Developer Disputes

One of the first stages of any development will be to clear the site from existing occupiers.

Our property development dispute lawyers can review the basis upon which they are occupying the site and prepare a strategy with you to obtain vacant possession of the site as and when you need it.

If proceedings for a service charge dispute are issued against you because, for example, the service charges are unreasonable or have not been demanded correctly then our service charge dispute team can take away the stress of dealing with this from you, advise you on your options, defend the proceedings and bring them to a swift resolution.

As a property developer you may have retained the management of the site and the ability to recover rents or ground rents.

Should you have any issues in demanding or recovering rent from the tenants then our property litigation solicitors can assist you with this so that the rent arrears do not build up.

When developing a site, you always have to give thought to whether you will be faced with any rights to light claims.

Our rights to light lawyers have experience of dealing with right to light claims and can assist you in resolving any issues you encounter.

Oversailing can be a big problem for developers.

Our property litigation lawyers can act on your behalf should you be faced with a claim and fight your corner.

Our Oversailing solicitors can also advise you of your risks at the outset and assist our Real Estate Team in negotiating and preparing the terms of an Oversailing Licence.

Trespassers can be a common problem for developers.

Our trespass procedure solicitors have a wealth of experience of obtaining possession from trespassers and aim to resolve the matter promptly to minimise any delays to the development of the site.

We work alongside our Real Estate Team to resolve any development constraints at the development site.

For example, there may be access issues or issues concerning rights of way.

Development dispute lawyers can advise you on your legal position and commercial and legal options to resolve any concerns you have about the site.

If you are considering making a disposal of your interest in a building that contains flats then by law you must offer it to the tenants before offering it on the open market. Failure to do so is criminal offence.

Our rights of first refusal solicitors regularly advise landlords in relation to their obligations and can guide you through the process which will initially involve serving notices on the tenants.

Client Intro: Abbasi & Salek Partnership

Our clients are property developers and portfolio owners.

Case Overview:

Our clients are the owner of a long lease of parts of the basement, ground floor and upper floor of a building known as Asia House, formerly a commercial building. Our clients converted its premises into residential units worth £1.3m and rented them out.

The rest of the building is owned by our clients’ landlord which is a Jersey based subsidiary of an international pension fund. It had also been converted into residential units which are rented to apartment owners under long leases.

The landlord forfeited our clients’ lease by issuing possession proceedings following the service of a section 146 notice, alleging breach of covenants during the conversion works. Our clients sought relief from forfeiture.

The landlord excluded our clients’ and their tenants from the common parts of the building on the basis they had forfeited the lease. Our clients secured injunctive relief prohibiting the landlord from interfering with our clients’ and their tenants’ rights under the lease.

The landlord refused to give effect to the injunction obtained with the result that our clients applied for the landlord’s assets to be sequestered and the directors of the landlord be committed to prison. The landlord capitulated at the committal hearing and were ordered to pay our clients’ costs of the injunction and committal proceedings.

The landlord discontinued its possession claim and consented to our clients’ application for relief from forfeiture and agreed to pay our clients’ costs.

Sean Hackett, a Partner in the Property Litigation team says “This matter demonstrates the depth of our technical and legal abilities in high value complex matters.”

Client Intro: GW Fox Limited

Our client is a developer.

Case Overview:

Our client entered into an Option Agreement with the owner of a piece of land in Buckinghamshire. An application for planning permission was submitted shortly before the second option period was set to expire. The owner of the land wanted to renegotiate the terms of the Option Agreement so that they were more favourable to her. We were instructed to advise our client on the strength of their position under the Option Agreement so that they could make an informed decision regarding any negotiations.

Client Intro: Brunswick Investor Company Limited

Our client is a company formed by investors in respect of a new build development in Manchester.

Case Overview:

The shareholders of the client were the investors who purchased apartments off plan from the developer who then ran into financial difficulties.

The company secured a purchase of the share in the developer and is presently in negotiations with another developer to acquire the site to complete the build out.

We have had to ensure that the investors whose long stop dates had passed, did not seek to terminate their agreements for leases and seek to bring down the developer company whilst negotiations have been ongoing.