Freehold and Leasehold Advice
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98 %queries receive a response in under an hour
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£ 200 m+assets litigated over in the last 12 months
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500 +cases handled in the last 2 years
Take Immediate Action With Our Expert Property Litigation Team
If you’re a freehold or leasehold owner, RTM, or block manager seeking expert legal advice regarding:
- Rent arrears
- Unlawful alterations allegations
- Breaches of lease
- Forfeiture
- Section 20 (S20) major works service charge recoveries
- Section 146 notices
- Unpaid service charges
Helix Law’s experienced property litigation team can help.
Helix specialises in advising how clauses — often technically referred to as covenants in leases — will likely be interpreted in Court.
Having a clear understanding of likely outcomes helps you determine the best course of action for achieving your objectives, whatever they might be.
Our team operates nationally and has earned a reputation for helping freeholder owners and block managers resolve even the most complex property-related disputes.
If you’re a block manager or freehold owner, we’re happy to speak with you via telephone on 03453142044 or via email to [email protected].
If you have an unpaid service charge and would like to proceed with recovery immediately, please email copies of the lease, the unpaid demand, and a summary of rights and obligations to [email protected].
Initially, we will briefly review your situation without any charge or obligation before confirming next steps and costs.
No Win No Fee Eligibility Calculator
This is a non binding indication whether Helix Law Ltd might be able to offer you a "No Win, No Fee" agreement (also known as a Conditional Fee Agreement, or CFA). There is no cost of obligation for using this service and each case is assessed on its merits.
Area of work
We only enter into CFA funding agreements in relation to some commercial, property and construction disputes. We therefore need to understand what type of dispute you have so that we can assess whether a CFA might be appropriate.
Is the value in dispute more than £10,000?
This is important because typically it is only possible to recover legal costs, including costs funded on a ‘No Win, No Fee’ (or ‘Conditional Fee Agreement’), where the amount in dispute is over £10,000. If you have a dispute where your losses and damages are less than £10,000 it is unlikely we can offer you a CFA.
Is the value in dispute more than £10,000?
This is important because typically it is only possible to recover legal costs, including costs funded on a ‘No Win, No Fee’ (or ‘Conditional Fee Agreement’), where the amount in dispute is over £10,000. If you have a dispute where your losses and damages are less than £10,000 it is unlikely we can offer you a CFA.
Is the value in dispute more than £10,000?
This is important because typically it is only possible to recover legal costs, including costs funded on a ‘No Win, No Fee’ (or ‘Conditional Fee Agreement’), where the amount in dispute is over £10,000. If you have a dispute where your losses and damages are less than £10,000 it is unlikely we can offer you a CFA.
The dispute is:
Generally speaking tenants will not own assets. That means you might ‘win’ but not recover damages and costs- even if the court orders the tenant to pay. Whereas if your dispute is with a property owner we can usually recover your costs and damages from their share of the property.
Is your claim about an unpaid application for payment and/or retention greater than £20,000?
This is important as it helps us assess the likely cost; benefit for you, and our ability to offer you CFA funding.
Do you have a contract in writing or registered shares in your name?
The more evidence you have in support of your allegations, the better your prospects of success. The higher your prospects of success, the more likely we can offer you a CFA funding arrangement.
Is the issue arising recently or within the last 6 years at most?
All disputes are subject to limitation periods- this is the period of time in which a claim must be issued. Most limitation periods in our work are 6 years. There can be exceptions and upto 12 years is possible, but this is a factor that can increase risk to you and to us and might lead to us declining to offer a CFA. With the passage of time memories can/will also fade, and evidence can be lost or destroyed. Acting promptly can therefore be important.
Does the opponent own property in England and Wales?
We want to ensure we can force your opponent to pay if they refuse to pay. If your opponent has assets, usually property, we can have greater confidence of recovering money, property, or assets (or all the above), for you. Otherwise there can be risk that you have a good claim with good prospects of success, but if your oppoennt doesn’t own anything, you might not recover damages or losses.
Thank you for filling out the form
Based on the form, we think there is a good prospect we will be prepared to offer you a No Win No Fee agreement (CFA). Please confirm your contact details and a member of our team will contact you usually within 1 hour during usual business hours.
Breach of Covenant
If your tenant breaches a term (or terms) in their lease, you may be able to forfeit their lease agreement for Breach of Covenant.
What Is a Breach of Covenant?
A leasehold owner (technically a ‘tenant’) commits a breach of covenant when they breach one or more terms of their lease.
If the lease expressly reserves the right, a Breach of Covenant can lead to a lease’s forfeiture and the landlord regaining peaceful possession of the property.
Most flats and apartments in England and Wales are owned on a leasehold basis.
For leasehold property owners to lose ownership of their property in this way can be catastrophic —- and a significant commercial windfall for the freeholder.
In some cases, a Breach of Covenant can also lead to the Courts awarding damages to the landlord, which usually includes recovery of legal costs.
What Is an Example of a Breach of Covenant?
There are many potential Breaches of Covenant.
The detail depends on the content of the lease and the specific circumstances.
Some common examples of Breaches of Covenant by leaseholders include;
- Non-payment of ground rent
- Non-payment of service charges
- Unauthorized alterations to the property
- Allowing the property to fall into disrepair
- Unauthorized sub-letting of the property on a short-term AST basis
- Unauthorized sub-letting of the property and use as serviced accommodation such as Air BnB or Booking.com
- Unauthorised use — such as conducting commercial activities in the property without consent
- Causing or allowing nuisance or other anti-social behaviour in the property.
Covenants Between Landlord and Leasehold Owners (tenants)
Technically, a leasehold property owner is legally a ‘tenant’, and various ‘landlord and tenant’ legislation applies.
Establishing a Breach of Covenant can — in the most serious cases — result in lease forfeiture by the freeholder, and in their favour, if the breaches of the lease are proven and not remedied after the landlord follows the proper process.
Helix Law regularly acts for landlords and freehold owners dealing with tenant disputes and Breaches of Covenant. We also routinely advise leasehold owners facing allegations by freeholders.
We have extensive experience in court proceedings, including in the County Court, High Court, and First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), litigating these types of issues and allegations.
What Is the Time Limit for Breach of Covenant?
Legal action concerning land-related claims — including those involving restrictive covenants — must be initiated within 12 years as stipulated by the Limitation Act 1980.
In practice, claims should be brought far more promptly.
For example, service charge arrears claims should be commenced within 18 months of the relevant expenditure item being incurred. This is commonly known and referred to as the ‘18 month rule’.
For certain breaches or potential breaches, seeking an injunction from the Court can be a necessary and appropriate step.
Taking the approach of seeking an injunction as a remedy is, by its very nature, serious and urgent. Delay alone can defeat an injunction.
Obtaining timely advice and actioning steps without delay is essential.
Restrictive Covenants or Easements Affecting Your Freehold
Restrictive covenants are covenants attached to land that can limit your ability to use or develop the property.
If you have a dispute regarding the use of your property due to a restrictive covenant or easement (such as a right of way), Helix Law can help.
Restrictive covenants often seek to prevent freehold owners from extending their property or erecting additional structures like buildings or fences.
The law regarding restrictive covenants and easements is highly complex. Our expert team has significant experience representing land and property owners in proceedings where covenants are in issue.
How Enforceable Are Covenants?
Restrictive covenants are typically enforceable.
But enforceability can vary in various circumstances, including where the covenants have become obsolete and/or are no longer readily identifiable. Such situations can occur and evolve over time.
Enforceability often extends to issues like unauthorised property alterations or usage prohibitions detailed in leases, as well as in freehold deeds.
Enforcement may be challenged if the covenant’s terms are ambiguous or unclear, impacting the landlord’s ability to seek damages or repossession.
Obtaining expert advice on restrictive covenants is fundamental to avoid wasting time and incurring unnecessary costs.
Easements and Boundary Disputes
We have successfully litigated disputes regarding easements and boundaries between adjacent land owners with assets worth millions of pounds at stake.
Disputes over property boundaries are incredibly common. An astute expert team can make a considerable difference in positioning you for success.
Whether a right of way exists, establishing such a right and/or forcing access can radically alter how the land can be used and, as such, the property value.
We have acted for varied parties, including private property owners and significant developers, where establishing rights of access and rights of way have commercially entirely altered and improved the viability and commercial success of our client’s land.
We often act in these disputes on a No Win, No Fee basis.
At Helix, we’re happy to back our own advice and participate in the upside of a positive outcome and success.
Who Enforces a Breach of Covenant?
The landlord (also known as freeholder) or property owner who stands to benefit from enforcing a Breach of Covenant will typically initiate court proceedings to remedy a leaseholder’s or neighbouring freehold owner’s breach of the lease.
If litigation proceeds, the Court will decide whether to issue an injunction, award damages, and/or permit forfeiture of the lease.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
Swiftly taking expert legal advice is essential if you believe that a tenant is in Breach of Covenant or has violated the terms of your lease.
We are instructed in property litigation across England and Wales and act for clients based across the UK and internationally.
We have an experienced team with strength in depth.
There are not many situations or disputes we have not seen in one form or another.
We often find this type of litigation starts small but rapidly escalates.
This is partly borne out of the personal and emotional nature of neighbouring or similarly connected property owners with competing interests, and/or that this type of issue and dispute will usually prevent a party from being able to remortgage, or sell.
Most mainstream lenders will not lend where there are boundary disputes, limiting the market for buyers — for example, to cash buyers only.)
Even well-advised cash buyers will seriously consider whether the risk vs reward dynamic is sufficiently attractive for them to proceed.
There is a considerable downside to purchasing land or property when the buyer must there spend time and money litigating to preserve or protect legal rights often considered a given.
Contact our expert property litigation team at Helix Law to find out how we can help. We aim to respond to all queries within an hour.
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People frequently tell us that we’re approachable and offer great advice.
They also tell us most solicitors are hard to get hold of whereas we’re happy to listen. The reason for this is that we value long term relationships and we’re happy to speak with business people, to invest our time in understanding your business and whatever your concerns are. Only at that point can we understand whether we’re the right people to help you.