Representing a national property management company. Fleur Turrington represented the company in respect of a large dilapidations claim that they were bringing against their former Tenants. The matter was dealt with by way of Arbitration proceedings, with the assistance of a QC who was appointed as the arbitrator.
Arbitration was decided as the best route with respect to this particular dilapidations matter as it was more informal than County Court proceedings and was appropriate for the companies involved.
The Company was a large, national business. It was necessary to keep costs proportionate to the value of the claim but at the same to ensure that the company was portrayed in the appropriate manner to avoid any further claims of a similar nature being brought against it.
The use of a specialist Counsel and relevant experts were necessary for the smooth running of the arbitration.
Fleur Turrington advises various private and commercial landlords and Managing Agents in relation to all landlord and tenant matters.
A broad range of advice can be given including, initial advice as to the relevant possession notices to be served through to advising and representing clients and companies in defended County Court possession matters, Breach of Covenants, boundary disputes, right of way disputes and forfeiture matters.
Guy represented six tenants who had been served a notice by their landlord of its intention to sell the freehold of the residential block of flats. One of the tenants had recently bought and been represented by a colleague in our Residential Property Department, and had therefore recommended that Spratt Endicott be invited to quote for the work.
As the residential property department did not have the expertise to do this it was passed to Guy. He made contact with the tenants’ representative and briefly explained the process and the timescales involved so they could make a decision as to what action to take.
To protect the individual tenants Guy drafted a participation agreement which meant that before any significant costs were incurred, each tenant fully understood and agreed their individual obligations throughout the process and in particular made it clear what should happen if a tenant wished to sell their flat during the process. Guy also obtained all the necessary Land Registry documentation at the outset to ensure correct people were involved.
Guy’s advice was that the freehold should be purchased in the name of a company bearing in mind the number of tenants and therefore our Corporate Department were involved in assisting with the setting up and advising on this.
He drafted and served the necessary Acceptance Notice indicating the Tenant’s interest and the matter went to auction.
The landlord’s notice of what they wanted/meant was incorrect and although the landlord could have withdrawn their notice this would have meant that they could not have sold the property for a further 12 months. This was pointed out to the Landlord’s advisors and meant our clients were in a stronger negotiating position in buying additional land.
The client was appraised of the date of the auction and that they would have the opportunity of buying the property at the same price as was achieved at auction, but they would need to act within the statutory timescale in order to do this. This meant when they were told of the value at auction they could quickly agree whether to purchase or not, as they had the finance arranged and the necessary signatories were available so they were able to meet the necessary deadlines.
The clients now own and manage the freehold of their building.