Property
Dominic has experience of advising, drafting and representation in commercial property disputes, including those involving interim rent, forfeiture following breach of the lease, dilapidations, assignment, subletting, parting with possession, repairs, applications for new tenancies, and relief from forfeiture.
He also has experience of real property disputes, including water easements, rights of way, amending the Land Register, interim and final possession orders against “persons unknown”, trespass, nuisance, leasehold disputes, boundary disputes, mortgage disputes, derogation from grant, constructive and resulting trusts, guarantees, acquisition orders, warrants of restitution, and enfranchisement.
Dominic is an Associate Member of the Property Bar Association.
Commercial
- H v B – drafted a claim and supporting evidence in a claim for interim rent in the sum of about £200,000 (November 2024).
- M v W – advice on terms of settlement following forfeiture for non-payment of rent (September 2024).
- H & Anor v N – successfully applied for possession of a company let following a notice to quit (August 2024).
- M v W – particulars of claim for possession following forfeiture for non-payment of rent, judgment for about £55,000, mesne profits, contractual interest, and contractual costs (July 2024).
- M v W – advice on what steps can be taken to forfeit a commercial lease (July 2024).
- V v C – successfully applied for possession following forfeiture for non-payment of rent, judgment for over £45,000, daily loss of use and occupation charges, contractual costs as claimed of over £1,500, about £2,500 interest, release of the deposit, and transfer to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court for enforcement (July 2024).
- Advice on whether the landlord had waived the right to forfeit in respect of non-payment of rent, whether returning the rent revives the right to forfeit, and whether the right to forfeit can be exercised in the future (June 2024).
- Advice on a deed of variation, which was alleged to relinquish the tenant from its obligations under the lease, and delay in respect of service of a schedule of dilapidations (May 2024).
- P v S – successfully applied for possession following forfeiture in respect of insurance, reserve fund, service and administration charges, and costs, over £3,500 interest, and contractual costs (March 2024).
- K v S – particulars of claim for possession following forfeiture on the basis of non-payment of rent, judgment for over £100,000, mesne profits, over £6,000 interest, and contractual costs (January 2024).
Water easements
- Advice on liability to carry out works to a water pipe on the servient tenement in respect of a water easement, whether it was necessary to enter into a new deed following the water supply being re-routed, and liability to pay the costs thereof (October 2024).
- Advice in respect of a borehole, private water supply and water easements to three dominant tenements, including water charges, maintenance charges of the pump and other equipment, abstraction licenses, notices where private water supplies are a potential danger to human health, unwholesome or insufficient, negligence, and liability under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 for damage caused by defective water (October 2024).
Rights of way
- Advice on settlement and prospects of successfully objecting to an application to amend the Land Register, so as to properly protect a right of way, when a new house had since been built on the servient tenement, so that the right of way could no longer be exercised (June 2024).
- Advice in relation to whether new rights of way by express grant were needed in relation to two pieces of land for which planning permission was granted utilising new entry and egress points (May 2023).
“Persons unknown”
- B & Two Ors v Persons Unknown – successfully applied for an interim possession order, and subsequently a final possession order forthwith (January 2025).
- M v Persons Unknown – successfully applied for an interim possession order (August 2024).
- V v Persons Unknown – successfully applied for a final order for possession, and permission to dispense with service (January 2024).
- I v Persons Unknown – successfully applied for outright possession forthwith (November 2023).
- O v G & Persons Unknown – successfully applied for possession, the first defendant (who was a named party) to pay for costs as claimed of over £4,000 (January 2023).
- S v Persons Unknown re C Road – successfully applied for possession (February 2022).
- S v Persons Unknown re P Road – successfully applied for an interim possession order (October 2021).
- S v Persons Unknown re Q Road – successfully applied for an interim possession order (October 2021).
Trespass & nuisance
- M v C – particulars of claim for nuisance, negligence and an injunction, following water ingress (October 2024).
- W v J & Anor – particulars of claim for an injunction and damages for obstruction of a right of way, and an injunction and damages for trespass and / or nuisance (November 2023).
- B & Two Ors v G & Anor – successfully cross-examined and made submissions, so that damages were awarded following loss and damage caused by a cistern that froze, cracked and caused water to pour into a flat on a floor below, due to the defendants’ negligence in failing to turn off the water and / or heat an unoccupied property in winter (March 2023).
- C v M – advised on prospects of a claim for breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment and / or derogation from grant and likely cost of arbitration under an arbitration clause, when an adjacent hotel was using a forecourt as a beer garden, causing a nuisance and interfering with the use of the property (February 2023).
Leasehold disputes
- M v M – successfully applied for possession following forfeiture of a lease, on the basis of arrears of service charges, contractual interest, and contractual costs on the indemnity basis (August 2024).
- C v B – successfully made submissions, so that permission was given to file and serve amended particulars of claim for service charges, and a defence to the counterclaim (July 2024).
- Advice on particulars of claim for service charges that were at risk of being struck out, and failure to file a defence to the counterclaim (July 2024).
- Particulars of claim for possession in respect of a property let on a long lease, mesne profits and contractual costs (September 2023).
- Advised leaseholders renting out a property to tenants on: prospects of successfully defending a claim for service charges, internal and external building costs; whether the incoming leaseholder is responsible for the unrecovered service charge of the outgoing leaseholder; how to challenge the service charge on the basis of reasonableness; and whether the landlord has a contractual right to costs on the indemnity basis (September 2020).
Boundary disputes
- H & Anor v P & Anor – successfully made submissions during a pre-trial review, so that a site visit was not incorporated into the timetable for trial of a boundary dispute, so that the court would decide on the basis of the expert evidence appearing to favour the claimant (October 2024).
Mortgage disputes
- M v G & Two Ors – successfully applied for possession and judgment of over £310,000 against the first and second defendants following mortgage arrears (December 2023).
- Reply and defence to counterclaim in respect of a mortgage possession claim, where the issues included non est factum, misrepresentation, an overriding interest, priority of interests and subrogation (November 2023).
- Pleadings claiming forfeiture of a long lease following judgment that service charges were owed and service of a section 146 notice (August 2023).
- M v S – successfully applied for an outright possession order within six weeks in a mortgage possession claim (August 2023).
Derogation from grant
- Advice on prospects of injunctive relief, derogation from grant and the value of a potential claim in respect of a forecourt that was being used by a nearby hotel as a beer garden (August 2023).
- C v M – advised on prospects of a claim for breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment and / or derogation from grant and likely cost of arbitration under an arbitration clause, when an adjacent hotel was using a forecourt as a beer garden, causing a nuisance and interfering with the use of the property (February 2023).
Constructive & resulting trusts
- Advice on the merits of bringing a claim for £75,000 in respect of the balance owed, an oral agreement between cohabitees and thereby change in the common intention to hold a property in equal shares following purchase in joint names (December 2022).
Guarantees
- Advice on prospects of recovering rent arrears, costs and damages, from a guarantor under a guarantee agreement (May 2024).
Acquisition orders
- M & Anor v L – successfully applied for an acquisition order, enabling the claimant leaseholders to acquire the freehold title, on grounds including that their landlord could not be found, plus full costs of about £6,000 (following a successful application for relief from sanctions after the claim was struck out) (July 2020).
Warrants of restitution
- P v H – successfully applied for a warrant of restitution (in aid of a warrant of possession) and costs of the application (February 2022).
Enfranchisement
- S v S – successfully represented the freehold owner of 24 flats in an application for determination of the terms of acquisition remaining in dispute, namely: the combined freehold vacant possession value of all flats; the ground rent capitalisation rate; whether seven parking spaces were appurtenant property; the value of the appurtenant property; and the total sum payable for the freehold interest (November 2022).