Property Disputes

Our Property Disputes team specialises in solving property disputes.

Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession ranks our Property Disputes team in the top tier. The team spend 100% of their time dealing with contentious property issues. It is solution led and has an excellent understanding of alternative dispute resolution techniques including mediation, arbitration, adjudication and expert determination.

We regularly work with a wide range of clients including property developers, investment companies, national house builders, multi-nationals and local authorities.

The team is led by Gary Parkinson, who is ranked as an expert in his field by Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession. Russell May joined the team in 2009 and is listed as an “up and coming individual”. 

Areas in which we frequently provide advice include:

• Lease termination and renewals
• Landlord and Tenant disputes 
• Service charge and rent disputes
• Development and construction disputes
• Possession proceedings (residential and commercial)
• Dilapidation claims
• Insolvency related property cases
• Distress and enforcement of debts
• Boundary disputes
• Rights of way
• Rights of light
• Restrictive covenants
• Break notices
• Adverse posession
• Leasehold enfranchisement and right to manage
• Disputes between buyer and seller
• Rent review disputes

Recent Property Disputes work includes:

• Advising a national house builder in relation to a dispute with a purchaser of a block of 59 flats. The contract purchase price was £14.7m; the purchaser sought to argue that the client had repudiated the contract by failing to build the flats to an agreed specification.
  
• Acting for a large multinational company which had sublet part of a commercial office in London to a company which exercised a break option. A dispute arose as to whether the break had been validly exercised. The outcome of the dispute determined whether the client would lose approximately £3m of rental income. Court proceedings were issued and subsequently compromised by agreement with the defendant subtenant accepting that the break was valid and paying arrears of rent of £550,000 and accepting the future liability to pay the rent going forward to the end of the term in 2014 (£2m) and paying 85% of the client’s legal costs, i.e £95,000.
  
• Acting for a developer in connection with a dispute between adjoining land owners regarding an alleged breach of an agreement by one party to construct an access road and service conduits across its land in order to enable the other party to develop its land and to use the road and conduits. Value of the claim £900,000. This case is ongoing.
  
• Acting for a landlord in a dispute as to whether it had repudiated a commercial lease in central London entitling the tenant (a firm of solicitors) to treat the lease as at an end. Value of claim: £450,000. We utilised our specialist landlord and tenant experience in order to advise the client and achieve a satisfactory result.
  
• Acting for a developer in relation to a development of a large property – a conversion into 5 flats. The owner had engaged a contractor to carry out the conversion work and a dispute arose as to the mechanism for payment to the contractor from the proceeds of sale of each flat as each flat completed. The Contractor downed tools and the client had to complete the development itself. Value of the dispute: £500,000. Proceedings were issued and eventually settled to the satisfaction of the client.

Recently Reported cases:

BDW Trading Ltd v Opticlife Ltd [2010] EWHC 1951 (Ch)
Baker Tilly v Computer Associates Ch Div Lawtel 14/12/09