What sets Maitland apart is the number of members we can offer, as well as the multi-disciplinary skills they possess, covering further expertise in related areas such as company and insolvency (including CVAs), partnership/LLP, trusts, joint ventures and financial services law.
Members of Chambers often appear in the Court of Appeal and High Court for major institutional lenders, investors and developers (including national housebuilders and supermarket chains), as well as high net worth investors, businesses and individuals.
We advise on real estate issues arising out of disputes in overseas jurisdictions and act as advocates in real estate disputes in courts outside the UK and in domestic and international arbitration.
Chambers and its members are consistently highly ranked by both Chambers UK and Legal 500 in real estate litigation, as well as insolvency, commercial/chancery and financial services. Several of our members are ranked as a leading practitioner in real estate litigation and at least one other area.
Some of our most recent noteworthy cases include:
- Re Virgin Active Holdings Limited (property management and restructuring)
- EMI Group Ltd v Prudential Assurance Co Ltd (commercial landlord and tenant; AGAs)
- Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Ltd v London & Quadrant Housing Trust (telecoms)
For further information regarding specific areas of our expertise in the field of Real Estate please see below.
Expertise
Landlord & Tenant
This is a core area of Maitland’s expertise in the real estate field. We have a deep and wide experience of all aspects of the issues that arise in commercial and residential disputes. Our approach is to analyse the technical aspects of an issue and offer pragmatic and commercial advice and representation.
In recent years, our strength in depth has allowed us to offer our services in covering established and original issues that have arisen from the challenging economic environment. We have been involved in leading cases in relation to:
- recovery of rent as an expense of administration
- liability for high value terminal dilapidations, and
- liability under guarantees and the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995.
Just as ready to deal with matters in the County Court as the Supreme Court, our members frequently assist in all aspects of the recovery of the possession of land, from the largest industrial sites to the smallest residential dwelling.
We provide a rapid response to the needs of our clients. That often involves a quick turnaround of work, answering questions relating for example to the service of break notices, applications to alienate or the service of consultation notices in the context of service charges.
Large or small, every client, both professional and lay, receives the same level of service, scrupulous attention to detail and appreciation of the commercial realities of any dispute.
Commercial Landlord & Tenant
Business tenancies
Commercial landlord and tenant is a core area upon which we have a wealth of experience. Acting at all levels for the respective parties to legal disputes, arbitrations and mediations, we give practical and strategic advice whenever required upon the technicalities of contracting out, termination of the tenancy by statutory notice, the extent of the holding, grounds for opposing renewal, statutory compensation, length of new lease, market rent, the application of the Competition Act 1998 and the relationship of the statutory regime under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 with common law aspects of commercial landlord and tenant.
We well understand that a well-prepared negotiating stance and pro-active management of litigation and litigation timetables are strategic tools in securing the best result for our client. Our strength and depth of experience enables us to offer cost-effective, comprehensive and practical advice at leading and junior level on all aspects of commercial landlord and tenant disputes.
Residential Landlord & Tenant
We provide advice and representation to individual tenants and landlords of one-off properties, to large institutional landlords or tenants’ associations and organisations. We appear regularly in all Courts and Tribunals from the First-tier Tribunal and County Court up to the Supreme Court.
We represent and advise landlords and tenants in cases where rights under the Rent Act 1977 or the Housing Acts 1985 and 1988 arise, often in the context of development schemes.
Leasehold Enfranchisement & Long Leases
Our Chambers includes several leaders in the field of Leasehold Enfranchisement under the 1967 and 1993 Leasehold Reform Acts. We appear regularly for landlords, tenants, and nominee purchasers, and have acted in many of the leading recent cases taken to the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. We are as comfortable with the complex mathematical aspects of valuation as we are with the factual and legal issues that arise.
We also regularly advise and act in relation to cases involving the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987.
Service Charges
We have expertise in and regularly appear in cases involving rights and liabilities under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, and we are as at home rolling our sleeves up to deal with complex factual disputes in the First-tier Tribunal as we are in higher courts and tribunals. A number of members have recently been involved in complex commercial service charge disputes.
We understand that such disputes are not always of significant value and our members’ fees in relation to such matters are designed to reflect this.
Purchase and development of Land
Land Registration
Professional Negligence
Insolvency
Telecommunications
Mines, Minerals and Land Use
Highways and waterways