deatheater headquarter, per se, I think one of them still owns it, like a shrine to their "dark lord"

I'm not quite sure about the laws over here about inheritance, to be honest, but I know of a guy who got left a house by his uncle almost fifteen years ago. He's never done a thing to it, the house must be absolutely riddled (parden the pun ) with dry rot and stuff and the value is diminshing all the time, but he still hasn't sold it. Hell if I know why he's hanging onto it, but there has to be a reason for it. I know that you have to pay inheritence tax on assets worth more than a certain amount, so maybe that's the reason? Who wants the government to get the money when it could be in your own pocket??!!

Anywho, I doubt JKR has thought about that too deeply, it was probably just a bit of a throwaway comment - the intricacies of British conveyancing law is probably a bit too involved for a children's book. I know loads of adults read them too, but I doubt many of them would be interested in those aspects either! Although they could always try a John Grisham novel if they were, I suppose....

The thing about some of the small towns over here is that people just love to gossip (as they do anywhere, I suppose) and that if there's a mystery about something, they just have to come up with an explanation for it otherwise it drives them nuts. If the Riddle house had been in a city, I doubt anyone would have even noticed it was there.

Actually it couldn't be a Death eater hide out because none of the Death Eaters no anything about his background. He wouldn't tell them about Riddle house because that would mean he was a half blood, and he doesn't want his followers to know that. I know in GoF when he comes back he talks openly about his father in front of the Death Eaters, but he doesn't tell them he's half blood and he doesn't tell them about Riddle House. I think they're using it as a hideout in OotP but i don't think a Death Eater owns it.

That is a really good point, I know in OotP, in the Dept. of Misteries, the death eaters all thought Harry was lying about Voldy being a half blood, never thought about that before. Mad props to Shuntpike

didn't Frank say that he saw a young, dark haired boy or something of the sort around the house that day, and everybody denied a kid like that being around Little Hangleton or whatever. Possibly Tom Marvolo Riddle? Hmmmm

Just something else to ponder.

It probably was, that sounds like the description of the young Tom Riddle

I think maybe Lucius Malfoy does own the house, but maybe he doesn't use it as a Deatheater hideout, maybe more as a Voldy hideout...Voldy could have told Malfoy his background, and made him promise to keep it secret. Then maybe Voldy asked for a hideout, dropped hints about the Riddle house, or just told him flat out, and viola, Vapormort hideout!

that was the day of the riddle's death, so it was tom because he is the one who killed them.

anyway, i came across this topic bacause i'm re-reading gof again and when i came across the part that says the riddle house is owned by some wealthy guy, it seemed like one of jkr's "clues". it seems like this topic is dead for the most part, but i would like to comment on the inheritance thing anyway.

in the us, recipients of any inheritance must be named in a will. if no one is named, posessions go to the state or fed gov, and in the case of property, are generally auctioned off. assuming that similar laws apply in britain, since the property was bought, the riddles didn't name anyone to inherit the property in their will. so if someone from the magical community bought the house, that person would probably know it belonged to voldemort's parents.

as far as i can tell, the only person who would have definately know about the house when voldemort was a teen was voldemort himself, but the current owner of the house didn't buy it right away, so by that time dumbledore may have also known about it. i can't think of any other person who was likely to know about the house at that time, so my conclusion is that the house is either owned by voldemort (perhaps to use as a hideout...he did use it in the beginning of gof. he seemed to know that no one would drop in on him, wormtail, and nagini...maybe because he owned it?), dumbledore (if so, who owns it now that he is dead?), or a muggle who has no idea of the significance of the house (in this case, the info that someone owns the house is most likely just "fluff"). anyway...it just caught my attention.

I always assumed that Voldy owned the house. He obviously has father issues, so it would make sense for him to hold on to the house, and let it fall into disrepair. You know, kind of like one more stab at his father's pretty life without him.

As persephia said, it would also make sense for Dumbledore to have bought the house. He was the only other person we know of that knew Voldy's lineage. Perhaps Dumbledore bought the house to make sure that if Voldy ever came back to it, it would be empty, and no other muggles would be hurt(besides the poor groundskeeper, that it).

I think that the Rich Owner was Dumbledore.

It would make sense, so that if there was anything suspicious there, he would know about it. And it wouldnt look unusual for someone noone knew going around the house.

pretty good theory! voler does like to collect trophies, and what better to have his hideout then in the house in which he avenged his bloodline?

You were all talking about Malfoy owning it...wow...three years ago and started talking about tax and inheritance etc.. I know the people in the village can see the house, but wouldnt it be quite simple to put a spell on the house, just to hide it from any of the muggle authorities that might cause trouble, maybe also stop any muggles from actually going in, but still being able to see the house. After all, it was there for perhaps hundreds of years, they couldn't just cloak it completely, like Hogwarts.

As for Voldemort keeping the house secret, we already knoe that he used it with wormtail and crouch jr at the beginnin of Gof, and he was open about his muggle father, he made a point of being digusted at him.
The house, although it had belonged to muggles, was obviousy large and grand, something that even the Malfoys wouldn't be completely reluctant to own. I dont think he would have hidden it, if he owned it, but Voldemort, rescourceful as he is, would definetly used it.
Even if it was for firewood.

Clara}~