
Introduction
Welcome to the February 2020 edition of the Property Newsletter from Hardwicke. This month Jack Dillon gives us his predictions on an increase in boundary and neighbour disputes, which will no doubt provide us all with even more colourful and entertaining judgments to read on such matters. Those seeking the absolute schadenfreude of just such a case should consider the judgment of Mr Justice Turner in Fattahi v Charles Grosvenor Ltd [2019] EWHC 3497 (QB) – thanks to John Clargo for spotting that.
Congratulations to Jamal Demachkie who has just picked up his Legal 500 Award for Real Estate, Environment and Planning Junior of the Year.
This month sees Rupert Higgins spin the wheel of questions for us.
The next newsletter will be at the end of March 2020.
Carl Brewin– Editor
Activity Report – What we have been up to and what we'll be getting up to over the coming month
John de Waal KC has been drafting a skeleton argument on a land case for the Bahamas Court of Appeal.
Not content with obtaining injunctions to prevent occupation and fly-tipping in the South East, Steven Woolf has been very busy preparing the paperwork to commence claims for possession against protesters trespassing on land the subject of the HS2 development project. This included a rather muddy exploration into deepest Buckinghamshire.
Andrew Skelly was still settling in on day one of a two-day First-tier Tribunal hearing in Bodmin, in which his 16 clients seek to register a prescriptive right of way over neighbouring land, only for the Objector to crumble and capitulate within the first hour. Across the country, in Brighton, he succeeded in an interesting appeal relating to the date on which a claim is ‘brought’ for the purposes of limitation: if a claim form is taken to the court, whereupon the date is stamped on it and it is simply given back apparently without a copy being retained by the court, and no fee being taken, is the claim ‘brought’ on that date? Answers on a post-card. No prizes. Or acknowledgements.
Lina Mattsson has been busy prepping for the High court and upper tribunal appeals. She has also been advising on boundary disputes, prescriptive rights and fraudulent misrepresentations by a vendor.
Daniel Gatty has been doing a bit of this and a bit of that. Highlights included drafting proceedings in a dispute between developers over an option agreement, advising in a dispute between siblings over property ownership, on a lender’s negligence claim against conveyancing solicitors and in couple of business lease renewal cases, appearing on an application to discharge an injunction. All sorts really.
Jamal Demachkie had had a busy month. Highlights include advising on a s.610 application to modify a restrictive covenant, getting to grips with the new(ish) Pubs Code, acting on three Airbnb disputes, and also finding time to squeeze in a quick skiing holiday!
Andy Creer has been advising on a redevelopment break clause, more electronic communications cases in light of Ashloch, and looking at when an agreement for a lease might not be enforceable. She has currently forsaken law reports for snow reports and is tree skiing in Colorado.
John Clargo has been dealing with the Rent Act 1977, implied easements for access, a Jervis v. Harris clause, enfranchisement of a place of worship and some more knotweed. His running-every-day streak of over 5 years has finally been brought to a juddering halt by a bored achilles tendon.
Cameron Stocks, Clare Anslow, Priya Gopal, Byroni Kleopa provided a popular and interactive day as part of our J2J seminar series for more junior practitioners taking them throughs the ins and outs of residential property disputes.



Knotweed Update
The Law Society has recently issued some revised conveyancing forms, including a revised TA6 Property information form (4th Edition) (2020). The update is in response to the House of Commons Select Committee on Japanese Knotweed. The changes highlight that information ought to be provided to a buyer if the seller is aware there is a treatment plan in place, replacing “eradication” with “managing its regrowth” and adding an “unknown” response on the basis that knotweed can be difficult for a homeowner to detect.
To read more on this please click here for Andy Creer’s recent update and article.
Events and Articles
Upcoming Events:
7th May – Daniel Gatty will be discussing some of the topics raised in his recent book, A Practical Guide to Rights over Airspace and Subsoil.
17th September – Birmingham roadshow
Latest Articles:
Rent Repayment Orders – What’s the Big Deal?
Green Space borough-wide preventative injunctions: the view from the Court of Appeal
“Hardwicke Unrobed” - Get to know us better
Each month, a member of our property team has to spin ‘the Wheel of Questions’ and answer the first 3 questions that come up. This month, Rupert Higgins tried his luck with the wheel.
At what job would you be terrible?
Teaching. Think of the teacher you hated most at school, the one you felt had a heartfelt contempt for their pupils. That would be me.
If you could spend a day in someone else’s shoes, whose would they be?
Manolo Blahnik
You can eat one thing for every meal, what would you eat?
Strychnine. Eating the same thing every meal would be my idea of purgatory.
Want to try for yourself?
Click on the wheel below!
Podcast- Up High and Down Low: ownership of airspace and subsoil
Avid readers of this newsletter will know that we have a new Podcast programme. Click here to listen to this and to subscribe. If you have not already done so, you may find listening to the podcast by Daniel Gatty and Priya Gopal or rights over airspace useful.
Contact us
If you would like to discuss any of the topics in this newsletter, please contact a member of our Practice Management Team: