Property Dispute Resolution

Property disputes are an unavoidable fact of life in today’s property landscape. Whether you are starting or defending a property dispute, or wishing to draft to avoid such disputes in the future, look no further as we have the experience and commercial expertise to help you.

“Measured yet heavyweight where circumstances so require”

The Chambers Directory quote above accurately summarises our approach to contentious property disputes. We recognise that where there are existing ongoing relationships (such as between landlords / tenants or development partners) you will want a measured solution which resolves the dispute but preserves the relationship without necessarily recourse to litigation. Equally, where there is a position to be taken to enforce or defend your property rights, we will act swiftly and cost effectively.

Examples of our property disputes expertise include:

• Claim for unreasonable withholding of Consent to sub-letting – successfully bringing a claim for damages and an injunction against the UK’s largest supermarket operator to force a surrender of an unauthorised sub-letting and defending claims for unreasonable withholding of consent in the landmark case Crestfort -v- Tesco [2005] EWHC 805 
• Dilapidations – settling £multi million dilapidations claims for a major High Street Bank to its satisfaction
• Rights of Light– acting for the successful claimant in the landmark case HXK UK (CHC) Limited -v- Marcus Heaney [2010] ALL ER (D) 101 that has now become recognised as the current legal authority on rights of light injunctions
• Trespass / Possession Claims – obtaining at very short notice an injunction against environmental protestors threatening an environmental services company’s waste recycling plants and in another case, prevented delay in the construction of a retail superstore by removing 80 protestors in trees / chained to the site within 24 hours of entering
• Vacant Possession – providing strategic advice on recovering vacant possession for the redevelopment of a Central London site months ahead of schedule; saving £1.5m in statutory compensation through timing of notices but with continued income stream until the redevelopment started
• Break Clauses – negotiating a surrender and release of a corporate occupier’s £multi million leasehold liability following exercise of a conditional break clause
• Development – Successfully claiming specific performance of terms to be implied into a contract for sale of land for residential development under which the claimant was entitled to overage payments exceeding £1.3 million Renewal v Lowry [2010] EWHC 2902 (Ch) successfully resisting claim by developer to terminate a conditional agreement based on its’ own non-performance Extra MSA Services Cobham Limited v Accor UK Economy Hotels Limited [2010] EWHC 775 (Ch)
• Village Greens – successfully defending applications against residential developer for registration of development land at a village green
• Recovery of service charges in mixed use premises – recovering hotly disputed service charges from commercial and residential tenants
• Mining/Minerals disputes – defending and mitigating claim for an injunction/damages
• Electronic Communications – providing and implementing vacant possession strategy against operators with statutory protection to recover rooftop and other sites for universities / developer and other clients
• Property Insolvency – advising the landlord in seeking to recover rent from administrators in one of the leading “credit crunch” property insolvency cases Sunberry –v- Innovate [2008] EWCA Civ 1630
• Professional Negligence – claims against surveyors for fraud / negligence and solicitors for negligence