Tim Brookes

Tim acts in substantial and sensitive property litigation matters for both corporate occupiers and high-net-worth individuals, often attracting significant media attention. 

• Acted for Thames Water against the Mayor of London’s challenge to its planning permission for construction of a £270m desalination plant in Beckton, designed to produce 100m litres of water per day during drought periods. 

• Successfully instructed by a Belarus oligarch to initiate and prosecute High Court proceedings reversing the removal of concierge services in a high-class development in Grosvenor Crescent, Belgravia. 

• Represented the winning claimants in a long-running and intense domestic boundary dispute. Ultimately recovered an award of significant damages and costs by execution of a High Court order for sale over the defendants’ property, with national media coverage. Conducted parallel proceedings for the committal of the one of the defendants for contempt of court, successfully defeating a challenge to the length of his custodial sentence before the Court of Appeal. 

Tim advises on complex development challenges and site clearance issues, with particular expertise in restrictive covenants, rights of light, adverse possession, overage, and contractual interpretation. 

• Represented BT, Malmaison, and Manchester-based Queens Chambers Property Company Limited, in protecting rights of light which would otherwise be infringed by substantial neighbouring residential and mixed-use developments. 

• In 2025, acted for claimants challenging a neighbouring large-scale domestic redevelopment which infringed a number of 1960s restrictions, both in injunctive County Court proceedings, and in an application under Section 84(1) of the Law of Property Act 1925 before the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber). 

• Advised numerous national, SME, and individual housebuilders on title impediments to development, including various easements, and the enforceability (and possible discharge / modification) of historic restrictive covenants. 

Tim advises on the property aspects of corporate insolvency, including administrations, receiverships, CVAs and restructuring plans, liquidations, and mortgagee possession actions, often working closely with lenders and a variety of established insolvency practitioners. 

• Advised a major UK corporate on a multi-million-pound rental liability arising from the CVA of Focus DIY. 

• Conducted the defence of High Court proceedings for the administrators of a central London development company in connection with the adequacy of the build-out, a complex overage agreement, and the eventual sale of the Big Easy restaurant in Covent Garden. 

• Defended multiple proceedings seeking forfeiture of leases of retail outlets following the entry into administration of the Patisserie Valerie group, successfully securing relief from forfeiture of valuable leases. 

• Acted for Lloyds Banking Group plc in appointing CBRE as LPA Receivers and successfully prosecuting proceedings for possession against the borrower’s substantial Belgravia property portfolio.