Celebrity accountant Anthony Bell buys his pal Larry Emdur's Dover Heights house

Celebrity accountant Anthony Bell has found a new home following his public split from estranged wife Kelly Landry, buying the luxury clifftop home in Dover Heights of his mate, Morning Show co-host Larry Emdur and his wife, Sylvie.

Sources say the off-market deal was negotiated directly between the two high-profile friends after Bell made an unsolicited offer for the property that was “too good to refuse”.

Records are yet to reveal the price, but agents familiar with local property values speculate the cliff-top residence is likely to have set a suburb record, topping the $9.5 million paid in 2014 by technology investor Kevin Bermeister and his wife Beverley for another striking clifftop house nearby.

Bell is no stranger to doing property deals with his celebrity friends and clients.

In June, Bell bid on a Bellevue Hill apartment on behalf of Emdur, but failed to secure the property when bidding went about $1 million higher than expected, selling for $6.65 million. In 2009 he sold his Bondi Beach bachelor pad for $6 million to cricketer Michael Clarke.

It’s been a tumultuous year for the chief executive of Bell Partners and his former television presenter wife Landry after personal details about their marriage were made public when she unsuccessfully sought an AVO against him.

Bell’s purchase of Emdur’s Hunter Street property puts him a five-minute drive from the $12.5 million waterfront house in Watsons Bay he and Landry bought in 2013, and where she lives with their two daughters.

• Related: Reconciliation for Bell and Landry
• ​Related: Bell and Landry’s marriage break-up 
• Related: A $12.5 million waterfront helps couple

The Emdurs’ Dover Heights home sits on more than 1000 square metres with panoramic ocean views, five bedrooms, a swimming pool and a dramatic glass walls in the living area with double height ceilings. It last traded in 2011 for $6.8 million when sold by Lisa Krukziener Moss, then wife of rag trader Jeff Moss.

It had previously traded for a higher $7.1 million in 2007 when sold by artist Elaine Diamond, widow of medico Robert Diamond.

Meanwhile, the Emdurs have downsized to a three-bedroom apartment in The Rocks’ Claremont House building they bought in June for $3.09 million. The converted warehouse dates back to 1924 and was once a warehouse for Cadbury Fry Pascal and auction rooms for Lawson Menzies.