Property Newsletter: New Year Edition
Introduction
Welcome everyone to 2026, and to the first of this year’s Gatehouse Property Newsletter (incorporating the answer to last month’s “Who am I?” – thanks for all who played!). Based on the popularity of podcasting our articles last month, we have done this again – just click on the relevant play button to listen to each article.
We are excited about the year ahead, with lots to look forward to. There are big legal changes afoot (new resi possession regime, Building Safety Act issues in the Supreme Court, fundamental reform to leasehold and more). Additionally, the Gatehouse team will be travelling all over to catch up with professional friends and make new ones, including at MIPIM, UKREiiF and more: We hope to see many of you during the course of the year.
All the best for 2026 from all of us at the Gatehouse Chambers Property Team!
Editor – David Peachey
Property Newsletter - Full Audio
News
MIPIM 2026
Gatehouse Chambers’ barristers and staff will be at MIPIM again this year between 9 – 13 March 2026.
The following experts from our property/real estate, commercial, insurance and professional liability teams will be in Cannes.
John de Waal KC
Brie Stevens-Hoare KC
Faisel Sadiq
Jamal Demachkie
Emily Betts
John Beresford
Staff attending:
Amanda Illing
Elliot Langdorf
Patrick Sarson
Jim Findley
Chelsea Thomas
Do get in touch if you or some of your colleagues will be there too and would like to meet up.
Welcome back to Byroni Kleopa
We’re very pleased to share that Byroni Kleopa has now returned from maternity leave and is back in chambers. She is looking forward to reconnecting with colleagues and clients in the months ahead and to being involved in upcoming matters.
What have we been up to?
Peter Petts has been acting for the Secretary of State for Defence, striking out a tenant’s application for a new ’54 Act tenancy. Just need to recover the arrears, now, to fund the defence of Greenland and pay the rent on the Chagos Islands.
Jamal Demachkie has had a fun start to the year – acting on the forfeiture of a hotel with various third parties seeking vesting orders; successfully opposing a self-admitted fraudster’s efforts to set aside his own mortgage; and advising on some messy development/ overage agreements. He has also booked his tickets to MIPIM – hope to see some of you there!
After a week literally “chilling” in Estonia at the beginning of January, David Peachey launched into 2026 with a flurry of commercial L&T, property fraud, dilapidations, rent review clauses and restrictive covenants. It’s going to be a busy year!
Charlotte John has been qualifying as a mediator and, in common with William (but not on the same case), responding to attempts to set aside declarations of trust on the basis of duress and undue influence – must be something in the air…
Cameron Stocks is kicking off 2026 with very familiar territory, farms. A flurry of disputes including advising as to whether a condition in a will amounts to an overage, trust or an equitable charge over land sold for development and separately whether giving up employment to care for an elderly farmer gave rise to a beneficial interest or proprietary estoppel.
William Golightly has been dealing with various neighbourhood disputes, including oak tree root subsidence (that’s Quercus robur to you…) and allegations of breach of user covenants, along with attempts to set aside declarations of trust and deeds of gift on the basis of duress. Christmas holiday already feels very far in the distance…
Victoria Dacie-Lombardo has had a busy start to 2026 – successfully defeating an application to set aside a possession order in relation to a high value residential property on the first working day of the year. Elsewhere, she was pleased to obtain a vesting order in respect of disclaimed land for an ecclesiastical client. Outside court, she has been thinking about rentcharges and, separately, disrepair in the context of Ground (a) of the 1954 Act. She is looking forward to relaxing soon, in the mountains of Oman!
Philip Marriott has come back to a run of forfeiture claims, some knotty s.21 points (bring on May!), and capped it off with a day-long CCMC in a multi-million-pound conveyancing negligence claim.
David Lipson has had his hands full with service charge disputes, including a s.27A application and advising on a settlement agreement. He has also drafted Defences for a landlord and tenant dispute concerning surrender by operation of law, and a mortgage possession claim.
Mark Erridge has been involved in a s.168 determination of breach of lease in the FTT, a multi-track trial in a claim arising out of a property sale, a series of possession hearings, and drafting various defences to and advices on residential disrepair claims (some including personal injury).
Daniel Gatty’s 2026 has begun with a mishmash of mortgages, easements, boundaries, commercial lease renewals and restrictive covenants (not all in the same case).
2026 has started slightly slower for John Clargo than 2025 ended and he is feeling better for it! But otherwise life continues with the normal run of easements, mortgages, leases to construe and renew and other real property entertainment!
Dwelling in the past?
If you are advising residential tenants, perhaps with security of tenure under the Rent Act 1977 (‘RA 1977’) or the Housing Act 1988, then you will be able to say with confidence whether they have the protection of the various service charge provisions in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (‘LTA 1985’). But what of someone who has a tenancy of a pub or a shop with a flat above: a business tenant of mixed-use premises who has no security under the aforementioned acts but who may well (subject to the contracting out procedure) have the protection of Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (‘the LTA 1954)? Do they, like their purely residential neighbours, have rights which would enable them to – for example – challenge the reasonableness of their service charges?
Article by John Clargo
Signed, unsealed, undelivered? When is a claim ‘made’ under s.29A of the 1954 Act?
The Courts are awash with litigation concerning claims being issued out of time, the consequences of which often form the basis for negligence claims. In fact, I posit that every litigation solicitor and barrister has at some point considered paragraph 6.1 of Practice Direction 7A:
“Proceedings are started when the court issues a claim form at the request of the claimant (see rule 7.2) but where the claim form as issued was received in the court office on a date earlier than the date on which it was issued by the court, the claim is “brought” for the purposes of the Limitation Act 1980 and any other relevant statute on that earlier date”.
But what does this have to do with bringing claims under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954? According to the recent County Court decision in Shaikh and Hoque v Mohammad [2025] EWCC 77¸quite a lot.
Article by David Lipson
Did you miss? What's in a 'WhatsApp'? No disposition of a beneficial interest in Reid-Roberts v Mei-Lin [2026] EWHC 49 (CH)
Following the Court of Appeal’s decision in Hudson v Hathway – in which Mr Hudson relinquished his beneficial interest in a co-owned property by email – I wondered if I should rethink my habit of signing off texts “Cxxx”.
In Reid-Roberts, Cawson J considered whether a WhatsApp message could effect a disposition of a beneficial interest. The decision is a welcome one that provides clarity on the boundaries of s.53(1)(c).
Article by Charlotte John
Who am I?
Each month a mystery member of the team answers some questions about themselves, and you have to guess who it is. In our December issue it was Patrick Sarson sipping his builder’s earl grey tea next to the terranium on his desk, hoping that nobody would give him cranberry sauce with his Christmas turkey. Who do you think it is this month?
What is the best Liverpool FC kit?
Honourable mention for 85-87 home Crown Paints (great paint) kit (ideally 10, Molby) and current third kit in Liver Bird green (ideally 14, long-sleeve, Chiesa) but the collared quartered teal and white away kit from 95/96 (ideally 10, Barnes) is sartorial perfection *chef’s kiss.
What is the best court in England and Wales?
Has to be Truro for me: firstly, taking the sleeper train down is the better than any night-before-trial Travelodge, the court itself is 1920s art deco design (ft. rotunda) in 1980s materials, beautifully manicured gardens overlooking the cathedral, and best of all it has a rotating cast of therapy dogs.
Who is the best member of the Fellowship of the Ring?
Sam obviously does a lot of the heavy lifting (physically and metaphorically) and the only mortal character to give up the ring-willingly. Gandalf is wise and powerful but slaying a balrog is a bit passé when Ecthelion of the Fountain and Glorfindel of the Golden Flower had already unlocked that particular LinkedIn endorsement during the First Age. I also think he is unnecessarily mean to my boy Pippin. At the risk of being too controversial, I’ll say Boromir given his moral complexity, prowess and redemption arc.
Well done to everyone who guessed correctly last month – check back in February where we reveal this month’s mystery respondent.
Who am I? Property Newsletter February 2026
"*" indicates required fields
Contact us
If you would like to discuss any of the topics in this newsletter, please contact the H Team at hteam@gatehouselaw.co.uk or get in touch with one of our Practice Managers.
Patrick Sarson, Senior Practice Manager
Jim Findley, Practice Manager
Samuel Read, Practice Manager
To find out more about our Property Team and their work, visit the property page on our website. To view a copy of our privacy statement, please click here.
This edition of the property newsletter was edited by David Peachey. Comments or queries about this newsletter? Please get in touch with him!