Property
Property law is a core part of our experience and underpins our other specialist areas. We are regularly instructed by and on behalf of private individuals, companies, financial institutions and public authorities.
Members are recommended for property work in both the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners and are active participants in the Property Bar Association, including serving on its Executive Committee.
As with all our areas of work, we are the authors of many of the key publications in this area. Andrew Dymond and Annette Cafferkey are co-authors of Leasehold Valuation Tribunals – A Practical Guide (Sweet & Maxwell). Justin Bates is the co-author of Leasehold Disputes (Legal Action Group). Andrew Arden QC oversees teams of writers producing the Encyclopedia of Housing Law and Practice, Housing Law Reports and Arden & Partington’s Housing Law (all Sweet & Maxwell).
We are exceptionally strong in all residential property law disputes, especially those involving long-leasehold disputes. On average, we appear in over 100 First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) / Leasehold Valuation Tribunal cases a year, and regularly take those cases into the higher courts. Examples of recent cases include:
- Triplerose Ltd v 90 Broomfield Rd RTM Co Ltd [2015] EWCA Civ 282; [2016] 1 WLR 275; [2015] HLR 29 (can an RTM company manage more than one premises?)
- Oliver v Sheffield CC [2015] UKUT 229 (LC) (grant funding and service charge reductions)
- Columbia House Properties (No.3) Ltd v Imperial Hall Freehold Ltd [2015] UKUT 45 (LC) (are managing agents fees recoverable in a collective enfranchisement claim?)
- Qdime Ltd v Bath Building [2014] UKUT 261 (LC); [2014] 3 EGLR 18 (is terrorism insurance necessary to comply with the CML handbook?)
- No.1 Deansgate (Residential) Ltd v No.1 Deansgate RTM Co Ltd [2013] UKUT 580 (LC); [2014] 1 P&CR DG18 (when is a building “structurally detached”?)
- Burr v OM Property Management Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 479; [2013] 1 WLR 3071′ [2013] HLR 29 (leading case on s.20B, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and the time limits for recovering service charges)
We are also active in more traditional property work and non-housing work, including. easements, adverse possession, boundary disputes, defective buildings. Recent examples include:
- R (Wood & Turley) v Leeds CC [2014] EWHC 2598 (Admin) (valuation of allotments)
- Trustees of the Green Masjid v Birmingham CC [2013] UKUT 355 (LC) (application to vary or discharge a restrictive covenant; relevance of “conduct” issues)
- Swan Housing Association Ltd v Gill [2012] EWHC 3129 (QB); [2013] 1 WLR 1253 (role of the court in deciding adverse possession issues since the passage of the Land Registration Act 2002)
