My experience
I am head of the Property Litigation team. 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 a solicitor advocate with higher rights of audience. This means I can represent clients in the senior courts throughout England and Wales.
Former Chair and Committee member of the South Coast Region of the Property Litigation Association and am a member of the Southampton Property Association.
In 2022 I was listed as an Associate to Watch and in 2023 as Up and Coming in Chambers and Partners independent legal directory for Real Estate Litigation in the South.
Insights from Nicola Davies
Articles
Has a property misrepresentation taken place in a sale or purchase? If so, what should you do?
