Robert is a property litigation specialist and acts for both commercial and private clients in relation to all types of disputes relating to land, including property developments where there are issues concerning restrictive covenants or overage provisions. He deals with a range of landlord and tenant disputes, including dilapidations claims, service charges, private nuisance claims, and forfeiture and possession proceedings for commercial properties, right of way claims, and boundary disputes.
Robert’s career has also seen him handle a number of product liability issues for a major motorcycle manufacturer, including defending personal injury claims and advising on product recalls.
Expertise
- Lease renewal actions
- Forfeiture claims
- Service of break notices
- Tenant insolvency
- Unlawful alienation
- Construction of rent review clauses
- Service charge disputes
- Dilapidations
- Leasehold enfranchisement actions
- Dilapidations claims
- Forfeiture actions
- Actions for breaches of covenant
- Adverse possession actions
- Easements, rights of way, and restrictive covenants
- Nuisance claims
- Boundary disputes
- Residential possession claims
- Removal of squatters
- Product liability issues including personal injury claims
- Product recall
Experience
- Acted for two individuals in a claim against a national residential house builder, in respect of defectively constructed luxury property. Proceedings were issued in the Technology and Construction Court to enforce a property agreement, between the parties, under which the defendants were obliged to build a replacement property for the claimants (the clients) to move into. A summary judgment was obtained for the claimants on part of the claim, the terms of settlement agreed and filed at court the week before the five-day trial was due to commence. Subsequently, the claimants recovered damages to cover the cost of completing the construction of the property and a significant proportion of their costs of the claim.
- Acted for two individuals in a claim against a local builder for a defectively constructed new-build house. The claim settled on terms that NHBC purchase the property from the clients for an agreed price and pay the clients’ costs.
- Acted for a furniture manufacturer in a claim against a major supermarket chain, relating to an option notice served on the client by the supermarket seeking to buy back a development site. Proceedings were issued in the Chancery
- Division challenging the validity of the option notice. The claim settled on terms that the option notice be withdrawn and each party bear their own costs.
- Acted for a property developer in a claim under the Access to Neighbouring Land Act to enable it to carry out works of repair and maintenance to dilapidated barns.
- Acted for the landlord of a long residential lease in a dispute about the interpretation of a rent review clause,with a county court judgment obtained in favour of the landlord.
- Acted for a property developer in a successful appeal in the Court of Appeal,against the grant of an injunction, in favour of the local planning authority preventing the development of a parcel of land alleged to be part of the land to be made available to the residents of a block of flats.
- Acted for a tenant in a successful appeal against a rent review arbitrator’s award: Oakstead Garages Limited v Leach Pension Scheme (Trustees) Limited.
- Acted for a motorcycle manufacturer in the successful defence, in a ten-day High Court trial, of a personal injury claim arising from an alleged defect in the motorcycle.
- Acted on a large number of contested and uncontested lease renewals for a variety of retail clients.
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Recognition
Recognised by Best Lawyers (UK) 2020 and 2024 in the area of Real Estate Law and Litigation, and in from 2009 – 2025 in the area of Litigation
“Impressive with Clients” Legal 500 2017
Member of the Property Litigation Association
Career
Robert qualified as a solicitor in 1991. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2017, he worked at the following firms:
- Hewitsons
- Manches