Cheung Chung-kiu in process of buying 45-room property overlooking Hyde Park

The facade of 2-8a Rutland Gate, which has interiors created by the acclaimed French designer Alberto Pinto. Photograph: AFP/AFP via Getty Images

A Chinese property tycoon has agreed to buy a 45-room mansion overlooking Hyde Park in London for more than £200m, making it by far the most expensive house to be sold in the UK.

Cheung Chung-kiu, who already owns the £1.15bn so-called “Cheesegrater” skyscraper in the City, is “in the process” of buying 2-8a Rutland Gate for between £205m and £210m.

The seven-storey property was built as four grand family homes before being converted into one vast residence in the 1980s. The previous owner had been Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia who died in 2011. It has also been home to the billionaire businessman Rafic Hariri, who twice served as Lebanon’s prime minister.

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When the sale completes in the next few weeks it will officially become the UK’s most expensive home. The record is currently held by Park Place, a stately home near Henley-on-Thames, in Berkshire, which was bought in 2011 by the exiled Russian billionaire Andrey Borodin for £140m. Last year, the US hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, bought a Grade II*-listed Georgian mansion within sight of Buckingham Palace for £95m.

Cheung has yet to decide whether he will use the 62,000 sq ft mansion as his family home or divide it into a series of lateral apartments. If renovated and converted into apartments the property could be worth up to £700m, a spokesman said.