Sara Benbow

Areas of expertise

• Property
  • Commercial landlord & tenant

    Commercial landlord & tenant

    Sara is also an experienced and knowledgeable commercial landlord and tenant practitioner, covering both contentious and non-contentious work for landlords, tenants and others such as guarantors or insolvency practitioners who hold interests related to commercial leasehold land. As well as addressing issues relating to the 1954 Act, rent reviews, consents, dilapidations, and redevelopment, Sara has a particular specialism in the impact of insolvency on the commercial landlord and tenant relationship, and is a co-author and regular presenter of Gatehouse Chambers’s popular seminars on the subject.

  • Development & planning

    Development & planning

    Sara has substantial experience in disputes relating to Property Development, whether in the context of the implementation and interpretation of agreements between participants (performance, overage, options etc) or in respect of practical issues which may arise with the land, its current occupants and its neighbours such as tenancy problems, planning, adverse possession claims, easements, restrictive covenants, party wall disputes, conveyancing issues and the like.

    Sara is also much in demand as a mediator in such cases, where her familiarity with the subject-matter enables her to help parties find practical and effective solutions for their problems.

  • Leasehold & leasehold management

    Leasehold & leasehold management

    Sara is an experienced and knowledgeable commercial and residential landlord and tenant lawyer. As an advocate and as a mediator she covers both contentious and non-contentious work and is noted for her understanding of practicalities of the subject from the perspectives of landlords, tenants and others such as beneficiaries, guarantors or insolvency practitioners who hold interests related to commercial or residential leasehold land.

  • Real property & mortgages

    Real property & mortgages

    At the heart of Sara’s property practice is her work in the sphere of real property, whether as an adviser, advocate or mediator. As well as her expertise in disputes over boundaries, easements and adverse possession, co-ownership, mortgages, and the impact of insolvency on property rights, Sara provides specialist knowledge and considerable experience in conveyancing disputes including issues as to specific performance, rescission or registration and, especially in the property-development context, cases about planning, covenants, options or overage provisions.

  • Trusts of land

    Trusts of land

    Trusts of Land have always formed a significant part of Sara’s practice, both as an adviser/advocate and as a mediator. She is particularly sensitive to the issues which often underlie such disputes, and is also conscious that third parties may well need to be involved if an effective resolution is to be found.

• Legal professionals

  Legal professionals

  Claims against solicitors and other legal professionals regularly form part of Sara’s work as a mediator, and she is noted for her skill in handling the competing interests which such claims often involve. As with all areas of her mediation practice, Sara combines a sensitive and flexible approach with many years of experience in professional liability claims and a detailed knowledge of the applicable legal principles. This enables her to test, where appropriate, the parties’ perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses in their respective cases and to help them move towards a sensible practical solution.

• Contentious Probate & Inheritance Act claims

  Contentious Probate & Inheritance Act claims

  Sara has considerable experience in disputes of all sorts concerning the estates of deceased individuals, both as an adviser/advocate and as a mediator. These are often extremely distressing situations for the parties, but Sara’s empathetic yet clear and practical approach does much to ease them through the process to a resolution.

• Commercial litigation

  Commercial litigation

  Sara undertakes work across the spectrum of commercial cases. She has extensive experience in disputes and potential disputes arising from most aspects of business dealings in the UK and abroad, with particular expertise in matters of insolvency and disputes concerning partnerships.

  Her cases regularly involve complex factual issues, substantial elements of financial analysis and allegations of fraud. As well as acting and advising in the context of litigation, Sara is frequently instructed at a non-contentious stage or in relation to some form of ADR.

  Sara also represents clients, drafts documents and advises in the context of arbitral proceedings both domestic and international. Her practice in this area has ranged from disputes as to the quality of goods or workmanship in respect of machinery, bulk stock, construction works and the like through issues as to the interpretation of and compliance with property development and regeneration contracts, to arguments emanating from international and domestic supply contracts with varied subject matter.

  In addition to her work as an advocate and adviser, Sara is a qualified mediator with an impressive record, and is available to conduct mediations in most types of commercial dispute. Recent mediations have included disputes as to the legitimate operation of a business within the purview of a port, the dissolution of a partnership and consequent division of assets, and the serviceability of large scale mechanical plant.

• Corporate insolvency

  Corporate insolvency

  Sara is one of Gatehouse Chambers’s senior insolvency specialists. She is regularly called upon to advise and represent insolvent or potentially insolvent individuals, partnerships or companies, those connected with them or third parties who have dealings with them in all sorts of contexts.

  She is happy to accept instructions from insolvency practitioners as well as from the legal profession both in the UK and abroad.

  She also provides seminars dealing with insolvency options and their implications in particular areas of law, and is a co-author and regular presenter of a frequently-requested session on “Insolvency for Property Lawyers”.