Real Estate

We specialise in advising compensating authorities and claimants in all types of land compensation cases. Our specialist national team, led by partner David Holland, is widely experienced in advising across the full spectrum of land compensation matters.

We provide a complete advisory service in compulsory purchase order (CPO) cases, from strategic advice prior to acquisition through to managing your dispute in the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber). We have a proven track record in successful cases before the Tribunal and are specialists in resolving CPO compensation cases through the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), including mediation.

Our capabilities

Compulsory purchase compensation

We have acted for both claimants and compensating authorities in a range of cases arising from a variety of CPO and major projects, including the Olympic Park development, Thameslink, Crossrail and proposed Heathrow Third Runway schemes in London, as well as a broad range of CPO schemes nationwide.

We are a leading firm currently advising clients in cases across all phases of the High Speed Rail 2 project, including in several high-value compensation claims, blight notice cases and atypical applications.

Part 1 claims

We specialise in advising parties in relation to claims for compensation under Part 1 of the Land Compensation Act 1973, arising from highway, rail and airport infrastructure schemes. Our team has unrivalled expertise in this area and has advised on some of the largest portfolios of Part 1 claims in recent times.

We are market leaders in advising compensating authorities in relation to Part 1 claims arising from airport development projects. We acted for the compensating authority in relation to Part 1 claims arising from runway extensions at Manchester and East Midlands airports. We are also currently advising Stansted Airport and Birmingham Airport in relation to Part 1 claim matters.

Utility and energy compensation

We are experienced in advising clients in the utilities and energy sectors in compensation matters.

We act for a number of electricity distribution companies across the range of compensation issues under the Electricity Act 1989 (Schedule 3 and 4 ), including Western Power Distribution plc, Electricity North West, Northern Powergrid and SP Manweb.

We have acted in several significant cases in recent times, including the electricity compensation Tribunal case of Stynes v Western Power (East Midlands) Distribution Ltd.

We regularly advise clients in the water industry, with depth of experience in compensation matters under Section 159 of the Water Industry Act 1991 and compulsory purchase cases. We have successfully acted for United Utilities in several compensation cases all resolved without recourse to final hearing recently.

We also advise clients in the gas sector on land and compensation matters, including representing Northern Gas in a number of recent cases.

Flood alleviation schemes

We are experienced in advising landowners affected by flood alleviation schemes. We have particular experience of advising clients in relation to the exercise of powers to carry out flood alleviation works under Section 165 of the Water Resources Act 1991 and related compensation rights (Schedule 21). For example, recently advising a manufacturing client in the relocation of its commercial premises and associated compensation payable under the act as a result of flood defence works.

Telecoms

Our team includes specialist lawyers (Michelle Adams and Kuljeet Takhar) with expertise and experience in advising on telecoms matters, for both operators and site owners. We provide strategic advice to clients in relation to the implications of the Electronic Communications Code, a rapidly evolving arena.

HS2

We act for multiple landowners and occupiers affected by HS2. Our multidisciplinary team advises across the full range of HS2-related issues, including:

• HS2 petitioning process

• HS2 discretionary purchase and compensation schemes

• Compulsory and voluntary land acquisition processes

• Blight procedures, including atypical applications

• Compensation entitlement

HS2 experience

• National hotel – Acting in the petitioning process for HS2, including negotiation of appropriate assurances and undertakings from HS2 Limited.

• Multiple landowners – Advising on entitlement to HS2 discretionary purchase and compensation schemes.

• Several clients – Advising on entitlement to compensation, including for development value.

• Several landowners – Advising regarding blight notice procedures and compensation entitlement.

• HS2 Limited – Acting on all aspects of negotiations with HS2 Limited for the relocation of residential, commercial and charitable landowners and occupiers, including advice on equivalent reinstatement, planning permissions, conditional sale and purchase agreements, and construction of alternative premises.

• Multimillion-pound manufacturer – Advising on relocation and negotiation of forward funding and compensation agreements in relation to HS2 Phase 1.

• Birmingham Airport – Advising in relation to HS2’s plans to construct and operate a new interchange adjacent to the airport (Birmingham Interchange) as part of HS2 Phase 1.

• Owner of a site of strategic importance – Acting in the successful negotiation of a comprehensive relocation and compensation package with HS2.

• Several commercial landowners and occupiers – Advising regarding compensation and advance payment entitlement in relation to HS2 Phases 1, 2a and 2b.

Recognitions

• Ranked in various leading legal directories, including Chambers UK and Legal 500.

• Team recognised in Chambers 2021 for its handling of land compensation matters.

• Awarded the CEDR Award for Professional Firm Excellence in ADR on three separate occasions.

Our specialist UK team is vastly experienced and has depth of expertise in advising across a broad range of telecoms matters, such as:

• Acting for and against operators, occupiers, infrastructure providers and landowners.

• Providing vacant possession strategies for landowner/ developer clients with operators exercising their rights under the Code.

• In-house industry experience, deep knowledge and contacts within the industry to help resolve your issues, quickly and effectively.

This experience allows us to provide you with a 360-degree view of the issues you may encounter when dealing with telecoms and connectivity.

Our team also includes specialist Land Compensation lawyers who are vastly experienced and have depth of expertise in advising across a broad range of land compensation matters, including Compulsory Purchase, Part 1 Claims, Energy and Utilities and Flood Alleviation.

Our capabilities

We understand the uncertainties involved in resolving compensation matters, particularly the prospect of pursuing legal proceedings in the courts or the Tribunal. Our aim is to manage risk at each stage of the process and achieve an effective resolution to the case as efficiently as possible. Below are just some of the ways we can work with you to deal with your case and reduce costs risk.

Case management

Our aim is to give our clients control of their cases while minimizing administrative costs wherever possible. To assist, we offer the facility of a tailored online case management portal system which provides our clients with online real-time access to relevant case information and documents. This helps our clients keep up to date with case progress remotely and has proven to lead directly to a reduction in overall legal spend.

Costs expertise

We always work with our clients to seek to limit costs risk, both prior to and throughout formal legal proceedings. We work closely with our in-house specialist costs team to provide expert costs advice relevant to compensation cases, including costs rules that apply in the Tribunal that offer potential opportunities for parties in appropriate cases to eliminate or reduce the potential risk of adverse costs orders being made against them in legal proceedings.

Alternative dispute resolution

We are keen proponents of the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures, such as mediation and early neutral evaluation, in compensation cases where appropriate. In every case, we actively encourage our clients to consider using ADR as an effective means to resolve compensation disputes and avoid often lengthy and costly litigation proceedings, wherever possible. We are experienced in using all types of ADR procedures and have represented acquiring authorities and claimant clients in successful compensation mediations in recent years. We are proud of our strong track record in resolving compensation cases through ADR. Our peers acknowledge us for our proactive use of ADR and the high volume of compensation cases where we have successfully pursued ADR on behalf of our clients.

Our experience

• Code lease renewal negotiations – Assisting with negotiations and advising on the recent changes on investment returns.

• Evicting operators – When asked to leave the site, operators often try and rely on complex legal provisions to avoid them having to leave. The legal rights that they have can stifle development proposals at a peak time of the market activity. We are experienced in negotiating with operators to ensure equipment is removed from sites in a timely fashion, reducing serious delays to development proposals.

• Break options – Landowners are currently going to terminate/determine/break their commitments on land/sites due to the change of the Code.

• Estate management – Issues can arise due to the way operators deal with sites once an agreement is in place. In our experience, the most common disputes relate to access, upgrades and site sharing.

• Policy – Advising landowners/site providers and developers on recent changes in the legislation, in particular, the Code and forthcoming legislation.

• Industry changes – We are very familiar with major telecoms portfolio reorganizations and have advised on setting up joint ventures, allocation of “active” and “passive” assets, data roam, network sharing and transfer of property interests.

• Wayleaves – Assisting with negotiations regarding wayleaves with operators, occupiers, site providers and other third parties.

• Wi-Fi (in particular, the installation of Wi-Fi including DAS systems and broadband) – Advising property investors, developers and occupiers about rights to install, feasibility, sharing the system and recovery of costs.

• Data centers – Acting for data center companies and occupiers, advising on disputes about electricity outages, electricity and other charges and access issues.