News and Articles

January can be a dark time - both literally and metaphorically. It is a time for trying to curb that sugar habit that you acquired over Christmas and fighting your way through the newcomers to make it to the squat rack at the gym. However, it is also a time for reflecting on the past year and making plans and getting excited about the year ahead. So I thought that I would do exactly that in this first blog post!

Reply of the Law Reform Committee of the Property Litigation Association to the consultation by the RICS on a new professional statement for service charges in commercial property

If the proverb that “a good beginning makes a good end” is correct, then it bodes well for a productive year for your Website & Marketing Committee (WMC). I am delighted to kick-off 2018 by welcoming a new sub-committee member, Tim Reid (Hogan Lovells), and confirming a new partnership between the PLA and Lexology.

The Department for Communities and Local Government has published a Consultation on reinstating the practice of the Valuation Office Agency prior to the decision of the Supreme Court in Woolway (VO) v Mazars [2015] UKSC 53.

As we start 2018 I can’t help thinking that there’s never been a better time to be a property litigator.

The importance of alternative dispute resolution in modern day practice cannot be overstated. The means by which the courts have incentivised ADR is twofold; being both direct and indirect. The direct means is by penalising parties who have shown a failure to have due regard to ADR through the litigious process. The indirect method is by reducing recoverable costs such that even victory comes at a cost.

Guy Fetherstonhaugh QC, Falcon Chambers

Philip Sissons, Falcon Chambers

Philip Sessions, Falcon Chambers

Stephanie Tozer, Falcon Chambers