England - East Midlands • Real estate

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Property litigation

Freeths LLP

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The property litigation team at Freeths LLP works on a wide range of disputes, including those surrounding business leases, dilapidation, covenants possession claims and forfeitures. Paul Tomkins leads the national team and has extensive experience in lease renewals, dilapidation claims and break clause issues. Simon Baigent is an expert in restructuring and insolvency matters for clients with property portfolios, while also supporting landlords with insolvent tenants. Managing associate Beth Jenkins regularly handles trespass and possession claims, service charge disputes and forfeiture and termination matters.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘A cohesive and effective team, with good communication ensuring that nothing gets missed.’

  • ‘Paul Tomkins is excellent. Pragmatic, decisive and adaptable.’

  • ‘The strength of the Freeths litigation team is their collective knowledge and experience. It is evident that the team work closely together and collaborate on matters.

  • ‘Paul Tomkins - A great client manager, always open to feedback and genuinely interested in the needs of our business and what matters to us.

  • 'Edward Pickard - encyclopaedic in litigation know-how and gives prompt, reasoned advice and recommendations which enable us to make commercial decisions and pace and keep up with the needs of the business.’

  • ‘Probably, the best regional firm in England for prop lit.’

  • ‘Paul Tomkins is an industry legend. Clever, canny and client focused.'

  • 'Edward Pickard is bright, solid and dependable.’

Key clients

  • Chancerygate Asset Management and Development
  • City Plumbing
  • Dreams
  • Euro Garages
  • Halfords
  • Poundstretcher
  • Tarmac
  • Timpson
  • Travis Perkins Group including Toolstation
  • Wickes

Work highlights

  • Advising Poundstretcher on all property litigation issues arising following its Company Voluntary Arrangement, which compromised claims with a value of £396 million
  • Acting on a dispute relating to a joint venture agreement, which was settled shortly before a 7-day trial was due to commence
  • Acting on a complex residential possession claim involving an individual shareholder of the landlord who had been occupying the property without any written tenancy agreement for several years.

Lawyers

Rising stars

Beth Jenkins

Freeths LLP

Beth regularly deals with a wide range of Real Estate Litigation issues. These include trespass/possession claims, forfeiture and termination, contested and uncontested lease renewals, service charge disputes, disrepair/dilapidations claims, break clauses, adverse possession claims, claims relating to rent review and easement and covenant disputes.

Leading individuals

Paul Tomkins

Freeths LLP

Partner in real estate litigation team dealing with all types of property disputes, ranging from disputed break notices to dilapidations to lease renewals to tenant insolvency advice. Clients comment that Paul’s advice “often brings a different angle to some of the more traditional advice provided” and that “having Paul Tomkins on your side is invaluable, he brings astuteness, clarityof thought and an awareness of client needs second to none”.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Paul Tomkins

Other key lawyers

Simon Baigent, Edward Pickard, Beth Jenkins

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