Stuart has mediated disputes involving the following issues:

• Claim under Illegal Cultivation of Drugs clause for waste removal, cleaning and damage caused by cannabis production by a tenant within a commercial warehouse, involving insulation by 1,200 tonnes of textile waste.

• Partnership dispute between brother and sister who had been in a transport and property business successfully for 30 years.

• Claim by Russian investors against UK property developers for fraud and against Russian and off-shore fellow investors/promoters for conspiracy.

• Claim by householder for negligent renovation work by insurer, and third-party claim for negligent adjusting and supervision of renovation project.

• Multi-party claim for fire damage by freeholder and leaseholders against main and sub-contractors employed by predecessors in title to convert a substantial property in Covent Garden into apartments.

• Claim for possession against personal guarantors of company debt, defended on human rights grounds due to the disability and terminal illness of one of the guarantors.

• Claim by government for historical overage payments defended by developers on grounds of non-compliance with contractual processes.

• Claim for breach of restrictive covenants regarding use of development plot contained in transfer.

• Dispute as to the operation of a hotel management contract in the Caribbean.

• Claim by publicans against brewery for failure to refurbish function room and resulting loss of income.

• Claim by landlord for service charges following acquisition of freehold of industrial estate defended on the basis of incomplete and allegedly void service charge clause in the lease.

• Claim by adjoining property owner for breach of statutory and common law duties following unlawful demolition of a listed building.

• Claim under disputed tenancy agreement and oral agreement for 10-year occupation rights alternatively equitable interest in a residential property made habitable and refurbished by the occupier.

• Claim by purchasers of stately home against surveyors for failure to discover dry rot including claims for diminution in value and loss of profits in wedding venue business.

• Claim by agents for commission on sale of commercial development property for £10m, involving defences of regulatory breach, breach of fiduciary duty and issues of introduction.

• Claim by mortgagor against mortgagee and LPA Receiver for breach of duty to obtain a reasonable price following alleged failure to approach interested parties.

• Claim against insurer for damage caused by subsidence to residential property.

• Claim against public authority and charitable body neighbours for nuisance and negligent land-management leading to losses of dairy herd allegedly caused by stagnant water accumulating on the claimant’s land.

• Claim against solicitors for negligent drafting of onerous break clause and for invalid execution of break notice.

• Claim for misrepresentation against vendors of residential property for alleged failure to disclose details of prior flooding.

• Subrogated claim for flood damage caused by culvert overflow, by private landowner against downstream local authority landowner.

• Claim for rentalised development costs and for termination development costs of £50m on flagship development in Cardiff Bay.

• Claim by residents against power station for nuisance caused by dust emissions including claims by owner/occupiers and landlords for loss of amenity, loss of capital value and loss of rental value.

• Dispute between former long-standing friends over the terms of a number of substantial investments in developing companies and property, following the breakdown in the relationship.

• Dispute regarding the terms of a lease to be negotiated between the executors of a landlord and the business tenants of land within the deceased’s estate, arising out of allegations of understandings and agreements reached between the deceased and the tenant.

• A TOLATA dispute in respect of a substantial commercial property in north London following disagreement between the investors as to the future development of the building and realisation of the investment.

• Dilapidations dispute between private landlord and national retail chain tenant.

• Cross claims regarding validity of section 25 notice
and damages for nuisance and breach of covenant for quiet enjoyment regarding a site used for the operation of a civil engineering business.

• Claim by residential owners against adjacent site developers and engineers and consultants following serious subsidence.

• Claims between business tenants and against institutional landlord in respect of damage caused between floors in a commercial property by serious water ingress.

• Dispute as to the interpretation of a break clause and the consequent validity of a break notice under a commercial lease.
• Dispute in respect of letting agent insurance products.
• Claim by a commercial tenant against a landlord for failure to carry out works and for consequential losses in delaying the opening of a hotel and restaurant.

• Claim by neighbour against residential developer for consequential property damage.

• Dispute between local authority and developer in respect of entitlement to overage payments following the sale and purchase of freehold and leasehold interests in a 285-acre development site.

• Claims between former partners and related third-party investors under the Trustees of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996.

• Dilapidations schedules.

• Entitlement to business tenancy.

• Adverse possession.

• Property development agreements.

• Termination and creation of business tenancies.

• Agricultural tenancies.

• Various construction contract disputes.

• Business tenancies within agricultural holdings.

• Architects’ negligence claims.

• Mortgagee priority claims.

• Various solicitors’ and valuers’ negligence claims.

• Surrender and creation of new agricultural holdings.

• Restrictive covenants between architects.

• Negotiations between agricultural tenants and trustees
of freehold estate.

• Construction company insolvencies.

• Damage to farm buildings and equipment and associated insurance settlements.

• Boundary disputes and rights of way.

Stuart has experience of litigating and advising on a number
of property-related disputes.