Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP

Real estate litigation

Ben is a partner in the real estate litigation team and leads the team’s fire safety practice. He works closely with institutional landlords, investment funds and social housing providers in relation to policy level guidance on fire safety strategy across their portfolios, and provides ongoing advice in relation to the Government’s Non-ACM Building Safety Fund. Ben offers holistic landlord and tenant advice regarding the effective management of their portfolios, including on development disputes, breaches of covenant, forfeiture and the recovery of arrears.

His expertise also extends to providing comprehensive advice on complex residential property issues including rent and service charge disputes (most recently the Supreme Court case of Aviva v Williams), enfranchisement claims, party wall disputes, boundary disputes and adverse possession claims. Ben also specialises in property-related professional negligence claims and vacant possession strategies for large-scale development sites.

He has spoken at a number of events, such as the National Housing Federation’s annual ‘Leaseholder and Tenant Service Charges’ conference, and the Asset Management Conference (Housing Quality Network), where he leads peer-to-peer discussions on service charges and fire safety works, discussing apportioning and charging for fire safety improvements. Separately, he regularly contributes to articles on the issue (including a fire safety podcast for the leading real estate publication, Estates Gazette), together with seminars and bespoke training sessions for clients and other property professionals.

Trained at Dawsons LLP; qualified 2008; partner at Penningtons Manches in 2018.

PLA, SHLA

Cranbrook School, Kent; University of Bristol (2003); Nottingham Law School (2005).