Selborne Chambers

Paul regularly appears in the County Court, High Court, First-Tier and Upper Tribunals (Property Chamber) and Court of Appeal. He accepts instructions in any and all areas of property and commercial law, but with a particular emphasis on:

Landlord and Tenant – Commercial - Paul acts for both landlords and tenants in opposed and unopposed lease renewal claims under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. Recent cases include acting for a tenant of large commercial premises in Croydon in a dispute as to the inclusion of a landlord’s redevelopment break clause in the new lease, the terms of future repairing obligations upon the tenant and a dispute as to rent worth approximately £5m over a ten-year term. This was also the leading decision on what being an expert under CPR Part 35 actually means: Mondial Assistance (UK) Ltd v Bridgewater Properties Ltd [2016] EWHC 3494. Paul regularly has cases involving landlord’s opposition to the grant of a new lease under grounds (f) and (g) in section 30(1) of the 1954 Act. Paul also advises and attends court in claims involving forfeiture, trespass, nuisance (including rights to light), breach of covenant, terminal dilapidations and rent review. Paul recently acted in consecutive trials in the Chancery List in the County Court at Central London in which he represented variously a landlord Defendant who was accused of unreasonably withholding consent to the assignment of a lease, a landlord of a leading Chinese restaurant in Soho accused of withholding a rent deposit on the basis of a wrongful dilapidations set-off and a restaurant owner defending a forfeiture claim in respect of breaches of user and operation covenants.

Residential – Paul recently acted in a four day hearing in the First-Tier Tribunal on behalf of a landlord seeking a determination that it was reasonable to maintain and repair rather than to replace the roof to a large, listed block of flats. Paul also often acts for tenants and landlords in service charge disputes, disrepair and nuisance claims, Party Wall etc. Act 1996 disputes, claims involving the construction and rectification of long leases and applications under the Landlord and Tenant Acts 1985 and 1987.

Real Property -Paul is currently acting in several co-ownership disputes involving constructive trusts and the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996. He recently won a three-day trial in which his client claimed a life tenancy arising from a proprietary estoppel. Other claims also involve trespass, adverse possession, boundary disputes, and arguments over easements and injunctive relief. Paul is particularly known for his advice and representation in land registration disputes, particularly those involving rectification of the register of title at HM Land Registry under Schedule 4 of the Land Registration Act 2002.

Commercial – Paul often accepts commercial instructions, including, but not exclusively, those with an element of property law. For example, Paul often acts in mortgage actions including those in which parties invoke the provisions of the Consumer Credit Act 2006 and related statutory provisions. He also acts in joint venture disputes and fraud and contractual disputes relating to the acquisition and development of land. Recently Paul acted for members of a golf club who had been told that their memberships had ceased and invited to ‘re-join’ in a case that turned on the law of agency and contractual estoppel. Paul accepts instructions in professional negligence claims arising out of contractual and property transactions and advice given.

Called in 2006. Publications include: ‘Property Transactions: The Intermediary Misses Out’ (Selborne Chambers’ Newsletter) and ‘Service Charge Disputes and Costs Recovery in the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal’ (Selborne Chambers’ Newsletter). Paul has recently given the following seminars: “An Introduction to contested proceedings under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954”, “Section 30 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954”, “Mixed use premises; considerations for investors”, “Registered land: aspects of rectification, indemnity and fraud, and registration”, “Easements-present problems – a future solution?”, “The right to light”, “Forfeiture, waiver and the right to relief from forfeiture”, “the law of misrepresentation” and “unreasonable refusal of consent under section 1 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1988”.

Chancery Bar Association; Property Bar Association, Commercial Bar Association.%

St. Andrews University (MA, international relations)

College of Law – GDL

College of Law – BVC.

Most sports, golf and tennis in particular.