Thomas Munby KC and James Kinman (instructed by Ken Duncan and Alina Neal of Stephenson Harwood LLP) represented the successful paper title owner in a long-running family dispute over the ownership of a Knightsbridge flat. The case gave rise to important questions relating to the emerging doctrine of what...
Richard Fowler represented the successful landlord in the Supreme Court in a notable new case about commercial leases. On 18 January 2023 the Supreme Court handed down judgment in Sara & Hossein Asset Holdings Ltd v Blacks Outdoor Retail Ltd [2023] UKSC 2. Richard, instructed by Pinsent Masons LLP, acted for Sara in the...
Summary Richard Fowler acted for the successful appellant landlord, Sara, before the Court of Appeal and at first instance in a dispute over service charges claimed pursuant to a “conclusive certification” clause in leases of commercial premises. The reasoning of the Court of Appeal’s judgment is also applicable in...
Summary The Upper Tribunal imposed an agreement on a housing trust under the Communications Act 2003 Sch.3A Pt 4 para.20 conferring on a telecommunications operator rights to install and operate equipment on the roof of a building. The tribunal determined the extent to which the operator should be able to upgrade...
Summary John McGhee QC and Maxim Cardew successfully appear for Prudential (the landlord) in a claim brought by EMI (the guarantor) in relation to a lease of valuable commercial premises on Oxford Street formerly occupied by HMV. Maxim also analyses the decision in an article, which can be found here....
Outdoor Retail Ltd (2019) Summary In this case the court was asked to construe two provisions that are extremely common in commercial leases; a “conclusive certification” clause and a “no set-off” clause. The question for the court was: could the landlord obtain summary judgment for service charge arrears against its tenant...
Summary The carrying out of industrial works on agricultural land over which a claimant enjoyed various sporting, shooting and fishing rights was a substantial interference with those rights. However, the claimant had not exercised its rights for over 60 years and it was unlikely that it had suffered any pecuniary loss....
Summary A disclosure letter sent as part of a data package in the course of negotiations for a share purchase could be rectified if it did not give effect to the parties' intended transaction. Facts The first and second defendants (D1 and D2) appealed against an order for the rectification...
A judge had not erred in finding that an airfield owner had a reasonable prospect of obtaining planning permission to demolish buildings on the site to enable residential development, notwithstanding that the local authority's development plan contained a principle to retain and support aviation-related facilities at the airfield. The plan...