Ben Doyle

Property

Ben regularly advises and appears in cases involving a wide range of property law including:

• Residential Landlord and Tenant including possessions pursuant to section 8 and section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, deposit protection, rent repayment orders and disrepair
• Housing including termination of licences and trespass claims
• Mortgages, Guarantees, and other Secured Lending including possession proceedings and claims for orders for sale
• Commercial Landlord and Tenant including forfeiture and claims under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954
• Leasehold cases including collective enfranchisement, forfeiture and relief from forfeiture, variation of leases, and service charge disputes involving reasonableness of service charges, the entitlement to recover identified costs against leaseholders and the enforcement of the costs of major works following s.20 consultation
• Restrictive Covenants, Rights of Way and Other Easements
• Boundary Disputes and Neighbour Disputes
• Land torts such as Trespass and Nuisance
• Land Registration, including Adverse Possession and Issues of Title
• Trusts and Co-ownership
• Contentious Trusts including TOLATA, resulting and constructive trusts and proprietary estoppel
• Real Property

Examples of recent work

• Ben successfully represented a landlord as sole counsel in the Court of Appeal on the second appeal of a possession order. The Court of Appeal considered that the provision of services by a tenant (of no quantified monetary value) as consideration for accommodation under a tenancy agreement did not constitute ‘rent’ for the purposes of the Housing Act 1988 and accordingly the tenancy was excluded from being an assured tenancy. Ben’s articles on the case are here and here. Ben also successfully represented the landlord on the first appeal.
• Ben successfully represented a mortgage lender in a case involving an application for a time order pursuant to section 129 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
• Ben successfully represented a mortgage lender in a case involving The Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space Moratorium and Mental Health Crisis Moratorium) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020.
• Ben advised a restaurant on its right to situate a commercial flue in a lightwell in a case involving licences, easements, trespass and rights of light.
• Ben successfully represented leaseholders seeking collective enfranchisement in the First-Tier Tribunal.
• Ben acted for the tenant in a claim for permission to take proceedings for the enforcement of a right of re-entry by reason of breaches of leasehold repairing covenants pursuant to the Leasehold Property (Repairs) Act 1938. Ben successfully argued that the landlord’s only evidence was quasi-expert evidence which was not Part 35 compliant and for which no permission had been given and accordingly the landlord could not prove its case and the claim ought to be dismissed.
• Ben represented the freehold owners of a residential property at trial in a boundary dispute. The judge accepted Ben’s argument that although the properties appeared to share a common boundary, in actual fact they did not, and accordingly the other side’s claim in trespass was doomed to fail. Ben attended a site visit with opposing counsel and the parties and managed to negotiate a mutually agreeable settlement of the dispute.
• Ben advised the management company of a block of flats in relation to whether replacement of windows falls under the leasehold repairing covenants and various other procedural matters.
• Ben advised the prospective purchasers of a high value residential property in relation to whether their purchase of the property pursuant to an order for sale could be unravelled, including in relation to the doctrine of overreaching.
• Ben attended an appeal of a possession order on behalf of the successful landlord. The appeal was dismissed.
• Ben represented a successful landlord at a fast track trial.
• Ben advised and drafted the applicant’s statement of case in an adverse possession/boundary dispute case in the First-tier Tribunal.
• Ben drafted pleadings and represented the claimant landlord at trial in an unusual section 8 possession case involving a disputed oral tenancy and allegations of separate agreements in relation to payments of rent and council tax/utilities meaning that there were no rent arrears. Ben was successful on every point at trial.
• Ben drafted pleadings on behalf of a local authority in an unusual case involving allegations of social housing fraud. Ben successfully represented the landlord at a CPR 55.8 summary hearing and obtained a possession order.
• Ben successfully obtained set aside of a historic section 21 possession order, had the claim struck out and obtained an indemnity costs award on the basis that the landlord had failed to comply with several mandatory statutory requirements and was unable to prove its case.
• Ben drafted pleadings on behalf of various landlords in landlord and tenant cases involving disrepair.
• Ben successfully acted for the applicant in a boundary dispute in the Property Chamber of the First-Tier Tribunal via the direct access scheme and then successfully represented the same client on appeal in the Upper Tribunal.
• Ben acted for executors of an estate in TOLATA proceedings and successfully obtained an order for sale.
• Ben drafted pleadings in a high value mortgage possession claim.
• Ben advised on a neighbour dispute involving breach of covenant, easements, trespass and nuisance via the public access scheme.
• Ben drafted pleadings on a neighbour dispute involving trespass, nuisance, return of deposit, unjust enrichment and proprietary estoppel/constructive trust.
• Ben successfully represented the claimant and obtained declaratory relief in a fractious neighbour dispute via the public access scheme.
• Ben advised on a disrepair claim and drafted pleadings.
• Ben obtained judgment and costs in a long-running service charge dispute.
• Ben acted for the landlord in a case involving a service charge dispute and appointment of a manager.
• Ben advised on a hoarding dispute and represented the landlord in a mediation.
• Ben acted in a complex party wall appeal in the TCC division.
• Ben obtained possession for a commercial landlord in contested forfeiture proceedings.