Paris Smith LLP

Business and commercial disputes

Partner

Following a background in general litigation I now specialise in resolving disputes related to property. The types of work I regularly undertake are:

Commercial landlord and tenant -break notices and breach of lease covenants Residential landlord and tenant Business lease renewals under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 Dilapidations Forfeiture Recovery of property related debts Possession claims Property related insolvency Option agreements and other land sale agreements Electronic/telecommunications code issues Joint ownership disputes Boundary disputes/adverse possession claims Rights of way – public footpaths, private easements Breach of contract disputes Professional negligence related to property Injunctive proceedings

Work Examples:

Obtaining an injunction for a client whose neighbour was moving the boundary fences without their consent. Further successfully applying to strike out the defence at the first case management hearing as it disclosed no reasonable grounds for bringing or defending the claim. Advising and having the daily conduct of an adverse possession claim that went all the way to trial of a large parcel of residential and commercial land worth over £1.5million. Successfully appealed to the Welsh Minister to overturn a public body’s decision on the terms imposed in a marine dredging licence. Defending a tenant’s right for a new lease against a landlord’s claim under ground G – where a Landlord wants the property back for its own use. Multi-party right of way dispute which involved a land locked property in the Isle of Wight. Settlement reached at round table meeting between four sets of solicitors. Recovering possession for the Council and landlords against trespassers unknown. Ensuring payments were made to our clients in accordance with the terms of an Option Agreement where the payee was refusing to pay claiming conditions had not been complied with in time. Advised a large multi-national company in the leisure industry on a contract dispute recovering damages from a supplier who had used the wrong material when building one of the attractions.

I am the Chair of the South Coast Region of the Property Litigation Association and a member of the Southampton Property Association. In 2022 I was listed as an Associate to Watch in Chambers and Partners independent legal directory.