Property Litigation
What We Do
Our Property Litigation team acts for a broad range of clients, including retailers, developers, investors, financial institutions, educational establishments, charities and property managers. We advise on all types of commercial property litigation including:
- Contentious and non contentious business lease renewals;
- Rent and service charge recovery (including distraint, court proceedings and insolvency proceedings);
- Dilapidations claims;
- Disputes over breaches of covenant including forfeiture/relief applications;
- Service charge disputes;
- Recovery of land or premises from unlawful occupiers/squatters;
- Lease surrender negotiations;
- Disputes over consent to assignment/sub-let/change use/alterations;
- Disputes with owners of neighbouring properties over boundaries, easements (e.g. rights of way, rights to park; rights to light), breaches of covenant, trespass, nuisance, adverse possession;
- Leasehold enfranchisement for commercial landlords, for example dealing with residential leaseholders' applications to extend a lease, buy the freehold or exercise the right to manage and serving right of first refusal notices;
- Residential possession actions/rent recovery for commercial landlords.
Recent Property Litigation Deals
- Resolved, on favourable terms, a complex indemnity claim for Henry Boot Developments Limited which arose from fit-out works carried out by its tenant on commercial premises;
- Acted for River Island Clothing Co Limited, with success, in a trial over the new rent on a business lease renewal;
- Advising a major property management company in a complex dispute over management fees.
Testimonials
"Acutely attuned to the commercial realities involved in today's litigation process." Chambers and Partners, 2010