Real estate disputes

Our highly experienced team provides pragmatic and commercial solutions to resolve real estate disputes.

We work with developers, portfolio owning landlords, banks, charities, landowners and insolvency practitioners, helping to solve problems as quickly and cost effectively as possible. Clients value our ability to foresee potential disputes and get involved early, ensuring that issues are mitigated before they escalate or have a knock-on effect.

Our specialist real estate litigators work closely with colleagues from across our Commercial and Residential Development, Portfolio Asset Management and Real Estate Finance teams.

We represent clients in all forums including the High Court and County Court, Lands Tribunal, and the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), but we look to achieve a cost effective resolution before matters proceed that far.

All of our real estate dispute lawyers are members of the Property Litigation Association and we have strong working relationships with specialist surveyors and experts, as well as Chancery barristers, and are used to working as part of a professional team.

We actively promote alternative dispute resolution processes such as mediation and arbitration in order to achieve the best possible results.

Above all, we recognise that the real estate world is a business in which personal relationships count and we fully address the human as well as the legal dimension of any problem.

Our specialisms include:

• The resolution of land disputes to enable land to be unlocked for development purposes to include diversion of public rights of way, telecommunications issues, settlement of overage disputes, option agreement disputes, obtaining permission to carry out work to common land, assets of community value, ransom strips, rights to light, and all related planning matters
• Real estate disputes to include advising on easements, restrictive covenants and adverse possession claims
• Property insolvency matters to include the enforcement of fixed charges and debentures, the appointment of receivers and administrators, and advising on company voluntary arrangements
• Commercial landlord & tenant disputes including rent reviews, breach of tenancy agreements and forfeiture
• Recovering possession of land from commercial tenants, trespassers and squatters
• Resolving disputes concerning jointly owned property by utilising the process under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996
• Lease extensions and enfranchisement under the statutory process
• Professional negligence claims arising from property related matters
• Telecommunications & Code disputes
• Advising landowners and farmers on rights and liabilities in connection with agricultural tenancies and related matters
• Planning disputes.