Landmark Chambers

David is a property litigator, with more than 20 years’ experience as trial counsel and appellate advocate in all manner of real estate disputes. His practice encompasses the whole range of property litigation, with a particular focus on commercial property.

David’s busy practice focuses on commercial property litigation. He is frequently instructed as a trial advocate in relation to a wide range of property disputes.

David specialises in disputes relating to:

• land ownership (adverse possession, boundary disputes, trusts of land, and land registration and conveyancing issues)

• land rights (restrictive covenants, easements, profits, highways, and party wall matters)

• landlord and tenant (commercial and residential)

• commercial property (including property development, insolvency, mortgages, charging orders and securitisation).

David is particularly interested in competing land rights and the resolution of disputes relating to the development and use of land, acting for developers and other landowners in the strategic planning and successful implementation of the potential development of land, using the tools of litigation where necessary.

Such cases typically involve rights such as easements and restrictive covenants and may require obtaining necessary the consents. In one recent High Court case (2022), David successfully acted for the commercial leaseholder of a development site who sought a declaration that the freeholder had unreasonably refused consent for the proposed development.

David is often instructed in the context of neighbour disputes, whether residential or commercial. Typical cases may concern land ownership, such as boundary disputes and adverse possession claims; or they may involve building work, such as party wall cases. David is a co-author of ‘Party Walls: Law and Practice’ (4th ed.) and has significant expertise in party wall matters, including appealing awards and obtaining urgent injunctive relief. In one case, David successfully obtained a mandatory injunction after a four-day trial requiring the removal of the offending structure (Ormiston-Kilsby v Fattahi (2019) (Oxford County Court).

David’s expertise extends to all aspects of real estate law and landlord and tenant law, including insolvency and professional negligence disputes. David has many years’ experience in dealing with land securities such as mortgages and charging orders, and he is fluent in relation to the application of insolvency law to property disputes. He acts for companies and individuals, bank and office-holders.

With regard to landlord and tenant disputes, typical instructions include:

• Representing a tenant of a flagship store in Central London in connection with its multi-million pound claim against the landlord for multiple breaches of the lease (2025).

• Acting for a commercial landlord in a three-day trial opposing a tenant’s claim that the landlord had unreasonably refused consent for change of use (2022).

• No Curfew Limited v Feiges Limited [2018] EWHC 744 (Ch) (High Court): David acted for the successful Defendant in this challenge by the landlord to a rent-review arbitration on the ground of mistake.

David is particularly adept at responding swiftly to urgent instructions, including last minute applications for injunctive relief, or even last minute instructions as trial counsel. For instance:

• In June 2023, David successfully obtained an urgent injunction with less than 24 hours’ notice to restrain an imminent sale of development land in a complex and long-standing contractual dispute.

• In September 2022, David was instructed to take over a right of way case four days before the start of a three-day trial when the previous barrister was taken ill. The case involved nearly a dozen witnesses and half a dozen experts, plus documentation exceeding 20 lever arch files. David was able to achieve a successful outcome for his clients in their claim which concerned the weight and width of vehicles that could use a 200m track providing access to a Welsh sheep farm (Lamport v Jones (2022) (Cardiff County Court).

David is regularly instructed in the Tribunals and Courts in relation to claims for rights of way and on land registration issues, such as adverse possession.

David is the consultant editor of two volumes of Halsbury’s Laws: Auction (vol. 4 (2020)) and Mortgage (vol. 77 (2021)).

Qualifications

• MA (Hons) Theology at Keble College, Oxford, 1999

• Diploma in Law at City University (Commendation)

• Bar Vocational Course at City University (Very Competent)

Four scholarships from Lincoln's Inn:

• Hardwicke Scholarship (2000)

• Lord Haldance Scholarship (2000)

• Tancred Studentship (2001)

• Megarry Scholarship (2002)

Awards

• Winner of the Robert Wright Mooting Competition (2001)

Memberships

• Lincoln’s Inn

• Chancery Bar Association

• Property Bar Association

Publications

• Currently contributing three chapters for the next edition of Tolley’s Insolvency Law

• Collaborating with Stephen Bickford-Smith in preparing the fourth edition of 'Party Walls: Law and Practice'

• 13 July 2016: Break clauses and entity identity errors

• June 2011: Is Goldacre a gold mine for landlords? (article for the 'Law and Finance' journal)

• February 2011: Goldacre: does it give landlords the Midas touch? (article for the 'Insolvency Practitioner' journal)

• David has contributed practice notes on insolvency issues to Lexis Nexis